Something's Coming...

Welcome to the blog!  Over the next couple of weeks I will be exploring Leonard Bernstein's "West Side Story".  "West Side Story" had an amazing team of creators including composer Leonard Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, choreographer Jerome Robbins, and a book by Arthur Laurents.

(Left to Right) Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein,
and Jerome Robbins in TIME Magazine

The original Broadway production opened in the Winter Garden Theatre on September 26, 1957.  The show originally opened to very mixed reviews but none could deny that musical theatre (or theatrical music) would never be the same again.  It was the first truly collaborative piece of theatre.  The music and choreography were as important to the telling of the story as the acting was.  All components had to reflect the inner emotions of the characters.  Many critics still believe that the best storytelling is done by Bernstein and Robbins and that the actual script plays second fiddle.

In this blog I will be looking at Bernstein's use of tritones throughout the work (something that was a fairly new concept for musical theatre up to this point), his unique use of rhythm and percussion, and more!