World Premiere: February 13, 1961

Most Recent HSO Performance: February 16, 2014

Instrumentation: 3 flutes with third flute doubling on piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets with first trumpet doubling on piccolo trumpet, 3 trombones, tuba, alto saxophone, timpani, vibraphone, timbales, congas, bass drum, tomtom, drum set, cymbals, tambourine, woodblock, triangle, tamtam, xylophone, glockenspiel, chimes, tenor drum, pitched drums, snare drum, finger cymbals, maracas, cowbells, police whistle, bongos, suspended cymbal, guiro, harp, piano/celeste, and strings: violin I, violin II, viola, cello, and bass

Duration: 24'

Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (1957)

Leonard Bernstein

(Born August 25, 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts

Died October 14, 1990 in New York City)

Leonard Bernstein, a native of Boston, had a productive fascination with New York City for much of his career. Beside being linked with that city’s major orchestra for many years as conductor and music director, Bernstein was inspired by the great metropolis in several of his original stage compositions — the ballet Fancy Free (1944), the musicals On the Town (1944) and Wonderful Town (1952), the score for Elia Kazan’s film On the Waterfront (1954) and the epochal West Side Story. The idea for West Side Story was suggested to Bernstein as early as 1949 by the choreographer Jerome Robbins, who envisioned a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet set in New York City. Bernstein was fascinated with the idea, but he could not find time to work on the project until the middle 1950s, beginning composition as soon as he had finished the brilliant score for the operetta/musical Candide. Stephen Sondheim, in his Broadway debut, supplied the lyrics, Arthur Laurents wrote the book and Robbins staged the show, which was finally completed in 1957. After try-outs in Washington and Philadelphia, West Side Story was unveiled on Broadway on September 26th and ran for almost two years. After a ten-month road tour, it returned to New York and closed on April 27, 1960 after a total of 732 Broadway performances. It was made into a film in 1961 that swept ten Oscars, including Best Picture, and has since entered into the pantheon of the American theater as one of the greatest musicals ever created.

West Side Story was one of the first musicals to explore a serious subject with wide social implications. More than just the story of the tragic lives of ordinary people in a small, grubby section of New York, it was concerned with urban violence, juvenile delinquency, clan hatred and young love. The show was criticized as harshly realistic by some who advocated an entirely escapist function for the musical, depicting things that were not appropriately shown on the Broadway stage. Most, however, recognized that it expanded the scope of the musical through references both to classical literature (Romeo and Juliet) and to the pressing problems of modern society. Brooks Atkinson, the distinguished critic of The New York Times, noted in his book Broadway that West Side Story was “a harsh ballad of the city, taut, nervous and flaring, the melodies choked apprehensively, the rhythms wild, swift and deadly.” Much of the show’s electric atmosphere was generated by its brilliant dance sequences, for which Jerome Robbins won the 1957-1958 Tony Award for choreography. “The dance movements not only epitomize the tensions, the brutality, bravado, and venomous hatred of the gang warriors but also had sufficient variety in themselves to hold audiences spellbound,” wrote Abe Laufe in Broadway’s Greatest Musicals. In 1961, Bernstein chose a sequence of dance music from West Side Story to assemble as a concert work, and Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal executed the orchestration of these “Symphonic Dances” under the direction of the composer. Bernstein said that he called these excerpts “symphonic” not because they were arranged for full orchestra but because many of them grew, like a classical symphony, from a few basic themes transformed into a variety of moods to fit the play’s action and emotions. West Side Story, like a very few other musicals — Show Boat, Oklahoma, Pal Joey, A Chorus Line, Sunday in the Park with George, Rent, Hamilton — provides more than just an evening’s pleasant diversion. It is a work that gave a new vision and direction to the American musical theater.

In the story, Riff, leader of the Jets, an “American” street gang, determines to challenge Bernardo, head of the rival Sharks, a group of young Puerto Ricans, to a rumble. Riff asks Tony, his best friend and a co-founder of the Jets, to help. Tony has been growing away from the gang, 

and he senses better things in his future, but agrees. The Jets and the Sharks meet that night at a dance in the gym, where Tony falls in love at first sight with Maria, Bernardo’s sister, recently arrived from Puerto Rico. Later that night, Tony meets Maria on the fire escape of her apartment. The next day, Tony visits Maria at the bridal shop where she works, and they enact a touching wedding ceremony. Tony promises Maria he will try to stop the rumble, but he is unsuccessful and becomes involved in the fighting. He kills Bernardo. Maria learns that Tony has slain her brother. Tony comes to her apartment, but she cannot send him away, and they long for a place free from prejudice. Tony leaves, and hides in Doc’s drugstore. Maria convinces Anita, Bernardo’s girl, of her love for Tony, and Anita agrees to tell Tony that the Sharks intend to hunt him down. She is so fiercely taunted by the Jets at the drugstore, however, that she spitefully tells Tony that Maria has been killed. Tony numbly wanders the streets, and meets Maria. At the moment they embrace, he is shot dead. The Jets and the Sharks appear from the shadows, drawn together by the tragedy. They carry off the body of Tony, followed by Maria.

The following summary, outlining the stage action that occurs during the Symphonic Dances, appears in the orchestral score:

“Prologue (Allegro moderato) — The growing rivalry between two teen-age gangs, the Jets and the Sharks.

“Somewhere (Adagio) — In a visionary dance sequence, the two gangs are united in friendship.

“Scherzo (Vivace leggiero) — In the same dream, they break through the city walls, and suddenly find themselves in a world of space, air and sun.

“Mambo (Presto) — Reality again; competitive dance between the gangs.

“Cha-cha (Andantino con grazia) — the star-crossed lovers, Tony and Maria, see each other for the first time and dance together [Maria].

“Meeting scene (Meno mosso) — Music accompanies their first spoken words.

“Cool, Fugue (Allegretto) — An elaborate dance sequence in which the Jets practice controlling their hostility.

“Rumble (Molto allegro) — Climactic gang battle during which the two gang leaders are killed.

“Finale (Adagio) — As Tony dies in Maria’s arms, love music developing into a procession, which recalls, in tragic reality, the vision of Somewhere.”

©2021 Dr. Richard E. Rodda