Q 01/05

West Side Story is inspired by which Shakespeare play?

A) Romeo and Juliet

B) Othello

C) Twelfth Night

D) A Midsummer Night's Dream

Answer · why

A) Romeo and Juliet

Laurents' first draft followed the play closely, but the Rosaline character and the lovers' parents were dropped early on.

Q 02/05

Which two teenage gangs fight for control of the neighbourhood in West Side Story?

A) The Jets and the Sharks

B) The Rockets and the Tigers

C) The Kings and the Cobras

D) The Aces and the Wolves

Answer · why

A) The Jets and the Sharks

One gang is white and the other is made up of recent Puerto Rican migrants, and the police spend the show trying to keep them apart.

Q 03/05

Who composed the music for West Side Story?

A) Cole Porter

B) Leonard Bernstein

C) Frederick Loewe

D) Richard Rodgers

Answer · why

B) Leonard Bernstein

He wrote it at the same time as Candide, and material moved between the two scores in both directions.

Q 04/05

The original 1957 Broadway production marked the Broadway debut of which lyricist?

A) Sheldon Harnick

B) Fred Ebb

C) Stephen Sondheim

D) Alan Jay Lerner

Answer · why

C) Stephen Sondheim

He initially resisted taking a lyrics-only job, and it took Oscar Hammerstein to persuade him the experience would be worth it.

Q 05/05

Who wrote the book (the spoken script) of West Side Story?

A) Abe Burrows

B) Arthur Laurents

C) Moss Hart

D) Neil Simon

Answer · why

B) Arthur Laurents

He invented fake-sounding street slang such as 'cut the frabba-jabba' so the dialogue would not date before opening night.