Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
60 free West Side Story trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This West Side Story trivia quiz covers all three lives of the show: Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents' 1957 Broadway musical, the 1961 film that won ten Academy Awards, and Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake. The easy questions handle the basics: the Shakespeare play behind it, the names of the two gangs, who Tony and Maria are, and where the story is set. The harder end is for musical theatre obsessives: the abandoned East Side Story draft about Catholic and Jewish families, the songs Bernstein swapped with Candide, why Columbia Records made Sondheim change the last line of one number, which singer secretly dubbed Natalie Wood, why the Krupke and Cool numbers switched places on film, and which record-setting firsts Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose achieved playing the same role sixty years apart. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries for the musical, both films, the individual songs and the key performers before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, our Broadway musicals, Shakespeare and Best Picture winners quizzes are natural next stops.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01West Side Story is inspired by which Shakespeare play?
Romeo and Juliet
Laurents' first draft followed the play closely, but the Rosaline character and the lovers' parents were dropped early on.
Q 02Which two teenage gangs fight for control of the neighbourhood in West Side Story?
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 03Who composed the music for West Side Story?
Leonard Bernstein
He wrote it at the same time as Candide, and material moved between the two scores in both directions.
Q 04The original 1957 Broadway production marked the Broadway debut of which lyricist?
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 05Who wrote the book (the spoken script) of West Side Story?
Arthur Laurents
He invented fake-sounding street slang such as 'cut the frabba-jabba' so the dialogue would not date before opening night.
Q 06Who conceived West Side Story and directed and choreographed the original production?
Jerome Robbins
He demanded the 'Conceived by' credit and used it to push through changes without consulting his collaborators, who were not speaking to him by opening night.
Q 07Maria is the sister of the leader of the Sharks; what is his name?
Bernardo
He agrees to a fair fist fight but ends up in a switchblade duel that leaves both gang leaders dead before the first-act curtain.
Q 08Who is the leader of the Jets and Tony's best friend?
Riff
When the Sharks' leader shoves Tony at the rumble, it is the Jets' leader who throws the first punch in his friend's defence.
Q 09Robbins' original 1949 idea for the show set the feud between which two groups on the Lower East Side?
A Catholic family and a Jewish family
That draft, titled East Side Story, was shelved for nearly five years once the team realised it echoed the old play Abie's Irish Rose.
Q 10Which songwriting duo turned down the West Side Story lyrics job to work on Peter Pan instead?
Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Their refusal opened the door for Laurents to ask a young Sondheim, whom he had met at a party for an Ugo Betti play.
Q 11'One Hand, One Heart' was originally intended for which character in Bernstein's Candide?
Cunegonde
The traffic ran both ways: the tune of 'Gee, Officer Krupke' was lifted from Candide's Venice scene.
Q 12Which song was written to replace 'One Hand, One Heart' in the fire-escape balcony scene?
Tonight
Laurents thought the original choice too pristine for hot-blooded young lovers, and Hammerstein helped him win the argument.
Q 13Which song was cut in the Washington tryout for making the show ordinary musical comedy?
Kid Stuff
Laurents also thought 'America' and 'I Feel Pretty' were too witty for their characters, but was outvoted and both became favourites.
Q 21How many performances did the original Broadway production run before closing in June 1959?
732
The London production actually ran longer, clocking up 1,039 performances at Her Majesty's Theatre.
Q 22Of six 1958 Tony nominations, the original production won two: choreography for Robbins and scenic design for whom?
Oliver Smith
His painted backdrops were praised, though Prince had refused to fund new sets when the built scenery looked shabby.
Q 23Sondheim's only musical contribution to West Side Story was developing the chorus of which song?
Something's Coming
Rumours that Sondheim wrote more music while Bernstein was off fixing Candide have been rejected by theatre historian Steven Suskin.
Q 14Which actor did Laurents originally want for the role of Tony, before the actor's death?
James Dean
Sondheim eventually found the two performers who created Tony and Anita on Broadway.
Q 15Which producing partner of Robert E. Griffith took on the show others had called too dark?
Hal Prince
His mentor George Abbott advised him to turn it down; Prince ignored him and later recalled singing along as Sondheim and Bernstein played the score.
Q 16Robbins agreed to choreograph only after getting a dance rehearsal period of how many weeks, double the norm?
Eight
There was to be more dancing than in any previous Broadway show, and Robbins was allowed to hire Peter Gennaro as his assistant.
Q 17The original Broadway production opened on September 26, 1957 at which Broadway house?
Winter Garden
It ran for 732 performances, then returned to the same house in 1960 for another 249 after a national tour.
Q 18Which record label initially refused to record the original cast album, calling the score too depressing?
Columbia Records
The same label later balked at Sondheim's original profane last line for 'Gee, Officer Krupke' over state obscenity laws.
Q 19Who created the role of Anita in the original 1957 Broadway cast?
Chita Rivera
She reprised the part in London in 1958 and went on to become the first Latina Kennedy Center honoree in 2002.
Q 20Who played Maria in the original Broadway West Side Story, and lost the film role for being 'too old' at 29?
Carol Lawrence
Robbins pushed for her to repeat the role on screen, but the producers changed their minds after seeing her screen test.
Q 24Bernstein's 1960 orchestral suite drawn from the show is titled what?
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
It premiered at Carnegie Hall in February 1961 with the New York Philharmonic under Lukas Foss, not Bernstein himself.
Q 25Which two opera singers starred as Tony and Maria on Bernstein's 1985 studio recording of the score?
José Carreras and Kiri Te Kanawa
It was the composer's only recording of his own complete score, made with the New York Philharmonic.
Q 26The 2009 Broadway revival wove Spanish into the show using translations by which Tony winner?
Lin-Manuel Miranda
'I Feel Pretty' became 'Me siento hermosa' and 'A Boy Like That' became 'Un hombre así', though the English returned midway through the run.
Q 27The 2020 Broadway revival, which cut 'I Feel Pretty', was directed by which avant-garde Belgian director?
Ivo van Hove
It opened on February 20, 2020 and gave its last performance on March 11, when the pandemic shut Broadway down.
Q 28The 1961 West Side Story film was co-directed by Jerome Robbins and which Hollywood director?
Robert Wise
Wise fired Robbins when the film fell 24 days behind schedule after 45 days of shooting, but still insisted he share directing credit.
Q 29How many Academy Awards did the 1961 film win from its 11 nominations?
10
It remains the record holder for the most Oscar wins by a musical, and Robbins also received a special award for his choreography.
Q 30The 1961 film was the first to share which Academy Award between two people?
Best Director
Wise personally collected the statuettes for both Best Picture and Best Director that night.