This:
In the end, as the story mirrors the old tragic play, it is more probable, it means some people won't catch the next morning.
was part of what Tony was predicting in the song "
Something's Coming
", and what both Tony
and
Maria were predicting in the song
"Tonight"
.

If we link WSS to Romeo and Juliet, the absence on of morning star could mean, the subjects won't be able to meet the morning star as they end their lives before that.
Out of this context, I may say that black cloud may cover the morning star. The link between dark clouds and a troubled outcome is well established in literature, only there is more mystery since clouds are not mentioned.
In the end, as the story mirrors the old tragic play, it is more probable, it means some people won't catch the next morning.

I never considered the irony in this phrase, but you've made a good point, dmnemaine.
West Side Story
, as a movie-musical, has a lot of ironies in it, generally.

You have to take the lyric in context.
"Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night.
Tonight there will be no morning star.
Tonight, tonight, I'll see my love tonight,
And for us, stars will stop where they are.
Today, the minutes seem like hours,
The hours go so slowly, and still the sky is light.
Oh, Moon, grow bright, and make this endless day endless night
Tonight".
Tony and Maria are anticipating the evening to come. Tony is supposed to go and stop the rumble and then they'll be free to have their magical night of love together. The "morning star" is the last star in the night sky before dawn. They young people want their night of love to go on forever and are wishing for the next day never to come. In a tragic irony, the couple does get their wish. Their love never sees the light of the next day.

Incidentally the scene in the bridal shop in which they sing One Hand, One Heart is based on the scene in R&J in which Friar Lawrence unites them in marriage. In some cultures, the fact that they took vows to each other makes them married.
The first time our family watched this on tv, my Spanish father commented: "They are married now." He was extremely solemn about it, which indicates not only that he understood that to be the case but that the story and scene had affected him.

I've never read
Romeo and Juliet
in depth, but I do see the comparison, now that you've mentioned it, jabell.
Now that I've read other posters' opinions of the meaning of the phrase "Tonight there will be no morning star.", I realize that it can mean either or, if one gets the drift. One can compare it with that particular part of
Romeo and Juliet
, in that Maria, like Juliette, doesn't want the morning to come, and that their night together will never end.
I
do
stand by my position, however, that the difference is that the love between Maria and Tony, while it still stands strong, will never see the light of day, if one gets the drift.

You have to remember that West Side Story is based on Romeo & Juliet, and that scene is based on the scene in the play in which Romeo (Tony), having killed Tybalt (Bernardo), who had killed Mercutio (Riff) when Romeo was trying to end the fight, is banished to Verona. He & his wife Juliet (Maria) have spent the night together, and she wants him to stay longer. She tells him it is still night. He says that they can hear the lark singing, and she says that it is not the lark, it is the nightingale. This is what Maria means. She does not want morning to come and Tony to have to leave to turn himself in for killing Bernardo. So she sings that there will be no morning star and their night together will never end.
Incidentally the scene in the bridal shop in which they sing One Hand, One Heart is based on the scene in R&J in which Friar Lawrence unites them in marriage. In some cultures, the fact that they took vows to each other makes them married.
Boo Hoo! Let me wipe away the tears with my PLASTIC hand!Lindsey McDonald (Angel)

Thank you for some great, good points, JujusFlix! One also must bear in mind, however, that
West Side Story
was actually
based
on Shakespeare's
Romeo & Juliet
.

Long time in answering here but imho, this phrase hearkens to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, in the scene after the couple spend their first night together. They go back and forth play-arguing whether or not morning has come (to paraphrase: "It is the Nightingale not the Lark that sings!"). This is because the night has been their moment - their safe haven. The day brings only troubles they must face (specifically, arrest and death for Romeo). The same I think is being hinted at for Maria and Tony, though they haven't arrived at that point of Tony being a target yet, the song is foreshadowing what is come. They will have to face troubles in the light of day and "no morning star" means they will linger in the night - or thier
moment
forever.
"Good times, noodle salad"

Hey, just read this, after I replied! That was my take on it too.
"Good times, noodle salad"

That's how I interpret it as well. Really a clever lyric on Sondheim's part as it mirrors the conversation between Romeo and Juliet about whether they are hearing a lark or a nightingale.

