West Side Story The Musical Essay

One of Berkeley’s greatest displays of choreography is the production of 42nd Street. With the popularity of musical films decreasing around 1932, Warner Brothers decided they needed a real spectacle to save the genre. They brought in Busby Berkeley to create it. It was a smash hit, and so Berkeley was given an impressive seven year contract. Between 1933 to 1937, Berkeley created the dance sequences for almost every successful musical Warner Bros. released.

The producers were Robert E. Griffith and Harold S. Prince; The very first production was September 26th, 1957. There were 985 performances. Arthur Laurents is the playwright for ‘West Side Story.’ Arthur is most known for his work in ‘West Side Story,’ and ‘Gypsy.’ He attended Cornell University and majored in English. His career started writing simple scripts for radio stations and programs. Soon Laurents got drafted into the U.S Army. While in the army, he made and wrote scripts for training films and programs for the Army. Leonard Bernstein was the composer for ‘West Side Story.’ Leonard Bernstein is most famous for helping compose the score for West Side Story. He learned to play piano when he was only 10. Dmitri Mitropoulos, a conductor for the Boston Symphony, was Leonard's mentor for a week. Afterwards, he had a love for music, and wanted to center his life around it. Serge Koussevitzky was also his mentor, and a father figure to Leonard. He first met Serge, when he was one of only five, that were

West Side Story written by Arthur Laurents is actually a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

The audience was wrapped in the complexity and intensity that radiated in this piece. This was due to the disjunct melody, as the piece sounded generally uneven, with recurring wide leaps as the piece had a wide range. It was mesmerizing, watching the technique and fast pace hand movements. Furthermore, the song had a general homophonic texture as there was a clear dominant melody being played, with a few different chords supporting the melody. Despite there being a few tempo changes as the song alternated in pace, the piece sustained a duple meter, emphasizing on the jazz rhythm. The uniqueness of the piece was especially brought out through the frequent dissonance harmony, which made the piece more interesting to listen to. The piece had an overall free rhythmic feel, allowing the combination of distinctive rhythms and dynamics into a unique melody. The timbre of the piano matched the style of music as it was successful in giving the jazzy tone to the piece. Nevertheless, I think that the use of a full orchestra is more successful in delivering the full jazz melody as each instruments timbre provides an interesting influence on the

West Side Story is a 1961 musical film by Robert Wise that is heavily influenced by William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. The film is not only a re-imagination of Romeo & Juliet but also an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical version of West Side Story. This re-imagining of Romeo & Juliet takes place in 1957 Manhattan

West Side Story came out in 1961 as a melodramatic musical that took place in New York. It takes the same theme as Shakespeare's, Romeo and Juliet, in that it is about two lovers whose relationship is not accepted by others because of conflicting backgrounds.

Because of his Broadway plays,musicals, opera, and ballets, Leonard Bernstein was one of the greatest musicians of all time. Because he became very successful at a young age, he amazed his family by his incredible talent. He contributed many incredible pieces of music to the performing arts community. They inspired people all over the world to pursue their dreams.

I attended UCLA’s May 11th production of Carousel on a Wednesday night at the Freud Playhouse. Jeremy Mann and Dan Belzer directed the production. The musical opened on April 19th, 1945 (Hauser). Oscar Hammerstein II wrote the book and lyrics, while Richard Rodgers wrote the music in collaboration. In this paper I will expound on the history of Carousel’s writers, it’s historical significance in the world of American theater, as well as the plot of the play and it’s implications on the evolution of theater history.

Broadway Theater is a form of entertainment that has been around since the mid 1700s beginning with operas and skits, progressing to modern musicals that we still enjoy today. Most scholars believe that 1866 marked the beginning of musical comedy, bringing the theater out of the era of skits and operas. Today's musicals still contain elements of these first musical comedies Before we get to that however, let's start with the beginning of Broadway... II

The predominant style of this film is Swing. Compared to its predecessors, Swing was more upbeat and fast paced, which reflected life in cities like New York or Chicago. Swing was characterized for being played by large bands, having a four beat rhythm, a written out solo line, having call and response between sections (riffing), and coloration, which would later be added by Duke Ellington himself.

