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4. age forty, first American- born conductor of New
York Philharmonic
5. promoted concert music, far- reaching educa-
tional efforts
6. style: straddled serious and popu lar 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 (white group)
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. ele ments of jazz, early rock- and- roll, Latino
music, Afro- Cuban dance music
4. instant audience success; 1961 film adaptation
5. controversial: vio lence, gangs, ste reo types
C. LG 58: Bern stein: 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: To night Ensemble
a. later the same day
b. love duet, Tony and Maria
c. 32- bar song form (A- A′- B- A′′)
OUTLINE
I. Musical Theater in North Amer i ca
A. Mid-1800s, New York: culture center of country
1. Midtown Manhattan: theater district, Broadway
2. minstrel shows gave way to vaudev ille
3. vaudev ille expanded to variety show
B. Musical theater: developed from variety show and
Eu ro pean operetta
1. early musicals: sentimental and contrived
plots
2. 1920s: George and Ira Gersh win, Lerner and
Loewe, Rod gers and Hammerstein
3. after 1940s: serious dramatic ele ments
4. 1970s and 80s: new level of sophistication
5. recent de cades: film- based musicals; dance-
inspired musicals; musicals inspired by history;
opera
a. noted composers: Stephen Sondheim, Andrew
Lloyd Webber, Claude- Michel Schönberg,
Lin- Manuel Miranda
C. Musicals feature
1. romantic plots, comic moments
2. appealing melodies
3. large ensembles, dance numbers
4. mostly spoken dialogue
II. Leonard Bern stein and West Side Story
A. Leonard Bern stein (1918–1990)
1. Massachusetts- born composer, conductor, educa-
tor, pianist, tele vi sion personality
2. education: Harvard, Curtis Institute of Music
3. age twenty- five, assistant conductor of New York
Philharmonic
a. last- minute replacement, nationally broad-
cast per for mance; overnight fame
Staged Sentiment: Bern stein and
American Musical Theater
CHAPTERfi63
ber a previous example from the class repertory that simi-
larly employed music to refiect a variety of emotions from
multiple characters, yet expressed si mul ta neously (the Act
III quartet from Rigoletto). 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 To night
ensemble finale from West Side Story. How does each
portray the dramatic content of this scene? What advan-
tages or disadvantages hinder or enable both media in
their attempts to capture the dramatic essence of the
story effectively?
2. As the textbook notes, Bern stein drew from musical genres
associated with Latino cultures in order to depict a sense
of “gritty realism” in West Side Story. How does Bern stein
use musical styles to differentiate the Latino characters and
the non- Latino characters? How does Bern stein portray
Tony and the Jets? What about the genders of the charac-
ters? How does he portray masculinity and femininity?
How well does Bern stein’s use of musical styles succeed
in marking the identity of these characters? To what extent
do they establish, exaggerate, or perpetuate certain ste-
reo types about gender and ethnicity?
TEACHING CHALLENGES
As the textbook mentions, West Side Story provides a con-
troversial commentary on vio lence and gangs (cast gracefully
and sympathetically in the show) and race (portraying ste-
reo types of Latino cultures), which can be challenging issues
to address in class.
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dash, IreneG. Shakespeare and the American Musical. Blooming-
d. orchestral introduction: ominous three- note
ostinato, brass and percussion
e. gangs sing in alternation
f. lyrical ballad over Latin rhythmic
accompaniment
3. Ensemble finale
a. Maria in high range; simultaneous dialogue
b. syncopated Latin rhythm in accompaniment
c. dramatic climax
OVERVIEW
Chapter63 discusses the tradition of American musical the-
ater since the late nineteenth century. Leonard Bern stein
and his successful West Side Story provide an opportunity
to explore the more serious and dramatic nature of the musi-
cal after the 1940s.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the early twentieth- century American
musical as a synthesis of earlier comic opera traditions,
vaudev ille, 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 Gersh win, and Rod gers and Hammerstein
3. To understand West Side Story as representative of the
new post– World War II musicals, which treat more seri-
ous and sophisticated subjects
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Show selected scenes from the movie versions of the
classic golden age musicals Showboat (1951), Okla-
homa!, The Sound of Music, and South Pacific. Choose
to identifying or marking ethnicity, cultural difference,
and/or nationalism in these scenes.
2. Show the To night quintet and ensemble finale from West
270 | Chapterfi63
to glorify and romanticize Klinghoffer’s murder and sympa-
thize with the actions of the Palestinian hijackers. This criti-
cism has been leveled as one of the most violent scenes of the
opera, where Klinghoffer is shot and thrown overboard, his
hoffer instead of revealing the brutality of his murder? Or is
this an elegiac response to Klinghoffer’s passing? I believe
that Adams’s choice of music leaves audiences confused
about how to feel about Klinghoffer’s violent murder, and—
more concretely to the inhumanity of this scene.
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
Choose a musical or multimedia work that addresses vio-
lence explic itly. What attitudes do the performers proj ect
MODEL RESPONSE
