re: #1362 Occasional Reader

Heh. I remember when my high school staged West Side Story. The “Jets” were mostly the typical artsy “music room” crowd who were in all the school musicals and plays. For the “Sharks”, the music teacher made an active (and successful) effort to recruit some of the tough black and Latino kids, who ordinarily eschewed theater. The resulting “rumble” scenes looked awfully one-sided.

Having only one black student in our class, (though his Mom was white, like a certain Black President I could mention), they cast the vaguely Italian kids as the Sharks. Us Northern European kids were the Jets.

One more thing about West Side Story. Tony runs through the streets of Spanish Harlem shouting “Maria! Maria!” & only one girl comes to her window? He should have been trampled like there was a sale at Filene’s Basement!