MARIA-†A hopeless romantic and innocent young girl. She falls in love with Tony and finds herself at the center of the violent conflict between the two gangs.
Rachel Zegler is a 20-year-old Colombian-American actor and singer-songwriter from New Jersey, who will star in Spielberg's upcoming remake of West Side Story and Disney's live-action take on Snow White. She will make her film debut in the Bernstein musical as Maria, opposite Baby Driver actor Ansel Elgort as Tony.
When sirens are heard in the distance, all the gang members scatter. Maria is awaiting Tony's arrival at her home when the Shark Chino (Jose De Vega) arrives and tells her that Tony has killed her brother. Chino leaves, and Tony arrives. He explains what happened, and Maria forgives him.
In the midst of the fight, Bernardo kills Riff. Before the stunned members of both gangs can react, Tony, enraged at the murder of his best friend, picks up Riff's blade and stabs Bernardo, killing him instantly.
Anita, angry about her treatment by the Jets, gets a phony message to Tony saying that Maria was killed. A grief-stricken Tony tells Chino to kill him too, and Chino obliges. Juliet wakes up to see him dead, and joins him for real this time. Maria, however, survives.
That will make her 19-years-old at the time of West Side Story's release. Although it's never explicitly stated, some fans expect that the characters Maria and Tony are around the same age.
Bernardo's sister Maria, newly arrived from Puerto Rico to marry his friend Chino, attends the dance (The Dance at the Gym) and despite the obvious hatred between the gangs meets Tony, who at once falls in love with her (Maria). Maria makes him promise to stop the fight between his gang and her brother's.
Without wanting to spoil the Hollywood created illusion Maria's wedding actually took place in Nonnberg Abbey, in nearby Salzburg. Nonetheless, as many as 200,000 people visit Basilica St Michael every year to see the place where actors Julie Andrews and Christopher Plumber took their vows as Maria and Baron Von Trapp.
Who is Anybody's? Why does she have this name? How does the gang feel about her? She is someone who wants to belong to the Jets, but they don't want girls in their group and they think she's annoying.
Maria's white dress is not only evocative of anxieties about preserving a chaste femininity, but it also contrib- utes to the film's project of assuaging bourgeois anxiety surrounding miscege- nation.
In a sudden fit of vengeful rage, Tony grabs Riff's blade and stabs Bernardo in the stomach killing him. A free-for-all breaks out among both gangs until sirens blare, and the Jets and Sharks both scatter leaving Tony and the dead bodies of Riff and Bernardo behind.
Anita realizes that Tony has been with Maria and turns on Maria in fury for making love to the boy who killed her brother (“A Boy Like Thatâ€). However, when Maria explains (“I Have a Loveâ€), Anita realizes that Maria loves Tony as much as she loved Bernardo.
Susan Oakes (Anybodys): Susan Oakes plays Anybodys, the Tomboy tag-a-long to the Jets gang. She just wants to belong, but they don't want anything to do with her. “West Side Story†(1961) was Oakes' only film role and she appeared in small roles on three television shows, including “The Lucy Show†(1962).
An incident between the Jets and Shark leader, Bernardo, escalates into an all out fight between the two gangs. Officers Schrank and Krupke arrive to break up the fight.
When Bernardo pushes Tony, Riff punches him in Tony's defense. The two draw their switchblades and get in a fight ("The Rumble"). Tony attempts to intervene, inadvertently leading to Riff being fatally stabbed by Bernardo.
The boys and the girls sing about the good bad things about life in America. Tony meets Maria on the fire escape outside her building, and they confirm what we all suspected: they've got it for each other bad. They know they're on opposite sides of this fight, but they don't care. Love will do that to you.
Puerto Rican singer, actress and dancer Ana Isabelle will play Rosalia, who works with Maria.
Conceived in 1949, West Side Story has a serious message that pleads for racial tolerance, delivered in unforgettable song and dance. People have been listening to that message, and humming the songs, ever since the show premiered on Broadway in 1957 and debuted on the silver screen in 1961.?
Very little of the singing in the finished film and on the soundtrack album was contributed by the on-screen stars of the film; while George Chakiris did all of his own singing for the few solo lines of his character Bernardo, Jim Bryant entirely dubbed the singing role of Tony for Richard Beymer, and Rita Moreno's
