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Interpreting the Evidence

Record for West Side Story

  • Documents in this Activity:
  • Historical Eras:

    Postwar United States (1945 - 1970)

  • Thinking Skill:

    Historical Analysis & Interpretation

  • Grade Level:

    Middle School

  • Topics:

    Community
    LGBTQ+

  • Primary Source Types:

    Image

  • Regions:

    New York City
    New York State
    United States

  • Creator:

    NYS Archives Partnership Trust Education Team

  1. Load Record, West Side Story, Original Cast Recording in Main Image Viewer

Suggested Teaching Instructions

Opened in 1957, the original Broadway production of West Side Story featured the work of a production team that was all part of the LGBTQ+ community: director and choreographer Jerome Robbins, composer Leonard Bernstein, librettist Arthur Laurents, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, scenic designer Oliver Smith, costume designer Irene Sharaff and lighting designer Jean Rosenthal. In addition to LGBTQ+ representation within the creative team, the musical featured the character Anybodys—a butch girl who tries to join the male Jets. The role has been interpreted variously as a transgender boy, a butch lesbian, and a cisgender girl fighting gender norms.

Learning Standards: 
11.10 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE/DOMESTIC ISSUES (1945 – present): Racial, gender, and socioeconomic inequalities were addressed by individuals, groups, and organizations. Varying political philosophies prompted debates over the role of the federal government in regulating the economy and providing a social safety net. (Standards: 1, 4, 5; Themes: ID, TCC, SOC, GOV, CIV, ECO)
11.10b Individuals, diverse groups, and organizations have sought to bring about change in American society through a variety of methods.
Gay Rights and the LGBT movement (e.g., Stonewall Inn riots [1969], efforts for equal legal rights)

8.9 DOMESTIC POLITICS AND REFORM: The civil rights movement and the Great Society were attempts by people and the government to address major social, legal, economic, and environmental problems. Subsequent economic recession called for a new economic program. (Standards: 1, 4, 5; Themes: TCC, SOC, CIV, ECO)
8.9b The civil rights movement prompted renewed efforts for equality by women and other groups.
Students will examine struggles for equality and factors that enabled or limited success on behalf of women, farm workers, Native Americans, the disabled, and the LGBT community.