In January of 1949, Jerome Robbins, an American theater producer, created the idea of West Side Story after being inspired by Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. Eight years later, on September 26, 1957, the much anticipated production West Side Story made its debut on Broadway. West Side Story went on to win over twenty major awards, including eleven Academy Awards, making it a huge success (WSS Frequently Asked Questions). The landmark musical production of the 1950’s, West Side Story, broke the rules with it’s dark theme, urbane music, captivating integrated dance, and it’s bold reflection of social problems thus forcing the American population to accept serious drama in serious musicals (Weakland). West Side Story is a musical production whose genre can be described as romance, drama, thriller or crime fiction. When West Side Story debuted in the 1950’s, it was right in the middle of Broadway musical productions’ high point. During this time a person attending a musical on …show more content…
Jerome Robbins, who created the idea of the musical, worked both as the director and choreographer. As choreographer he received praise for the total integration of dance in a unique and dramatic way. The composer, Leonard Bernstein, created his best work with the complexity, passion, tuneful, shocking and rhythmic energy all incorporated throughout the production. Stephen Sondheim, the lyricist, made is debuted to Broadway alongside West Side Story showed his wit, intelligence and talent thus making him the pre-eminent songwriter of his generation. The librettist, Arthur Laurents, integrated language, music and dance into the production through the stage of contemporary Manhattan (Allen and Horowitz). Through the hard work of these three men, as well as their equal partnership, they went on to make one of the most memorable musicals of all
Sondheim’s music is well-appreciated by many people of all ages. He has won eight Tony’s, more than any other composer. Sondheim sculpted the musicality of musical theatre into what it is today by
Motion pictures from Hollywood had taken Broadway’s place as the king of entertainment. The main reason behind this was that because it was culturally relevant and coming out with new flashy techniques such as Todd-AO and Cinerama.
Musicals are usually known for their upbeat songs, dances, and the lighthearted stories that they tell through the art form known as theatre. What many people don’t know, is that since the beginning of theatre, musicals have dealt with serious social issues that have taken place within our society. Musicals have taken unique approaches in projecting impactful social movements and issues. In the past, musicals have made certain ideals, values, and perspectives easier for the people in society to understand and accept. One of the most prominent theatre production companies to deal with major social issues and that has had influence through their musicals is Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were both writers and producers in the theatre, but, their collaborative venture in the 1940’s introduced a new era of musical theatre. First, they wrote the first musical in which every element: music, lyrics, narrative, and even dance contributed to telling the story, each part blending and woven into the whole. Their new idea was a huge sensation with audiences, and brought with it, new recordings of shows with albums and records to follow and revival productions around the world. The duo changed the fate of musical theatre practically overnight, but, it couldn’t have been done without the projects, big or small, that got them there, their
Kislan, Richard. The Musical: A Look at the American Musical Theater. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1980. 84, 110, 116-121, 125-127, 128, 134, 163, 195, 201, 209. Print.
Musicals, a play in which singing and dancing are essentials parts that developed from light opera in the early 20th century. Now because of our technological advances musicals are able to come to life in movies such as the West Side Story. This is not the only change that has happened, there is also the genre of music used to tell their story. Hamilton is a great example of this change.
What is critically known as the best American musical, Gypsy provides American musical theatregoers with dynamic characters, a captivating story and extraordinary music. Gypsy is an American musical that is based on the self-written book, “The Memoirs of ‘Gypsy Rose Lee’”. It is often referred to as, Gypsy: A Musical Fable. The musical made its debut on May 21, 1959 at The Broadway Theatre in Manhattan. The characters have been subject to many in depth analysis throughout its lifetime, adding a lot of new content and progressive thinking to the world of musical theatre. The history of the musical, musical acts, correlation to the real story of Gypsy Rose Lee, awards won and impact Gypsy had on musical theatre will be discussed in further detail.
