General Notes:
I am not good at titles. Anyway, for anyone unfamiliar with West Side Story, it's based rather loosely on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (although I always thought Action was more of a Mercutio than Riff -- at least in our production he was). So after agonizing over a title, I decided on "After Romeo and Juliet" because it's post-Tony-and-Maria. As I said, I am not good at titles.
I've always been annoyed by fanfics in English where the dialogue is in another language, since I think it should be assumed that the characters are speaking whatever language they're speaking and non-English words work better for untranslatables or endearments. (Chérie sounds a lot better than "dearie," for example, and it's probably more natural for a French speaker to use than for an English speaker to use "dearie"). After all, when a translator translates, say, Le Fantóme de la opéra, he doesn't translate the main text and leave the dialogue in French. I try to avoid using non-English words except when necessary, although I'm not sure I've succeeded with this fic. Anyway, when characters use Spanish words in this story, it's not to suggest that they're speaking Spanish, but that they're using Spanish words, usually simple ones, or occasionally lapsing entirely into Spanish when angry or frightened. This is supported by canon.
I paired characters up mostly by our production, pretty much guessing according according to which guys danced with which girls the most and where they all were when they stopped dancing. It was an inaccurate science at best, but the only really canon pairings are Anita/Bernardo and Maria/Tony, since Riff can be paired with either Graziella or Velma.
I don't think much of either the movie (re-written songs for no reason, revamped chronology, and mediocre dubbed voices) or the novelization (badly written, simplistic, and soppy), and I have seen only two productions (ours and one other that had lousy set design, lousy costuming, lousy choreography, and a cast that on the whole could neither sing nor act), but I use little tidbits from both movie and novel when it suits me. Most is based on my perceptions of characters major and minor in our production, and a lot of snips are based on backstage banter. One perk to being a techie is that if you're good and efficient, you're also pretty much invisible and have a lot of time to hang around listening to the actors bantering in character.
When referring to "actors" in our production, I am using the term in its unisex connotation. We all had the origins of the word "actress" drummed into us pretty thoroughly in mandatory drama, so I tend not to use it unless I'm really confusing people. Besides, it would be just as confusing to refer to "the actress playing Juano," wouldn't it?
I have to admit that the whole Chino/Anita pairing was not my idea, but rather that of one of those actors, probably Anita.
Prologue and Part I:
How did Chino get off so easily and still manage to be leading the Sharks? Beats me, but it's sort of crucial to the story, so try to suspend disbelief. I'm not sure about parole, but I figure as long as the Sharks weren't out beating people up and vandalizing, and Chino himself behaved, he might have gotten away with it. Then again, I don't know what the murder/manslaughter laws were in 1950s New York. Since it was before mandatory sentencing, I figure Chino got a sympathetic judge. Er. Try to suspend disbelief, okay?
Anita in our production started out with a gorgeous black velvet dance dress in rehearsal and ended up in a white-and-black polka dot thing with red sequins which I thought rather hideous. I put the black velvet dress back, because it's my fic and I can.
Anita's hair is teased because that was one of the Shark/Jet distinctions in our production. The Shark girls (with the exception of Maria), teased their hair (and the actor playing Rosalia told me I didn't want to know how long it took to get the tangles out) and wore eyeliner with exaggerated eyelashes; the Jet girls curled their hair in ringlets and didn't do the eyeliner.
puertorriqueño - a Puerto Rican person (masculine)
hidalgo - a member of the old Spanish nobility; relating to the old Spanish nobility
no sé - I don't know [a fact/piece of information]
un poco - a little (bit); some
Part II:
Chavela is a nickname for Isabel; the character (a member of the dance chorus in our production) was originally unnamed, so I named her. Raquel, Yolanda, and Conchita (a nickname for Concepción) were also unnamed Shark girls or dance chorus whom I named, pretty much randomly, although I think Yolanda's actor chose that name.
I chose Consuela as a spelling for the more traditional Consuelo because it's a tad less confusing (Consuelo is, I believe, the only feminine Spanish proper name ending in 'o').
Everyone knows that Consuela's dumb as a doorpost (no offense intended to anyone who's played her). At least I gave her the good sense to see Pepé's flaws.
Juano's actor thought that Juano was the "nice Shark," so I went with that. For the minor characters, the only personalities I had to go by were how the actors in our production played them or what I could dream up.
Lucía was another nameless Shark girl whom I named, again randomly. She ended up with a slightly larger role than I originally intended, pretty much because I had already established that she was Juano's girl.
The actor playing Clarice in our production really did say "I think Action needs to get some action," and the line was just too perfect to pass up. Although much of this story (including the main Chino/Anita storyline) is inspired by backstage banter, I did not use all of it. Be grateful. For example, I ignored the whole running joke about Krupke being in love with Schrank but transferring his affections to Chino because Schrank was "too distant." I also did not go with the "Anybodys takes over the Jets and Action stays home to mind the kids" storyline (although the idea of Action in a frilly apron has its appeal, as does the idea of Anybodys/Action which I may one day get around to writing). Or the "Velma and Betsey become lesbians" one (though it's rather an amusing thought, mainly because I'm a terrible slashwhore).
por favor - please
¿Estás bien? - Are you OK? (lit. "Are you well?")
sí - yes
querida - dear; darling (feminine form)
señorita - miss
Dios - God
¡Vaya al diablo! - Go to hell! (lit. "Go to the devil!")
Part III:
Chino's original job was as an assistant at a dressmaking factory, according to the novelization, and simply "assistant" according to the musical. Regardless, it's pretty canonical that of the active Sharks and Jets, musical-period, Chino was the nice, responsible one (heck, he had a better job than Tony). I figured that being in jail would sort of cramp that whole job thing, though.
Remember that Chino did not kill Tony at the rumble, or with a switchblade, but much later, at the end of the play, with a gun. This is a nightmare and so does not follow reality. Chino in our production literally tackled Tony before anyone else snapped out of shock. And my mind went: UST! But I could not write it. Darn.
¿Quién es? - Who is it?
sí - yes
verdad - true, correct (in this case like "It is serious, isn't it?")
ese cabrón - that bastard (lit. "that billygoat" or "that
cuckold" - I'm not sure if the slang is period, but it's as close as I
could get)
buenas noches - goodnight
Part IV:
The movie and novelization, as well as what I've heard about most productions, play the scene with Anita and the Jets at Doc's as an attempted rape, sometimes only harassment. In our production, it was clearly rape (by at least Action and A-Rab), and about to turn into murder. For the purposes of this story, I made the rape only Action.
señorita - miss
es verdad - it's the truth
norteamericano - a citizen of the U.S. (to Spanish-speakers, South and Central America are also America, so it's important to specify)
vámonos a casa - let's go home
Part V:
We all remember Anita's Black Orchid bubble bath, don't we?
And Chino is, of course, a virgin.
no puedo - I can't
¡Por Dios! - oh, God! (lit. "for God!" or "by God!")
soy nada - I am nothing
Sólo un poco más de una puta - little better than a whore (lit. "only a little more than a whore")
Part VI:
I find Maria rather shallow for going and sleeping with Tony right after he kills her brother, even if Bernardo is a jerk who was looking for it. This was an attempt to understand her. I don't particularly like her, if you can't tell.
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