Leonard
Bernstein (1918–1990) is perhaps one of the most beloved American composers,
conductors, and educators of the twentieth century. He studied with Walter
Piston as Harvard University. He is remembered most for his time as music
director of the New York Philharmonic, for his televised Young People’s
Concerts, and of course, for his musical theatre work, West Side Story. Let’s spend the rest of today looking at this
famous and much-loved modern telling of Romeo and Juliet.
During
the mid-20th century, New York City existed in a state of unrest as
Puerto Ricans migrated to the U.S. Juvenile delinquency became a popular topic
in the press as street gangs formed and rivalries developed between Caucasians
and Puerto Ricans. Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and the team that
worked behind the making of West Side
Story decided to use this contemporary and real problem in society as the
basis for their new musical, a show based in the Upper West Side of New York
City and involving two gangs, the Puerto Rican Sharks and the Caucasian Jets.
When
writing the music for West Side Story,
Bernstein traveled to Puerto Rico for inspiration. The musical indeed draws on
Hispanic elements in both music and dance. In her book West Side Story: Cultural Perspectives on an American Musical,
Elizabeth A. Wells states “the adoption of a specific ethnic style in a serious
and self-consciously ‘American’ work has ultimately, and perhaps unexpectedly,
earned for the Hispanic style a level of recognition in American culture it had
never before achieved.”
Two
popular Latin American dance forms are found in the gymnasium dance scene: the
mambo and the cha-cha. During the mambo, Bernstein chose to use bongos,
cowbells, and trumpets in order to resemble a Latin jazz band. The performers
yell “Mambo!” from the sidelines of the dance floor, directly referencing the
flamenco tradition in which dancers are urged on by onlookers. The choreography
during this scene is also based on conventions of Latin social dancing.
You
can watch the “Mambo” clip from the 1961 film adaptation of West Side Story here.
