Zeffirelli’s Defiant Interpretation of Romeo and Juliet

Robbins’s musical was perhaps the only available adaptation of Romeo and Juliet after which Zeffirelli could pattern his directorial vision; the only major precedents were Cukor’s 1936 production, led by a 43 year-old Romeo and a 32 year-old Juliet and Castellani’s 1954 production which, despite lush production and young actors, saw little commercial success.West Side Story, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1961 and had seen two separate Broadway revivals in the previous decade, had certainly entered the zeitgeist by 1968 and thus could reasonably serve as an influence for Zeffirelli. Also contributing to Zeffirelli’s interest in West Side Story was his longtime friendship with Leonard Bernstein, the musical’s composer—most notably, Bernstein conducted Zeffirelli’s production of Verdi’s Falstaff at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1964, an adaptation noted for its modernization and popularization of the opera.

Thus, the influence is definite and noticeably acknowledged by Zeffirelli as early as the opening shot—an aerial view of misty Verona that recalls Robbins’s famous opening shots passing over Manhattan. Other direct parallels between the two films include the contrivance of a dance in two circles, divided by gender, as a means of introducing the two lovers and an ending funeral procession choreographed to include both houses, Capulet and Montague, Jet and Shark, following the bodies in a two-by-two line to imply some sort of peaceable reunion.Ultimately, the freshness, boldness, and overall dynamism that both Zeffirelli and Robbins bring to their films can be traced to their common answer to what is perhaps the text's most pressing question: Who is responsible for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet? Is it fate, as the prologue's famous "star-cross'd lovers"

(I. 0. 6) passage would suggest? Is it the lovers' lust, rashness, and impatience, defining them both as tragic heroes destroyed by their own impetuosity?Romeo certainly admits this quality upon confronting Paris in the tomb, making reference to his own condition as "a madman's mercy" (V.

ii. 67), and Juliet’s “Gallop apace” soliloquy pleads for the mad deity Phaeton to speed the arrival of night, revealing her own impatience (III. ii. 1-6). Both Zeffirelli and Robbins explore a third possibility—that the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is rooted in the hostile, unsuitable environment of Verona—in essence, it is the tragedy of a society by the untimely end of two of its most innocent, cherished youth.

This interpretation is certainly supported by Shakespeare’s text: near the conclusion of the play, the Prince explicitly blames the families, describing “what a scourge is laid upon your hate that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love…all are punish’d” (V. ii. 292-252). However, in West Side Story, playwrights Robert Griffith and Harold Prince explore this corrupt society further by setting the tragedy not merely as a conflict between the lovers and their families, but between the youth culture and the adults who, despite being in positions of authority, seem harsh, ineffective, and distant in these positions.This, then, is the root of the "youthful" aura surrounding West Side Story—rather than a conflict between the Jets and the Sharks, it is a conflict between two generations where all the clear heroes belong to the younger and all the clear villains belong to the older. It is an exaltation of the youth culture and a condemnation of authority for failing to provide

this culture with order or acceptance in a changing and difficult society.

Again, this filmic interpretation takes precedent in the final stage direction of the original script for West Side Story: “The adults—Doc, Schrank, Krupke, Glad Hand—are left onstage, bowed, alone, useless. ” The power of “useless” as the final word in the script and emphasis placed on this final image of the adults suggests that this generational conflict is truly the conceptual root of the production.Griffith and Prince first highlight the youth culture by effectively removing the family dimension of Romeo and Juliet, nearly excising any reference that Tony or Maria in fact has a family. The only two mentions come briefly as Maria’s father calls to her during “Tonight” and as the lovers plan their wedding prior to “One Hand, One Heart”–even here, however, their parents are represented by headless mannequins and thus the suggestion of connection between parent and child is barely made, if at all.

