Can love like theirs exist?

Tony says “somewhere,” but Maria says “someday.” In Westside Story’s musical number, “Somewhere,” Tony and Maria sing to each other about the possibility of their relationship surviving in the future. Knowing that the story is based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, I first took the words in this song to mean that the “time and place for [Tony and Maria]” exists only in the afterlife, and that the two characters must die in order to live together in “peace and quiet and open air.” I considered the characters’ idea of Heaven to be a place “where nothing can get to [them].” All of these images seem to point towards afterlife. However, knowing the movie’s cultural commentary, the idea behind the song “Somewhere” could have a much different meaning.

Because this movie was released in 1961, during the Civil Rights Movement, a strong emphasis on race exists within the context of Westside Story. Tony and Maria are not just two teenagers from feuding families. Rather, they are two teenagers from feuding races. The second-generation European descendents despise the first-generation Puerto Rican immigrants, and Tony and Maria fall in love despite the heated controversy. In this sense, the song “Somewhere” argues that Tony and Maria each represent their culture, and after the Civil Rights Movement, when racism begins to subside, “there’s a place for” interracial couples like Tony and Maria. Interestingly, Maria does not sing about the place (Heaven) for the couple, but she sings that “there’s a time for [them], someday a time for [them].” This change in direction possibly refers to the future of Civil Rights in the United States. Once racism and segregation diminish, interracial couples will be able to exist without the fear of violence.

In class, we discussed the difference between Romeo and Juliet and Westside Story. Someone brought our attention to the fact that Tony and Maria must overcome the differences of an issue much larger than two different last names. They must overcome the racial violence and segregation of the time period in order for their relationship to survive. In the end of the movie, Tony dies, causing an abrupt end to their relationship. However, the cultural idea of Civil Rights leads people in the United States to “find a new way of living” and come to accept love between men and women of different races.