I see what you're saying about Tony and Maria's optimistic, romantic love of each other and how happy they are at the present, but I think that, at some level, both Tony and Maria know that their love will not see the light of daythat it will be blown apart by the hatred of the two gangs, and it came true.

It's true enough, but Tony and Maria are the ones singing and they don't know that Tony will die. So what they mean when they sing it is what Weber says - they don't want the night to end because they're so happy.
Maybe another way to look at is that they don't want the night to end because they're happy right now, but they know that reality will intrude in the morning. Tonight they can enjoy their love, but tomorrow they'll have to work on how they can have a life together. IMHO you read too much into it when you suggest that it shows they're aware that their love is doomed.

This:
they want to remain in their blissfully oblivious world where its just the two of them forever, yet within that song we see all the forces that are going to tear them apart coming to a head.
is a good point that cuts right to the quick, if one gets the drift. The forces that will tear Tony and Maria apart are what will prevent any morning star from emerging. Inotherwords, Tony and Maria's love will not see the light of day.

I always thought that line was relatively straightforwardTony and Maria plan on meeting that night, and they don't want it to end.
"oh moon grow bright, and make this endless day endless night"
they want to remain in their blissfully oblivious world where its just the two of them forever, yet within that song we see all the forces that are going to tear them apart coming to a head.

My initial introduction to
West Side Story
was through the soundtrack of the original Broadway
stage
production, with Mickey Calin as Riff, and Larry Kert as Tony, and Carol Lawrence as Maria, as well as Chita Rivera as Anita. This was back in the summer of 1962, prior to my entering the sixth grade, while attending day camp out in Tucson, AZ. A girl in the group I was with at day camp, who'd just received a copy of the LP album of the Broadway production of
West Side Story
as a birthday present, brought it to day camp with her one day, and played it for the rest of the group. My love for
West Side Story
and its music and the story behind it took off instantly.
Five days a week, every day on the bus to and from day camp, the kids sang all the songs from
West Side Story.
Kids would also roam the hallways in packs, snapping their fingers and singing the WSS songs, also. It was kind of cool.
When I got home, I'd play my parents' copy of that same WSS LP soundtrack album on my parents' Hi-Fi whenever I could, and I used to love to bang around with some of the songs from
West Side Story
on the piano.
Due, at least in part, to my relative social isolation from other kids while growing up, and partly because my mom didn't consider
West Side Story
a kids' movie (my parents would not take my sister and I to see it when its popularity and newness was at its height.), I didn't get to see the film version of
West Side Story
until around Christmastime of 1968, as a high school Senior, at a now-defunct cinema north of Boston, and where my siblings grew up, during a huge national re-release of the film. On seeing the film version of
West Side Story
for the first time, I fell in love with it instantly, and have been hooked on it ever since.

I grew up singing that album and the name Mickey Calin never hit home since the photo on the cover is of Larry Kert and Carol Lawrence I only had the 2+2 moment yesterday!
Hot here too they're expecting a week long heat wave for us on the east coast. Stay cool, real coollll.!

Hi, leader-7. Thanks for the well-wishing. Things are fine here in the Bay State, but we've got some hot weather coming our way, also.
I was also aware of the fact that the original Broadway Riff of
West Side Story
was played by Mickey Calin.

And I just now (after 55 years) made the astounding discovery that the original Broadway RIFF was played by Michael Callan, billed as Mickey Calin.
Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. we're sweltering here in NY

Thanks for posting this, leader-7. That's such a cool video!

friendoffilm look at the gem I just found on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6gok589fVg

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Here's something else that the phrase
"Tonight there will be no morning star"
means:
That the film
West Side Story
, as a great golden oldie-but-keeper of a Classic movie, has withstood the test of time, beautifully. The people who were predicting that there would never be another film like it again were absolutely correct.
The MGM quote "
Unlike other classics,
West Side Story
grows younger."
also plays into that meaning, as well, because it rings so true, and because of the fact that the film
West Side Story
, for all kinds of reasons, continues to have such a special appeal for so many people, myself included. As I see it, the film
West Side Story
will continue to withstand the test of timeforever.