Lord and Lady Montague have few lines in Shakespeare’s text and thus little alteration is required in Tony’s case; however, Juliet’s parents have several important scenes in Romeo and Juliet, particularly their Act III, Scene v quarrel with Juliet. Griffith and Robbins handle this possible inconsistency by incorporating aspects of the Capulets into other characters: Bernardo has both the controlling nature of Lord Capulet and ill temper of Tybalt, while Anita seemingly alternates between acting as Maria’s elder sister and her mother.As hybrid young/old characters, Bernardo and Anita can still exercise limited authority over Maria, but also, as in the mambo scene, appear youthful, athletic and exciting, thereby preserving the some of the vibrancy of the film. Thus,

with effectively no families, the primary source of authority in the lives of the protagonists is the law—specifically, Lt. Schrank, introduced in the first minutes of the film. However, far from Shakespeare's Prince, a seemingly impartial and confused arbiter of the law, Schrank is decidedly corrupt.

Presumably, the main defects of the gang culture are violence, irresponsibility, and racism. However, in his brief appearances in the film, Schrank reveals himself to be replete with all three of these qualities—he refers to the Sharks as “trash,” “spics,” “half-breeds,” and “gold-teeth,” threatens to “beat the livin’ crud out of every one of” the Jets, and mere minutes after his introduction, declares his lack of concern for the gangs with, “if you wanna kill each other, kill each other, just don’t do it on my beat. So despicable is Schrank that the warring gangs unite against him both in the prologue and in Doc’s store, making him the clearest villain in the film and emphasizing the dichotomy between youth and authority. While Zeffirelli's Prince is not so complete a failure, actor Robert Stephens yells nearly every line, displaying a short temper and lack of control over Verona’s citizenry. This tendency toward loud, scolding speech continues even at the ending funeral procession, a setting which might lend itself to a quiet, introspective authority rather than a harsh berating of the families.Zeffirelli instead incorporates Schrank’s most prominent flaws into Juliet's father, who in a clear ironic contrast to Lady Capulet’s innocuously consoling “thou hast a careful father” (III.

v. 107) displays tremendous temper and violence throughout the film. Capulet seemingly possesses an unusual propensity toward throwing people against walls—Tybalt in the

dance scene and Juliet in her quarrel with him—and, as a result of his imposing stature and frequently black attire, seems to be almost a menace to the youth in the film.Even the adults who originally assist in the lovers’ cause, Friar Laurence and Doc, eventually prove themselves to be dispassionate, unreliable, and ineffectual.

In particular, the Friar reveals his coldness in Act III, Scene iii when, immediately after Romeo attempts to stab himself, he berates Romeo’s “womanish tears” and “unreasonable fury” (III. iii. 111-113), delivering a patronizing, condescending diatribe rather than a consolatory, hopeful description of the future to diffuse Romeo’s madness.In West Side Story, Doc more earnestly attempts to understand and facilitate the youth culture; however, he eventually admits ignorance, and indifference, and prejudices against the youth.

Parallel to the Friar, he rejects Tony’s dreams at the greatest moment of need: when delivering the news of Maria’s death, Doc slaps Tony, condescendingly commands him to “wake up,” condemns the youth culture’s violence distances himself from Tony by describing his inability to “get through to you [kids],” and then unceremoniously declares “Chino found out about you—and shot her. While more compassion at this point might have prevented Tony’s subsequent rage, Tony instead is so stunned that he rejects Doc’s limply opened arms and runs out into the streets, effectively committing suicide. Additionally, he most impassioned and explicit statement of West Side Story's youth/authority theme is in response to Doc. After witnessing Anita’s near-rape at the hands of the Jets and learning of Maria’s death, Doc declares, “You [kids] make this world lousy,” to which A-Rab responds, “We didn’t make it that way, Doc.

In

the script for stage version, Action lays still more blame on authority, instead adding, “That’s the way we found it, Doc. ” The most malleable characters, then, in this youth/adult framework are the Nurse and her West Side Story analogue, Anita. As previously described, while the Nurse is merely sympathetic to Juliet and the Verona youth culture, Anita is an actual member of the youth culture who happens to act occasionally as a mother figure.This distinction is emphasized in parallelism between the two bedroom scenes. The Nurse first protects Juliet from her parents both in her argument and, in Zeffirelli’s production, physically, but later rejects her by extolling the virtues of marriage to Paris.

