The books of Ruth and Jonah are both short, vivid stories from the late second temple period that reuse and play with other biblical texts to add depth to characters, critique traditions, and dramatize theological arguments.

The contrast between the glory and splendor of King Solomon’s succession and reign at the beginning of the book of Kings and the “exile” or captivity of King Jehoiachin by the Babylonians at the end points to one of the central themes of the book: the collapse of the monarchy descended from the line of David.

Paul’s letters reflect levels of stories and are embedded in God’s grand narrative of creation and new creation

The journey through the wilderness ends with the people of Israel in the land of promise, but it is fraught with snares and temptations in the turbulent books of Joshua and Judges.

The essay focuses on the career of playwright Arthur Laurents from his graduation from college to the opening of West Side Story, including discussions of his early plays and screenplays as well as his involvement in the development of the classic musical.

As a dramaturg who specialises in adaptations for the stage, Jane Barnette considers West Side Story in light of its source, Romeo and Juliet. There are many different ways to focus dramaturgical work for theatrical adaptations, depending on the specific needs of the work in question. Although the entirety of any dramaturgical approach for West Side Story ultimately depends on the approach taken by the director and creative team behind a particular production, in this essay, Barnette grounds her initial inquiry regarding the relationship of West Side Story to Romeo and Juliet in questions central to adapturgy itself. Specifically, she examines the ‘spirit of the source’, as well as the pleasures available for spectators familiar with the source material. Finally, she questions the geography of adaptation–how questions of time and space figure into comparisons between the texts–as well as their production histories.

From the 1940s into the late 1950s, juvenile delinquency was a real and potent threat to Americans. Gang violence, especially in large centres like New York, threatened the fabric of society and local communities. A series of artistic responses, from films to novels, attempted to address the problem and the reasons why teens became delinquent. Ultimately, West Side Story addressed the phenomenon for the first time in musical theatre terms, but it also galvanized original audiences with its gritty and realistic portrayal of crime in the streets. Although the musical has come to be seen as tame by today’s standards, it was cutting-edge entertainment in its time and fitted in with other contemporary portrayals of gang violence and its outcomes.

The production of West Side Story at the Vienna Volksoper in 1968 contributed to the rise of the Austrian metropolis as a European centre of American musical theatre. As this chapter shows, the main link between Bernstein, Broadway, and Vienna was Marcel Prawy (1911–2003), a well-known Austrian dramaturg, opera connoisseur, and critic. Prawy created a German adaptation of West Side Story, and in it he imputed Central European cultural viewpoints and preferences into the American artform, particularly in its representation of ethnic conflicts. The differences between Prawy’s German adaptation and the English original suggest that Prawy was concerned about making the American work more understandable for Viennese audiences not only through his approach to language and the poetic properties of the lyrics, but also by subtle but significant changes of the work’s meaning. Most prominently, Prawy aimed at increasing the Broadway work’s exoticist elements.

This chapter explores practices and trends in Hispanic representation and casting in historic productions of West Side Story, particularly the 1957 Broadway production directed by Jerome Robbins, and the 1961 film directed by Robert Wise. Representation of the Puerto Rican ‘Sharks’ has been debated from sociological and cultural studies perspectives. Casting practices showing differentiation between the characters Anita and Maria as agents–sexually and racially–along with the problem of ‘racial profiling’ of Puerto Rican characters (including ‘brown face,’ homogenous accents, hairstyles, and colour) indicate ambivalent approaches toward these roles. Subsequent productions of West Side Story, including 1980 and 2009 Broadway revivals, and the 2012 intersection in the television series Glee, reproduce these practices. The chapter also explores how recent productions, including the 2020 Broadway revival directed by Ivo van Hove and !the 2021 film remake directed by Steven Spielberg, have made efforts to positively revise casting and representation issues.