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West side story is an example of how art has been combined into a story. Arthur Laurents wrote the story as an adaptation of William Shakespeare`s classic play, Romeo and Juliet. The main plot of these two stories are very similar, however, the way they are portrayed on stage shows the differences. Romeo and Juliet is a play and does not include other art forms other than acting. Whereas West Side Story tells the story through singing, dancing, acting, and music as a whole. Romeo and Juliet first appeared in 1597. West Side Story first opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 26th, 1957. Both performances are still running today on stage and have film adaptations.
Romeo and Juliet is a romantic tragedy set in Verona, Italy in the 14th century, the biggest conflict is between the two wealthy families the Montagues and the Capulets, their rivalry goes so far back in their history that they forgot what even started the conflict. West Side Story is set in the 1950s in New York. The conflict is between two rival gangs: The jets and the Sharks. Their feud began from the Sharks tried to invade the Jet’s territory in Manhattan. In both of these storylines, there is a boy and a girl in opposing groups who fall in love, despite the group’s differences. But because of the rivalries, their love results in their death. There are many similarities and differences in the plot lines of both which makes West Side Story an original adaption of the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. As I have stated the main similarity is both practitioners have the same tragic story. In both, the main character of Romeo and Tony die however in different ways Romeo through posing, and Tony gets shot. The counterpart characters of Tybalt Bernardo and RiffMercutio are also killed and a final similarity in the plot and story is that Romeo and Juliet and Maria and Tony fall in love at first sight. After analyzing both productions I have realized there are numerous differences in the plot and storylines. This I feel is important and Arthur Laurents would have been aware to have certain aspects of the story and plot were different than Shakespeare`s original.
Some of the main differences In Romeo and Juliet is that Juliet dies whereas Maria does not. The rivalry shown in both storylines is similar, but it was caused by different things, the conflicts in Romeo and Juliet are more so caused by religious differences. Meanwhile, in West Side Story the rivalry is caused by their differences in race as they are Polish and Puerto Rican. The role of authority or police is also shown in both stories, between Prince Escalus and Lieutenant Shrank. However, Prince Escalus stays neutral between the conflicts and doesn`t show a preference for either family, whereas Lieutenant Shrank shows Bias for the Jets. In both productions, there is somewhat of a love triangle as there is another suitor for both Maria and Juliet. Juliet`s suitor is a man named Paris, who is neutral in the family feud. Mara`s suitor is Chino who in contrast has an opinion on the rivalry and he is on the Sharks’ side. These suitors do not have an overly large role as both women choose Romeo and Tony even though in the end they can`t be together.
The music in West Side Story has elements of opera, music, jazz, and Latin-American dance music. Something`s Coming is one of the most well-known songs from the musicals, others include, Somewhere, Maria and Tonight. The first production was on Broadway. In 1961, it was made into a successful film and since then it has been performed many times by different theatre groups, opera companies, and schools.
Leonard Bernstein who composed the music for West Side Story had a successful career as a composer and conductor, besides West Side Story his best-known works include, Chichester Psalms and Candide. Stephen Sondheim, who wrote lyrics for the musical went on to write innovative musicals of his own, Company and Sweeny Todd. West Side Story has a large number of instruments in the orchestra, particularly large woodwind, brass, and percussion.
The song, Something`s Coming opens with a syncopated accompaniment figure in a ¾ time signature. When the vocal part begins, it uses a pushing rhythm, where the melody is ahead of the beat, mainly noticeable in the lyrics, and could, also uses an ostinato rhythm throughout the rest of the song. The pitches change to fit the harmony. The accompaniment stays in the background throughout so that the singer can be heard clearly, since when it was written the singers will not have been able to have their voices amplified on stage, due to the lack of technological advancements. The opening accompaniment is played by clarinets, pizzicato strings, and a drum kit (the snare drum and hi-hat cymbal were played with wire brushes, to not overpower the vocals or other accompaniments.) In the opening, the same bar of accompaniment is repeated several times. This gives time for the actors to move across the stage and is a device often used in musicals. In this song, there are several time signature changes in the song as it moves between 24 and ¾ and there are several examples of triplets.
Throughout the entire musical, there are many examples of word painting (where the meaning of the words is reflected in the music.) The dynamics in songs are very important with the dramatic contrasts and much use of dynamic shading. Something`s Coming shows this in multiple lyrics; the opening words Could be! Who knows? There`s something due any day that is tentative and this reflects through the pianissimo dynamic. As Tony builds up his confidence there is a crescendo to forte at the lyrics It may come cannonballing through the sky, and the notes are sung with accents. Near the end of the song the word, Humming is illustrated by the use of high violins. And although the song closes in D major, Tony`s final held note is not the tonic D that is expected, instead, it is a C natural, this unexpected note gives the feeling of looking forward, to the audience and that Something is coming. This clearly shows how Bernstein and Sondheim create the music to reflect and tell the story throughout the show.
Shakespeare`s tragedy Romeo and Juliet is a work that has been adapted and re-told over time in numerous settings and art forms. Many practitioners have taken this story and created new versions combining a range of new art forms to create combined arts performances of this classical story. Bernstein, Laurents, and Sondheim had the vision to recreate the story by combining the art forms of music, dance, song, and drama and successfully re-told the story to a new generation and pathing the way for a new generation of musical theatre practitioners.
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