West Side Story (film) - Differences From The Stage Show

Differences From The Stage Show

• In the stage show, it is A-Rab who gets beaten up by the Sharks at the beginning, before the free-for-all breaks out between the two gangs. In the film, it is Baby John who gets chased and beaten up after being caught changing some wall graffiti from "SHARKS" to "SHARKS STINK". It is interesting, that as David Winters played Baby John in the stage show and A-rab in the film, he avoided being chased and beaten-up both times.
• One of the lyrics of the "Jet song" was changed in the movie. Instead of second being "When you're a Jet let them do what they can" in the play It is ".....when you're a Jet if the spit hits the fan."
• In the stage show, "Jet Song" ends, "...on the whole ever mother-lovin' street." In the film, it ends, "...on the whole buggin' ever-lovin' street."
• In the stage show, Tony and Riff's friendship combination is "Womb to tomb. Sperm to worm." In the film, it is "Womb to tomb. Birth to earth."
• The order of "Tonight" (Duet) and "America" is reversed.
• In the stage show, Anita and Rosalia sing the beginning of "America", not Anita and Bernardo; the boys are not in the number at all. Show business legend has it that the men were omitted from the number in the stage version because of an error in scheduling. Robbins, typically, blamed the male dancers, and this was his way of punishing them.
• The lyrics of "America" are different in the film as is some of the dialog leading up to it.
• In the stage show, at Doc's drug store, it is the song "Cool" that is sung and in the garage it is "Gee, Officer Krupke", but they were switched in the film at the request of lyricist Stephen Sondheim as the songs were changed in order related more to the situations at those points in the film.
• On stage, it is Riff who sings "Cool" and Action who sings "Gee, Officer Krupke."
• In one part of "Gee, Officer Krupke", the lyrics were changed. The line "My daddy beats my mommy, my mommy clobbers me" appears in the film but in the stage musical it was "My father is a bastard, my mom's an S.O.B.".
• "One Hand, One Heart" is sung only once in the film, without the instrumental section and the repeat of the second half of the song, in order to avoid repetition.
• On stage, during the Quintet, Riff sings to Tony, not Ice. (Ice was actually a character created for the film and was not present in the original Broadway production.)
• On stage, during the Quintet, Anita sings about Bernardo, "He'll come home hot and tired, so what? No matter if he's tired, as long as he's hot." In the film, the lyrics were changed to, "He'll come home hot and tired, poor dear. No matter if he's tired, as long as he's here."
• "I Feel Pretty" appears at the beginning of Act II after the rumble in the stage musical.
• "Somewhere" in the stage show is sung by A Shark girl and Tony, as part of the "Somewhere" Ballet. The ballet portions were omitted from the film, because it slowed down the pace of the film. It is sung by Tony and Maria.
• Action takes over as leader of the Jets in the stage show, not Ice.
• "A Boy Like That"/"I Have a Love" avoids the repetition in the film version, omitting the duet where Anita repeats two of the stanzas, that she just sang, while Maria continues to resist Anita's complaints, which was slowing the pace of the film. Maria resumes, without the duet with Anita, to the transition to the song "I Have a Love" with the words, "You should Know Better".
• The character of Ice, who was written for the movie, was named Diesel in the stage show.
• The stage show features 11 Jets (including Tony) and 10 Sharks. The film features 12 Jets and 11 Sharks with the additions of Joyboy and Chile, respectively.
• The stage show Sharks named Anxious, Nibbles and Moose are renamed Rocco, Del Campo and Loco in the film.