Jerome Robbins' suggested the idea of developing a musical based off of the story of
Romeo and Juliet to Leonard Bernstein in January of 1949 (originally proposed title:
East Side Story, set in the less privileged areas of New York at the concurrence of
Easter-Passover celebrations). In August of 1955, a gathering with Arthur Laurents took
place where another idea emerged -- two teen-age mobs as the conflicting groups, one
of them newly-arrived Puerto Ricans, the other self-styled "Americans." In November,
1955 Stephen Sondheim joined the project as lyricist. A year and a half later, rehearsals
began for the Broadway premiere of West Side Story.
West Side Story (as it is now known) transforms the famous work of Shakespeare
called …show more content…
The time signature of this piece is C+2/4 – a bar of 4 followed by a bar 2. The bass
ostinato then plays on this, being a 3 crotchet repeated pattern. These 3 beat patterns
under duple time signatures are seen in a number of songs in West Side Story. The
piece consists of 118 bars and 6 verses. From bar 37 we see a change beating to a
strict 4/4 and a change of key to A major, whereby the listener should pick up strong
hints of bitonality as the bass is A-F-A-F.
The music which accompanies the singers extenuates the expectation and emotions
felt.
Tonight uses a conventional operatic technique whereby the multiple characters on
stage are saying the same or different lines at the same time but relating it to their
personal context and the extended use of polyphony in the vocal writing is what sets
West Side Story apart from many musicals.
The recurrence of Tonight is handled fiercely, the consequences of the nights events
will be life altering so the constant use of the word tonight and the “Tonight” motif is
particularly thought provoking.
Comparing West Side Story with Les Misérables, Victor Hugo, writer of Les Misérables
was born in 1802 in the French town of Besançon. His father was a general
Romeo and Juliet to Leonard Bernstein in January of 1949 (originally proposed title:
East Side Story, set in the less privileged areas of New York at the concurrence of
Easter-Passover celebrations). In August of 1955, a gathering with Arthur Laurents took
place where another idea emerged -- two teen-age mobs as the conflicting groups, one
of them newly-arrived Puerto Ricans, the other self-styled "Americans." In November,
1955 Stephen Sondheim joined the project as lyricist. A year and a half later, rehearsals
began for the Broadway premiere of West Side Story.
West Side Story (as it is now known) transforms the famous work of Shakespeare
called …show more content…
The time signature of this piece is C+2/4 – a bar of 4 followed by a bar 2. The bass
ostinato then plays on this, being a 3 crotchet repeated pattern. These 3 beat patterns
under duple time signatures are seen in a number of songs in West Side Story. The
piece consists of 118 bars and 6 verses. From bar 37 we see a change beating to a
strict 4/4 and a change of key to A major, whereby the listener should pick up strong
hints of bitonality as the bass is A-F-A-F.
The music which accompanies the singers extenuates the expectation and emotions
felt.
Tonight uses a conventional operatic technique whereby the multiple characters on
stage are saying the same or different lines at the same time but relating it to their
personal context and the extended use of polyphony in the vocal writing is what sets
West Side Story apart from many musicals.
The recurrence of Tonight is handled fiercely, the consequences of the nights events
will be life altering so the constant use of the word tonight and the “Tonight” motif is
particularly thought provoking.
Comparing West Side Story with Les Misérables, Victor Hugo, writer of Les Misérables
was born in 1802 in the French town of Besançon. His father was a general