Anita, in contrast, begins the scene by accusing Maria and describing Tony as “one of them,” then eventually recognizing Maria’s perspective by joining with her to harmonize, “when love comes so strong, there is no right or wrong, your love is your love. Minutes later, she attempts to protect Maria from Schrank’s inquiry, then leaves to deliver a message to Tony, effectively inverting completely the Nurse’s actions in Romeo and Juliet. Anita’s subsequent betrayal at Doc’s store is thematically inconsequential; it represents a reaction to the Jets’ antagonism then a rejection of idealistic love or the youth culture, and does not change her exit with the youth rather than the adults at the play’s closing.Thus, with the thematic crux of each of their films relying on the conflict between youth and authority, both Robbins and Zeffirelli establish a clear dichotomy between the teenagers and adults as early in their films as possible. In particular, each director establishes and describes the youth

and innocence of the female lead nearly to the point of creating an exaggerated, childlike portrayal.Robbins does so by placing Anita as an experienced and matronly dramatic foil for Maria, engaged in the distinctly maternal task of sewing her dress—the conversation quickly loses its subtlety of purpose and culminates in Maria's near-whining declaration of "White is for babies! " prior to her excited approval of the dress only seconds later.

The dress shop choreography of “I Feel Pretty,” which is moved earlier in the film than in the stage show, also gives the impression of a little girl playing “dress-up” with her friends.Zeffirelli, bound to Shakespeare’s text, is forced to portray Juliet’s youth with slightly more subtlety; however, he effectively stresses the Nurse’s insistence that Juliet is only thirteen by excising much of the other text in Act I, Scene iii. Zeffirelli also creates a striking visual image in the same scene as Juliet leaps into the Nurse’s arms on the line “Thou wast the prettiest babe e’er I nurs’d”—the immaturity of the action and literal meaning of the word “babe” give the impression that Juliet might be three years old rather than thirteen.The two directors also emphasize youth in their striking portrayals of the loss of youth. While the fights of both films are fairly intense, both houses and gangs seem to shy from any excess violence on multiple occasions—Tybalt makes a point of not harming Mercutio despite having his sword pointed at Mercutio’s throat midway through their duel, and at the end of the prologue the Sharks surround Action and throw him on the ground, yet do nothing more violent than unwillingly piercing

his ear.

Both of these actions serve essentially the same purpose: they rob Mercutio and Action of pride and perhaps some masculinity in a cultures that seem to be dominated by males and a strictly defined framework of social status. Thus, while the gangs and houses may hate each other in name, their conflict seems to be much more social than physical. Thus, appropriately, in both films the youths react to their loss of innocence, the violent deaths of Mercutio and Riff, with utter confusion.Both Zeffirelli and Robbins clearly display the blood on the sword and switchblade, emphasizing it as an incredible turning point in the youth culture itself.

Tybalt himself, despite stabbing someone in the face during the Romeo and Juliet’s first fight, looks upon his bloody sword with disbelief, discomfort, and almost nausea after what seems to be an accidental penetration of Mercutio. Similarly, Riff’s expression upon being stabbed by Bernardo is not so much anger or sadness as shock—prior to this, it seems, the gangs had fought violently for months, but no gang member had ever really been hurt.The gravity of this moment also draws strength from Robbins’ choreography, which effectively stops all motion and focuses on riffs expression, and Bernstein’s score, which breaks from the thick, frenzied fanfare of the rumble to a single sustained, nearly shrieking marimba note. If the youth culture is essentially good and its violence strictly accidental, then these two films should support the thematic exaltation of youth with bombastic and energetic presentation. Unsurprisingly, Zeffirelli's execution is, with respect to both style and content, very similar to Robbins's.One specific motif that dominates both productions is the phenomenon of

empty space.

