BROADWAY MUSICALS: West Side Story Response Journal # 10
Read the assigned materials in the following order:
- Arthur Laurents’ libretto without the music
- Libretto with the music
Please note: Even though many of you are familiar with the film version of West Side Story, this response journal is designed to demonstrate your command of the Broadway musical which is quite different from the film.
- One of the most striking differences between the source material, Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story is the treatment of the grown-up characters. Shakespeare treated the Montagues and the Capulets with some measure of sympathy and humanity. In West Side Story, the adult characters are treated as part of the culture that perpetuates and fuels racial tensions in the community. Quoting directly from the libretto (including page numbers), provide at least two specific examples of how Laurents used his adult characters to give voice to the racial tensions at the heart of the musical. (30 points)
- Listen carefully and repeatedly to “One Hand, One Heart” and “The Rumble” while following along in the libretto.
- What is the conflict at the heart of “One Hand, One Heart”? What do you hear in the music and see in the music fragment that suggests connotative meaning at the heart of the song? (10 points)
- What is the conflict at the heart of “The Rumble”? What do you hear in the music and see in the music that suggests connotative meaning? (10 points)
- What are the Predominate Musical Elements (PME’s) for each song? (10 points)
- What are the song functions for each song? (10 points)
- Think about the racial tensions that have fueled the “Black Lives Matter” movement and the Immigrant Rights Movement. What do the tensions between the Puerto Rican immigrants and the dominant white culture of the upper west side have in common with the issues that the black and immigrant communities face today? (10 points)
- What interested you most about West Side Story?
- After studying West Side Story – what questions do you have about this ground breaking musical?
There will be a 5 point deduction if you do not cite your source materials accurately.
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