Police Sergeant Krupke is a supporting character in West Side Story. He is a police sergeant who assists Lieutenant Schrank with trying to keep the peace between the Jets and Sharks.
Background[]
Personality[]
Police Sergeant Krupke takes his job in the NYPD seriously. So seriously, in fact, that it causes strain on him. He is viewed as being so hard nosed to the point that he very rarely makes any jokes and thus tends to be the butt of jokes between the Jets and Sharks, ironically the only thing that they can agree on. He is constantly in bad health due to the gang wars and is easily flummoxed by their out of control behavior such as when they made a mess of the entire precinct after getting duped into leaving for a brief moment.
Trivia[]
Prior to Brian d'Arcy James portraying Krupke, he was played by five actors. When the original Broadway show opened back in 1957, Krupke was portrayed by William Bramley and then by Hal Galili when the show opened on the West End the year after. In the 1961 film adaptation, Bramley reprised the role. In the 1980 Broadway revival, he was played by John Bentley, Lee Sellars in the 2009 revival, and then by Danny Wolohan in the 2020 revival.