The period between early 1940s to mid-1960s or so, alternatively, the period between when the musical Oklahoma! (1943) was produced till the time when Hair (1968) was produced, is usually referred to as the Golden Age of the American musical (Kantor, 2010). It is during this period, that most of the noted titles such as “Carousel”, “South Pacific” etc. were produced. 1940s and early 1950s were dominated thoroughly by MGM musicals, while the late 1950s and 1960s belonged to Broadway. Initially, the musicals of this era had simple plots, unchallenging themes, with romantic or comedic characters and lots of singing and dancing. But towards the end of it, the plots were sophisticated, serious with singing, dancing as well as dialogue. In this paper, I choose to elaborate more on the musical – Arthur Laurents’s West Side Story. In the first part of this paper, I discuss the plot, songs and other aspects of the musical such as the awards etc. Later on, I explain how this musical revolutionized the theatre and the cultural effects it had on Americans. Finally, I conclude in the end the historical importance of this musical piece.
thesis of how the musical brought our inner child out to realize our true struggles in life.
I experienced Chicago, the Broadway musical, and because I had seen the movie many times before, I knew all the songs and dances by heart. I loved it, but it was actually the movie that influenced me to become a “Chicago fan.” The movie is based on the 1996 Chicago revival of the original musical version of 1975. It was thrilling knowing that the making of the musical into a mainstream production would increase its accessibility and widen its distribution into all the corners of the world; now there is no excuse for people not to experience Chicago, and though not everyone can go to Broadway to see it, just about anyone can indulge themselves in this dazzling movie in the comfort of their homes. In addition to a fantasy world of singing, dancing and Vaudeville, the film also provides a narrative that is explicitly presented through Roxie’s point of view, creating a counter-human side to Roxie’s fantasy world so that the audience can easily identify and engage.
The musicals that were produced around that time period were meant to be strictly for entertainment, for the most part. It was a very brave move for the creative team of this musical to tackle themes like racism, violence, and death. The risk definitely paid off, because even today West Side Story still remains a very popular musical. The main message that this show is trying to convey to the audience is that it shouldn’t take a horrible tragedy to finally unite people. Just because someone may not look the same way you do, or act the same way, or share your same belief system, that doesn’t mean you have to be fearful of them. Instead we should try our hardest to embrace the fact that this world would be a very boring place without a little diversity, and it’s ok to celebrate the things that make us
For many years, American musical theatre was defined as being mere entertainment for the people. It ranged from operetta, burlesque, vaudeville, and more. If there is one towering figure in the history of American Musical Theater, that person is Oscar Hammerstein II. He was a lyricist-librettist, as well as a distinguished poet and director. For over forty years, as the theatre’s forms of entertainment shifted, he helped merge everything into the art form known today as the musical. Born twenty-three years after Hammerstein, came Alan Jay Lerner. Idolizing Hammerstein’s work, he would grow to become another distinguished lyricist-librettist in musical theatre history. In this paper, we will look deeper at who these lyricists are and their writing style. Then we will examine one of each of their works and factors that fueled their creation.
Musical theatre is a type of theatrical performance combining music, dance, acting and spoken dialogue. West Side Story is a classic American musical based on the classic story "Romeo and Juliet". The through-composed score and lyrics are used to portray different characters and their cultures, the rivalry between the Jets and Sharks, and the emotions felt as the story progresses. However, we should inspect how the musical film through its music, its dances, its romantic melodrama, and its exoticism of cultural differences distracts from the racism in it. How does it attract, interpellate, and position ideologically the perceiving spectator — whose social construction of reality and racial differences belong to the U.S.A. — by spatially dividing
Theatre has heavily evolved over the past 100 years, particularly Musical Theatre- a subgenre of theatre in which the storyline is conveyed relying on songs and lyrics rather than dialogue. From its origination in Athens, musical theatre has spread across the world and is a popular form of entertainment today. This essay will discuss the evolution and change of musical theatre from 1980-2016, primarily focusing on Broadway (New York) and the West End (London). It will consider in depth, the time periods of: The 1980s: “Brit Hits”- the influence of European mega musicals, the 1990s: “The downfall of musicals”- what failed and what redeemed, and the 2000s/2010s: “The Resurgence of musicals”- including the rise of pop and movie musicals. Concluding
Musical theatre is a type of theatrical performance combining music, dance, acting and spoken dialogue. Written by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, ‘West Side Story’ is a classic American musical based on William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The through-composed score and lyrics are used to portray different characters and their cultures, the rivalry between the Jets and Sharks, and the emotions felt as the story progresses. This essay will be exploring the music and how effective the score is in realising the world and characters of the musical. Furthermore, it will discuss how Bernstein and Sondheim relate characters’ diverse ethnicities to particular musical ideas and motifs.