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
West Side Story is one of the great contributors to musical theatre, in particular Broadway where it originally opened on September 26 1957 at the Winter garden Theatre. The production ran for 732 performances before entering the world of film in 1961. However, I believe its significance lies in the heart of the theatre where the audience is subjected to different styles of music, dance and of course an adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In fact, Leonard Bernstein first decided to call
The story revolves around two warring groups; the jets of America and the Sharks of Puerto Rico. There are two people who fall in love within the film. They are Tony, who is Riff’s best friend and a co-founder of the jets as well and Maria, who is Benardo’s sister. Anita is the girlfriend of Benardo. Within the film, there are many obstacles which arise as the wars continue to heat up between the two gangs. However, despite everything that they experience, the two lovebirds; Tony and Maria do reassure
Owen Garber Mrs. Hughes Advanced L.A. 8 8 May 2016 Chino’s Story Two lovers are separated forever after a gang member decides to get revenge. New York City has been a breeding ground for this, and the world is left wondering who is to blame for this senseless tragedy. Arthur Laurents’ West Side Story focuses on two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, in a small area of New York City. Tony, a former member of the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of a Shark. The two gangs decide to settle
West Side Story 1. Point out how the general setting of the play is established. Give at least two examples. The play West Side Story takes place in a suburb on the West Side of New York City. We can conclude that we are talking about a socially disadvantaged suburb as the surrounding area is described with high brick walls, not very attractive and by the presence of the two gangs – the Jets and the Sharks. We are also able to say in which time period the actions take place. As an
The film West Side takes place in New York City where a Polish- American gang, referred to as the Jets, competes against a Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks, to own the neighborhood streets. The central theme of this film is passionate love that defies friendships, family and other factors. To add to that, the dominating genre of the film is a musical involving drama and romance. To begin with, in this film, Richard Beymer (Tony) is the former leader of the jet that lives with Riff, works at Docs store
The book West Side Story written by Arthur Laurents is set in the mid 1950’s, created as modern version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story is a romantic tragedy about two characters that are supposedly completely different and aren’t accepted when they fall in love. The “difference’s” between these characters is centered on the prejudice’s they had against each other. Prejudice is a harsh opinion or feeling formed previously without any knowledge or reason. The Jets and the Sharks
The movie takes place in the West Side of New York, in the late 1950s.The Jets are a teenage gang of American boys determined not only to check but to destroy the growth of Puerto Rican population and influence on their block. They are opposed by a Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks, led by Bernardo. In the entirely dance sene, the members of the two rival gangs provoke each other. A fight breaks out between them, but it's broken up by the arrival of two cops. After the police has got rid of the Puerto
This musical is about two rival singing gangs named the Jets and the other the Sharks. The Jets are made up of white male teenagers which the Sharks are colored Puerto Rican teenagers. They don’t like each other and hate one another. The leader of the Jets wants an ex-Jet Tony to join in a fight. They believe the Jets are superior and want to keep other gangs out. Tony gets pressured to go by the Leader and he accepts. Tony begins to have a musical number at his job and sings about how great tonight
Devyn Cunningham Stunts and Action on Stage Mrs.Hoffmann 1/15/18 Examination of a Stunt Scene in West Side Story For the scene I chose to examine, I chose to do the rumble from the musical West Side Story. The show is about the tension between a white American gang, the Jets, led by Riff Lorton, and a Puerto Rican gang of immigrants, the Sharks, led by Bernardo Nunez. After a fight breaks out police arrive and break it up. The Jets decide to challenge the Sharks to a rumble at an upcoming dance
Density 21.5 Edgard Varèse’s Density 21.5 for unaccompanied flute was composed in 1936 (revised in 1944) at the request of George Barrère for the première of his new platinum flute.Inspired by the flute’s capabilities, Varèse sought to showcase the platinum instrument’s full range of sound and explore its timbral capacity. Density is a monophonic work that is characterized by extreme dynamics, angular motives, timbral variety, and complex rhythms. During the span of sixty-one measures, Varèse exploits
leitmotif, major and minor thirds, within a tritone. This returns at bars 15 - 18 and at various other parts in the suite of which I will later elaborate. Within the opening few bars the pizzicato and legato combined in the cello and bass section produces an ominous opening to the work. The base drum roll and the murky off beat and horn entry at bar 5 makes it clear that it is evil magic. One of Stravinsky’s traits that often appears is how he uses tritones to represent evil magic, e.g. f# to C,
must look even farther back: to the 18th and 19th century Baroque and Romantic Era and the origin of the tritone. The tritone, also known as the devil’s chord, is a diminished fifth or augmented second chord, or to put more simply, a chord which includes any note and the note which splits the scale directly in half. For example, if one started with the note C natural, an F# would complete the tritone chord. When played together, a sound of unresolved tension occurs and it makes humans beings feel uncomfortable
to C tritone in measure 28. Berg goes even further as to make that tritone the goal in the bass of the accompaniment as well, in measures 30-32. However, much like the underlying tonality of G in the first iteration of the second theme, this theme highlights the pitch D. While Marie’s line does not transparently arpeggiate a D triad, by beginning her line on a D above the F-sharp in the bass, a D chord in first inversion can be super-imposed. (Figure 3) If we consider the F-sharp and C tritone that
In Act III Scene I of his opera Pelléas et Mélisande, Claude Debussy employs methods of voice leading by step and tritone, several repetitive and stressed motives, and an overarching transition throughout the scene from E minor to E major, overall displaying the themes of innocence, lust, desire, and betrayal. The overarching voicing leading through the scene takes us from E minor to E major, by stepping down to the middle goal of C in measure 105, and then steps up to return to E in measure 180
also incorporates Bebop Fugue in his musical through his song Cool, as well as an operatic style ensemble through the Tonight Ensemble that he incorporates. (West Side Story, 2016) Bernstein is also acknowledged for his successful use of the tritone. The tritone is classified as an augmented 4th or a diminished 5th and it serves as a leit motif, which is a recurring theme. This particular recurring theme represents longing and tragedy between Maria and Tony, as well as their forbidden love.
1. Requiem aeternam: The chorus and boys’ choir sings phrases of faith and requests for the soldiers to be saved in Latin; the tenor then sings about the futility of prayers, from Wilfred Owen’s poem, in English. These two groups contrast each other because the first is concerned with religious practices while the second rebukes such religious practices. The music of the chorus and boys’ choir sounds more suspenseful while the music of the tenor sounds more dramatic. Dies irae: The chorus sings about
G, Aflat, Bflat, Bnatural, C. The F – Bnatural of which is based on the octatonic scale made up of alternating tones and semitones, it is also an augmented fourth, tritone. In this section, the time signature changes very frequently. The clarinet and oboe parts at 118 play a whole tone scale, with the interval of a tritone between the parts. The theme at 155 in the oboe is based on an Arab melody, with a narrow range, with a drone in the bass. There are often parallel moving chords
consecutive fourths and seconds. This Hungarian style is extended and developed further throughout the following section. The melody at bar 76 is similar to that of a Serbo-Croat melody. The germinal motive outline of this is an augmented fourth (tritone) and is made up of alternating tones and semitones, like an octatonic scale. The theme at this point is asymmetrical. It is built on three bars, followed by three bars inversion. There is also a very frequent change of time signature in this
This essay will explore the connections that can be drawn between classical music -such as baroque, and romantic eras- and the genre of heavy metal. The essay will hopefully show why heavy metal is more technically similar to works by classical composers than any other genre of music. It will also discuss three main aspects about heavy metal's relationship with social and political events, such as how classical music enjoys the recognition of high art status, where as heavy metal does not, yet a