Bernardo: A Puerto Rican migrant and founder/leader of the Sharks, a Hispanic street gang who are in the midst of a turf war with their archenemies, the Jets. He is the older brother of Maria and is Anita's boyfriend.
Chakiris
George Chakiris
Film (1961)
I'd been playing Riff in the London stage show for over a year when the movie was announced. They were floating names like Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, Warren Beatty and Robert Redford. So none of us thought in our wildest dreams we'd be cast.
Five of us were invited to do a test scene, so we stole our stage costumes and went to Elstree for the day. Weeks went by and then I got a call from Robbins, who asked me out to LA. They wanted me to be Bernardo.. None of us put on very heavy Puerto Rican accents. The danger in going too strong is that it will show up the cracks. Rita Moreno, who played Anita, is Puerto Rican, so we all turned to her if we had trouble pronouncing our lines.
George Chakiris
Ken Le Roy
Original Broadway
Cast
Winter Garden Theatre
(Sep 26, 1957 - Feb 28, 1959)
Broadway Theatre
(Mar 02, 1959 - May 10, 1959)
Winter Garden Theatre
(May 11, 1959 - Jun 27, 1959)
Marcy & Bob Kole
George Marcy
Broadway
Winter Garden Theatre
(Apr 27, 1960 - Oct 22, 1960)
Alvin Theatre
(Oct 24, 1960 - Dec 10, 1960)
Norman in 1961 film
Jay Norman
Broadway
City Center
(Apr 08, 1964 - May 03, 1964)
Mercado
Héctor Jaime Mercado
Broadway Revival
Minskoff Theatre
(Feb 14, 1980 - Nov 30, 1980)
Akram
George Akram
Broadway Revival
Palace Theatre
(Mar 19, 2009 - Jan 02, 2011)
I think my favorite Bernardo has to be George Akram. I unfortunately never saw him on stage, but I did see the show on-line after falling in love with the cast after watching their 2009 appearance (above) on the Tony Awards. Akram and Karen Olivo make a stunning dancing pair as Bernardo and Anita.
Akram with John Arthur Greene
It was maybe a good thing that Amar Ramasar (below) had his stint in the 2020 cut short by the pandemic. Before the show even opened, the show had protesters angry at his casting. Ramasar, a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, was fired in 2018 for his alleged involvement in a scandal involving explicit photos of another dancer. After being fired from the NYC Ballet, Ramasar was eventually reinstated the following year after his union, the American Guild of Musical Artists, intervened
Amar Ramasar
Broadway Revival
Broadway Theatre
(Feb 20, 2020 - Mar 11, 2020)
Alvarez
David Alvarez
Film (2021)
Alvarez in American Rust
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