"...maybe tonight..."

Bernstein's "West Side Story" is a revolutionary piece of music for the American theatre.  His use of the tritone in particular changed the dynamic for composers of musical theatre.  They had to continue to be edgier in order to survive.  Melodies could no longer be overly simple or formulaic (that would become characterized as old-fashioned theatre music).  Someone who took this concept and ran with it was Bernstein's own protegee and lyricist for "West Side Story", Stephen Sondheim.  Sondheim would begin to stretch the boundaries of melodies for singers and explore music as the emotional life of the characters, not just accompaniment behind a singer, as Bernstein had done with "West Side Story".  Percussion also became an integral part of Sondheim's theatrical compositions (for instance, the large percussion section in Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd").  Bernstein would usher in a new era in musical theatre with this piece.  New music had to push boundaries and had to reflect the story.  Writing music now was more of a collaborative art with choreographers and lyricists to work with and off of.  To end our brief exploration of this piece, I will show one of my favorite moments in "West Side Story" entitled "The Dance at the Gym".  It is a perfect example of tritone use, percussion use, and the fact the Bernstein wrote this piece collaboratively with the choreographer as a dance song.

Bibliography

www.westsidestory.com

www.youtube.com

Woodiel, Paul.  "Gee Officer Krupke, I Need Those Violins".  The New York Times.  12-17-2010

Bernstein, Leonard.  "West Side Story"

West Side Story (1957 Original Broadway Cast Recording)