The plot:
A musical in which a modern day Romeo and Juliet are involved in New York street gangs. On the harsh streets of the upper west side, two gangs, the American gang known as the Jets who have ownership of the land and the Sharks who are the Porto Ricans who have been placed on the Jets territory, battle for control of the turf. the situation becomes complicated when a gang member falls in love with a rival's sister.
In the Beginning of the year the American president launched the first nuclear submarine and was potentially going to war with the soviet union. It later became apparent that a war would break out when he sent ships out to Saudi Arabia. Westside story was relevant in the 1950's when it was released because many Mexicans were brought over in ships in order to work for the Americans as farmers or low paying jobs that the Americans didn't want, resulting in a huge amount of racism in America in that time. Racism wasn't just a problem for the Latina community though as in the 1950's many black men and women were still being segregated laws were deemed illegal. One of the most famous moments that communicated to the audience how much of a problem this had become was the song 'America' depicting that woman wanted to stay living in America because of having more freedom and rights but the men wanting to move back home because of the discrimination. An example of this is when Rosalia sings the line 'Ill give them a new washing machine' and the men sing back ' What will you have to keep clean' Along with other argumentative phrases telling the women that they would fit in more if they get rid of their accents.
West Side Story was the product of a three way collaboration from the practitioners Leonard Bernstein, Stephan Sondheim and Jerome Robbins. This resulted in a musical that included all three art forms, Drama, Dance and Music. Making West Sid Story one of the first musicals containing all three.
Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz was born in New York on October 11, 1918 and raised in Weehhawken, New Jersey. In the 1920's his father and uncle opened a 'corset company' which today along side his sister who also used to be a dancer, can be seen as the start of his love for performing arts. However he was deprived of a school education and with the connections he already had had within the industry from his father and sister made it possible for him to begin his career as a dancer in the experimental troupe of Gluck Sandor. Robbins then began collage studying chemistry at New York University (NYU) but dropped out after a year for financial reasons, and to pursue dance.
He studied at the New Dance League, learning ballet with Ella Daganova, Antony Tudor and Eugene Loring. He also studied Modern dance, Spanish dancing, Folk dance and dance composition, which allowed him to receive a wider knowledge of the different dance styles and techniques. His passion and work ethic enabled him to have the opportunity to choreograph for West side Story and many other musicals after.
Leonard Bernstein composed the music for West Side Story. He wrote three symphonies, two opera, five musicals and numerous other pieces. His music was mainly tonal. His style used to be known as jazzy. Bernstein often uses lots of Latin rhythms to relate to salsa and calypso. These all tend to be syncopated and off beat. This can be found in music for Westside Story as it fits with the Porto Rican cast members who have an attitude towards being in America. Stephan Sondheim was the lyricist for Westside Story. He was born March 22, 1930 and is an American composer and lyricist known for more than a half-century of contributions, to musical theatre. West Side Story was one of his most successful musicals ever and pathed the way for his future careers.
West Side Story is known for being one of the first musicals to integrate all Drama, Dance and Music. This also meant that it was essential to have performers who had the ability to do all three. This was because it was too expensive to higher professionals that only specialised in one art from, This added to the notion that this was the start of a new era of musicals as the whole process leading up to the Broadway reveal was completely different to what the practitioners themselves and the actors have ever been a part of.
All three art forms are just as important as each other, as dance can communicate the nonverbal cues that the characters are feeling in an organised and attractive way for an audience. It is important for dancers to be able to act and add characterisation into their dancing as it adds another level of believability.
West Side Story has now become one of the most well known musicals in the world and is still relevant today, as it still shares issues and themes with the modern day world. Some examples of this would be the Black Lives Matter movement happening in America at the moment and the classic Romeo and Juliet that everyone loves and cherishes. This is truly a work of art and is defiantly something that if given the chance you should go to see because of its originality and forward thinking of integration of all three art forms.