First of all the movie won 5 Tony awards and it was number one on the Billboard charts for 12 weeks, and it was on the charts for 245 weeks. Even more, this shows that the movie was a very stupendous one if it was number one for a long time, and on the charts for a lot longer. In addition, the story that the musical has is an excellent one, and here it is. When a man named Harold Hill, who is a traveling con man comes to River City he wants to convince the people of River City to start a band, and he succeeds. He announces to them they need to purchase uniforms and instruments for the band from him, because right away after he got the money he was going to leave. When a woman named Marian starts to realize that he is a fraud, though she doesn’t want to say anything because her brother is thrilled about the new band. In the end of the movie Harold doesn’t leave town after developing feelings for Marian, and he creates the band and makes the town proud, which is where the story ends. Plus, the set of the movie was made to create a town set in the time of 1912, and it came out in 1962. The movie took 18 or more sets to make the movie that it was. For example, The set wasn’t the only thing that took a while, the scenes did too. Also, one of the scenes took eight hours of straight filming for two days, to film it. Lastly

Jerome Robbins’s incredible dance history and background is what has left him ranked so highly in the musical theater industry today. From working to dazzle his audiences, Robbins can be held responsible for the industry’s serge in popularity over a short amount of time. It can be said by many that Robbins took a fresh approach to choreography to introduce to the world with a more energetic and dynamic performance to display. Robbins creative work elevated the role of dance in musical theatre, which was claimed to be the industry’s ‘Golden Era’.

West Side Story is the iconic American musical that is a 1957 Broadway production choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Arthur Laurents is the author of the original book with the setting taking place in the upper west side New York city in a blue-collar neighborhood during the mid-1950s. (The Broadway) Because West Side Story is a movie musical, it will be a lot of narrative conveyed through the song. The movie West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet have many similarities and differences consider their plot, their character and their setting. The major plot of the musical is about a rivalry between two different ethnic group gangs, the Sharks and Jets. The Sharks are Puerto Rican and the Jets are white. Leonard Bernstein composed the dynamic and influential music. In the mix of the conflict between the two gangs, a former member of the Jets, Tony, falls in love with the leader of the Sharks sister, Maria. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet clearly influenced this movie, and there are parallel characteristics. For instance, Romeo and Tony, Juliet and Maria, Mercutio and Riff, Tybalt and Bernardo all have similar characteristics. As for the specific film, I decided to watch the 1961 version.

There are over a dozen songs sung in this musical. In the musical the audience needs to be able to connect with the music to get a feel of the era, which requires a strong. By all means Frankie played by Hayden Milanes was not a let down. Milanes blew my expectation, he sounded like the original Frankie from the band. My ears can still hear the voice echoing through the halls. Milanes one weak point is that he did not have to much dynamic with the music. Another star that I thought had an outstanding voice was Bobby Gaudio played by Drew Seeley. He made a huge first immersion on the song “Cry for Me”. The music helps the audience realize the texture of the time and how important music was to the boys. To them it wasn’t about the money, it was more about the impact of there music. The company it self had many talents in them. The audience could not get enough all the songs, the songs were mesmerizing. The songs made the musical feel like the classics are the best. The Four Seasons’ were one of the best Rock and Roll legends, to me. The cast altogether had made The Four seasons come back to life. The Four Seasons’ made the hall echo and the audience could here the last notes ringing, if that isn't music I don't know what is. A lot of the musical credibility has to go to the Ben Hartmen, who conducted the orchestra, he made the music and the background music more

Two great writers of American musical theatre, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, had one idea in common. They wanted to present to the American public a new and revolutionary musical that would stand out above the rest. They wanted to make an impact on the societies of the era. They wanted to be creative and do something that was considered rebellious. When they finally combined their ideas together they created an American masterpiece in musical theatre: Oklahoma!. It was the first Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration, starting the most successful creative partnership in the history of American musical theatre.