CHAPTER 54
Staged Sentiment: Bernstein and American Musical Theater
OVERVIEW
This chapter discusses the tradition of the American musical theater since the late nineteenth
century. Leonard Bernstein and his West Side Story serve as the focus in exploring the more
serious and dramatic nature of the musical after the 1940s.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the early twentieth-century American musical as a synthesis of earlier comic
opera traditions, vaudeville, minstrelsy, and variety shows
2. To understand the golden age of the American musical as defined by the famous composer-
lyricist teams, including George and Ira Gershwin and Rodgers and Hammerstein
3. To understand Bernstein’s West Side Story as representative of the new post–World War II
musicals, which treat more serious and sophisticated subjects
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Show selected scenes from the movie versions of the classic golden age musicals Showboat,
Oklahoma!, The Sound of Music, and South Pacific. Choose scenes that project certain
musical ideas about ethnicity, culture, or nationalism (pervasive themes in all of these
shows). Examples include Bali Hai and You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught from South
Pacific; Oh, What a Beautiful Morning! from Oklahoma!; and Ol’ Man River from
Showboat. Ask students how the music contributes to identifying or marking ethnicity,
cultural difference, and/or nationalism in these scenes.
2. Show the Tonight quintet and ensemble finale from West Side Story to your class and ask
students to consider how the music and dancing express the dramatic and emotional content
of each character or group of characters. How do the music and dance underscore the
dramatic nature of this overall scene? Ask students if they remember a previous example
from the class repertory that similarly employed music to reflect a variety of emotions from
multiple characters expressed simultaneously (the Act III quartet from Rigoletto in Chapter
40). How does the scene from West Side Story differ from Rigoletto in its portrayal of the
diverse yet simultaneous emotions of the characters?
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
1. Compare the film and theatrical versions of the Tonight ensemble finale from West Side
Story. How does each portray the dramatic content of this scene? What advantages or
disadvantages hinder or enable both media in their attempts to capture the dramatic essence
of the story effectively?
2. As the textbook notes, Bernstein drew from musical genres associated with Hispanic
cultures in order to depict a sense of “gritty realism” in West Side Story. How does
Bernstein use musical styles to differentiate the Hispanic characters and the non-Hispanic
characters? How does Bernstein portray Tony and the Jets? What about the genders of the
characters—how does he portray masculinity and femininity? How well does Bernstein’s
use of musical styles succeed in marking the identity of these characters? To what extent do
they establish, exaggerate, or perpetuate certain stereotypes about gender and ethnicity?
TEACHING CHALLENGE
As the textbook mentions, West Side Story provides a controversial commentary on violence and
gangs (cast gracefully and sympathetically in the show) and race (portraying stereotypes of
Hispanic/Latino cultures), which can be challenging issues to address in class.
SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTOIRE
Bernstein: On the Town
Boublil and Schönberg: Les Misérables
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dash, Irene G. Shakespeare and the American Musical. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
2010. Chapter 3 (“The Challenge of Tragedy”) details the struggles and successes of the West
Side Story collaborators in adapting Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to the contemporary
American landscape and Broadway stage.
Smith, Helen. “There’s a Place for Us”: The Musical Theater Works of Leonard Bernstein.
Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2011. An in-depth scholarly study of Bernstein’s musical theater.
Chapter 6 addresses West Side Story and includes information on the genesis of the work and
some musical analysis.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Staged Sentiment: Bernstein and American Musical Theater (Chapter 54)
I. Musical Theater in North America
A. Mid-1800s, New York
1. minstrel shows gave way to vaudeville
2. vaudeville expanded to variety show
B. Musical theater: developed from variety show and European operetta
1. early musicals: sentimental and contrived plots
2. emphasis turned to sophisticated literary sources
3. mid–1900s, “golden age” of American musical
4. 1970s and 80s: new level of sophistication
5. recent decades: film-based musicals; dance–inspired musicals; musicals inspired by
history; opera
C. Musicals feature
1. romantic plots, comic moments
2. appealing melodies
3. large ensembles, dance numbers
4. mostly spoken dialogue
II. Leonard Bernstein and West Side Story
A. Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990)
1. Massachusetts-born composer, conductor, educator, pianist, television personality
2. education: Harvard, Curtis Institute of Music
3. age twenty-five, assistant conductor of New York Philharmonic
a. last-minute replacement, nationally broadcast performance; overnight fame
4. age forty, first American-born conductor of New York Philharmonic
5. promoted concert music, far-reaching educational efforts
6. style: straddled serious and popular music, accessible compositions, rooted in
tonality, soaring melodies, jazzy rhythms
7. output: symphonies, choral works, operas, musicals, film score, chamber and
instrumental music, solo vocal music
B. West Side Story
1. modern-day Romeo and Juliet story
a. New York City warring street gangs, Sharks (Puerto Rican group) and Jets
b. Tony (former member of Jets), Maria (related to the Sharks)
2. theatrical multimedia:
a. Arthur Laurents, playwright
b. Stephen Sondheim, lyricist
c. Jerome Robbins, choreographer
3. elements of jazz, early rock-and-roll, Latino music, Afro-Cuban dance music
4. instant audience success; 1961 film adaptation
5. controversial: violence, gangs, stereotypes
C. Listening Guide 43: Bernstein, West Side Story, excerpts (1957)
1. Act I: The Dance at the Gym, Mambo
a. Tony meets Maria
b. fast-paced Afro-Cuban dance
c. highly syncopated Latin beat; bongos, cowbells
d. jazzy riffs: woodwinds and brass
e. excited voices and hand clapping
2. Act I: Tonight Quintet
a. love duet, Tony and Maria
b. 32-bar song form (A-A´-B-A´´)
c. orchestral introduction: ominous three-note ostinato, brass and percussion
d. gangs sing in alternation
e. lyrical ballad over Latin rhythmic accompaniment
f. ensemble finale
i. Maria in high range; simultaneous dialogue
ii. syncopated Latin rhythm in accompaniment
iii. dramatic climax