The West Side Story Musical Analysis

‘West Side Story’ is one of the most famous musicals in Broadway history. It is a re-telling and more modern remake of Shakespeare's ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ The same love story is there, just a more modern take on it. The slight modern message on inequality because of skin color is what makes it so modern. It has been revived many times and mostly it's always been a success. ‘West Side Story,’ is watched, taught and revived worldwide and will be for many generations to come.

This song represents the racism throughout the novel and the social hierarchy. In Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” a major subject discussed during the novel is racism, and in the song above the same subject is being discussed. In the song it talks about how white people have a privilege over black people, one of the examples used in the song is; “Hip hop started off in a block that I’ve never been to, to counteract a struggle I’ve never even been through.” This is saying white rappers didn’t start off where black rappers did and at they have not had to go through the same struggles at the beginning. Comparing this to the novel when Tom Robinson is on trial, all of the evidence proves he is innocent and that he has done nothing but go

Rent. To most people it is associated with an apartment, house, or another object. This word rarely conjures pleasant memories, but more often annoyance and stress. However, when someone mentions rent to me, my mind races to some of the most memorable experiences in my life.

Wicked The Musical was composed by Stephen Schwarts. Schwarts has written many hit musicals such as Godspell, Pippin, and Wicked. From the musical Wicked only, schwarts has won the Grammy award for best musical theatre album, Drama desk award for outstanding musical and lyrics, and Outer critics circle award for outstanding Broadway musical. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Broadway Hall of Fame in 2009. Schwarts has also won numerous lifetime achievement awards. The show Wicked opened in 2003 and as of 2013 is the 12th longest running show in Broadway history. Wicked was immediately a sensation among the people, but the critics did not feel the same. Luckily, there was enough street buzz about the show to keep the showing alive.

CHICAGO THE MUSCIAL is an American Musical production directed by Bob Fosse, Walter Bobbie, contributed to by John Kander, & Fred Ebb. The original play Chicago (1926) by reporter and playwright Maurine Dallas Watkins. She who was assigned to cover the 1924 trials of accused murderers Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner for the Chicago Tribune. The original musical productions played from 1975-1979 in New York. Then was revived in 1996 and has traveled worldwide and been in production since. In 2003 the Professional show moved in to the Amador Theatre on W 49th St in Manhattan. Chicago is a dynamic, and sensual production based on the 1920s in America as to how show business and the media make celebrities out of criminals.

Being that documentaries and musicals are both a way of addressing concerns happening in the political, economic or social culture of a certain region, it would seem that there would be many documented cases of how documentaries have impacted the American musical. However, not many results seem to surface when searching for this. For the layperson who does a quick search and does not dig deeper into different ways to search, it may seem that there is only one result: Broadway The Great American Musical by Michael Cantor. Thankfully, that is not the case. There are other sources with information about the film form of the documentary and musicals.

Stratford’s spring musical, Anything Goes, is a quirky story with many intriguing songs and dance routines that take the audience through many adventuresome antics aboard the S.S. America in 1934. The story takes place on board a cruise ship that is sailing to London, where the passengers consist of sailors, the upper class, gangsters, sinners, and entertainers. Billy, a stockbroker, becomes a stowaway after his boss, Eli Whitney, prepares to make a business deal that would prevent Billy from staying aboard the boat where his love, Hope Harcourt happens to be. Unfortunately, he discovers she is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Moonface Martin, Public Enemy #13, disguised himself as a missionary to board the ship, and eventually he and showgirl Reno Sweeny help Billy marry Hope.

This is a photograph of the complete set design used for the 2010 production of the play West Side Story. This particular set was designed by Joseph Mayernick who was very pleased with the finishing results. The scene that this performance space was made for include the initial opening scene where the Jets and Sharks, rivaling gangs, have a musical battle which show the growing resentment between the two. The backdrop for this set design is a New York city street with two main buildings utilized as the focal point. The right side of the stage is used to depict the Puerto Rican living community where the Shark gang resides. Whilst, the left side of the stage portrays the American, white apartment complex where the Jets and their families mainly

We hear music, sing music, play music, and dance to music. Music is another way for us to express our feelings beside the words. There are ten elements of music: rhythm, melody, harmony, timbre, texture, form, pitch, dynamic, articulation, and lyrics; these also the broad definition of the entire realm of the theory of music and how it is made. At the physical level there are four significant wave patterns, which are defined as frequency, amplitude, duration and timbre (Hast et al. 2009, pp.

A war is fought on many fronts. The war front were the actually fighting takes place. The government front were the stiff shirts fight politics. The home front were the people still at home have to deal with the repercussions of war. And the public front were people still had to go about their daily lives. This is where Broadway was born and raised. Broadway was just getting started in the late 1860’s so it was still a baby when World War One began. Broadway was loved by all and people could go see their favorite shows, with their favorite actors for the low price of $1.50 or $2.00. Before WWI Broadway was not really concerned with the outside world, but the war changed all that. Soon the only thing one could see a play on was the war, or

LP1, FKA twigs’ 2014 album, was one of the most mind-boggling débuts in recent memory, with a unique sound marrying unsettling and gorgeous. Since then, Tahliah Barnett found ways to remain in the spotlight with various music videos, TV appearances and the release of an EP last summer.

‘Oklahoma!’ is an American musical that can trace its roots back to the 1940’s. It is a creation developed by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on the 1931 play, ‘Green Grow the Lilacs’. In 1943, Richard Rodgers invited Oscar Hammerstein II to collaborate on adapting Lynn Riggs’ play into a musical. The original play was considered a simple tale but with Rodgers and Hammerstein and their collaborators, ‘Oklahoma!’

Music has always been an important and impactful thing in my life. It is one of the only constants that I have and is the reason I’m in band and other musical organizations. My musical taste ranges incredibly wide, but one of the most influencing genres of music is Broadway music or “show tunes.” Broadway music is not confined to one specific “genre” but exceeds all kinds of music. Broadway performers are able to showcase raw emotions in their voice and on their face that makes you feel the emotion with them. The mood of the song can be joyful, depressing, or downright angry, and the emotion will be felt within the audience because of the performers’ actions.

West Side Story exemplifies the concept of a thematic tragedy due to the aspects of plot format, the involvement of ‘elevated’ tragic heroes, and conclusion of inescapable disaster. The perseverance to rise and the sadness of the fall has been used to depict tragedy from many works of literature and production. What would have occurred if in these works, characters could consider other “if only” possibilities? The forces against a hero are not solely to blame. The tragedy stems from pride, which in many tragedies, leads to

“A good film is when the price of dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it” (Alfred Hitchcock). A good filmmaker may believe that their film is amazing, but the success of the film truly lies in the hands of the audience. Every successful movie has appealed to an audience, but one has stood out for many years. Webber scratched the extra nonsense from Gaston Leroux’s version of Phantom of the Opera; and he focused on the elements that appeal to an audience. Any audience, young or old, all enjoy mystery, romance, sensuality, and a Byronic hero. Andrew Lloyd Webber was able to create the most successful entertainment piece of all time because he focused on the traits that any audience wants, a little bit of mystery, romance, sensuality, and a Byronic hero.