At various points during both films, young characters enter into huge, empty spaces from previously close shots, giving the impression of the youth's loneliness and alienation from society, as well as their helplessness in the face of the huge, imposing, and hopeless world. Zeffirelli most noticeably uses this technique during Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech, depicting his madness and vulnerability as he leaves the torchlight of his friends and runs into the vast darkness, yelling “This is she! He also places considerable distance between the lovers at their first parting in Act II, Scene ii—Juliet walks from the extreme foreground of the scene a considerable distance to the rear wall, then up another flight of steps and still farther back into her bedroom. Since the camera does not move here, the scene appears to be shot from Romeo’s point of view, thus the audience effectively feels his dismay as he realizes the extreme distance between himself and Juliet.Robbins incorporates empty space into West Side Story much more frequently, to the point that the camera appears to be an entirely separate and selective observer of the production.

Most effectively, the fire escape scene is both introduced and closed by a shot taken from the entrance of the alley that Maria’s fire escape overlooks—in both cases, the lovers, dressed in white and gold with only a few lights from nearby windows, are dwarfed by the darkness of cold, wet, and black Manhattan.Appropriately, on their meeting, they sing of an imagined world that is “wild and bright; going mad, shooting sparks into space. ” Robbins also creates empty space between the lovers during the dance at the

gymnasium, placing them on opposite sides of the room and blurring the passionate dancing going on between them. With the remainder of the scene dissolving into red, Tony and Maria appear to be alone in a new, bright world created by their own love—an idea certainly reflected later in the lyrics of “Somewhere. Zeffirelli uses this blurring technique in his own dance scene as Romeo and Juliet wander through the dance, seeking each other out.

While other citizens of Verona certainly exist at the dance, they seem to be of little importance now; the focus is both literally and figuratively on Romeo and Juliet. Also contributing to this particular youthfulness of both productions is the incorporation, and perhaps even stylistic reliance on song.While Leonard Bernstein conceived West Side Story's score as that of a musical, it seems almost operatic in its repetition of themes throughout—“Maria” is played in a lush style over Tony and Maria's wedding, and "Somewhere" appears in a reverent rearrangement during Tony's funeral procession. Similarly, composer Nino Rota seemingly uses his original composition “What Is a Youth? ” as the basis for Romeo and Juliet's entire score, tying together otherwise unrelated scenes with common musical themes.Rota goes so far as to set his familiar melody in the style of a liturgical work during Juliet's wedding and as a hymn sung by altar boys during her funeral.

The similarity between the original (unused) lyrics for “What Is a Youth? ” and Stephen Sondheim's for “Somewhere”—“A time for us / Someday there’ll be … a world of shining hope for you and me” compared with “There’s a time for us / A day and

time for us … somewhere there must be a place for you and for me. ”—seems to inextricably link the intentions of the two lyricists, and more generally the overall thematic directions of the two films.Thus, almost every aspect of Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet that seems revolutionary--his casting of young actors, his staging as a traditional Hollywood romance, his vibrant costuming, reliance on music, and most evidently his slightly nontraditional interpretation of the nature of its tragedy—seem to take root in Robbins's West Side Story. As a personal friend and colleague of Leonard Bernstein, Zeffirelli was clearly conscious of this—several scenes even contain direct parallels to West Side Story, an acknowledgment if not a tribute to the earlier work.This is not, however, to imply that Zeffirelli is derivative; indeed, Robbins and all others involved in the production of West Side Story had the freedom of selecting a modern-day setting, writing more contemporary dialogue, and even altering the course of Shakespeare's narrative entirely in many places, whereas Zeffirelli’s ability to execute this radical change in style with nearly all of Shakespeare's original text intact is astounding in itself.Nevertheless, the very conception of a modern, youthful Romeo and Juliet, with two innocent, almost child-like lovers struggling in a harsh, hopeless world controlled by violent, ineffective and cruel adult figures of authority no doubt takes its roots from a 1961 musical.