‘A critical reading and contextualisation of West Side Story written by Arthur Laurents‚ music by Leonard Bernstein‚ lyrics by Stephan Sondheim and choreographed by Jerome Robbins.’ West Side Story is a 1961 film set in the mid-1950s in the upper west side of New York. West Side Story is based and inspired by Williams Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical West Side Story. In West Side Story the protagonist is the former leader of the Jets‚ Tony‚ who
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West Side Story is a romantic musical that is set in Manhattan‚ New York City during the 1950’s‚ where a large migration of Puerto Rican immigrants started to enter the United States. A White American gang‚ also known as the Jets‚ live in the city and have had a “turf” that they protected and ran for years. When the Puerto Ricans‚ known by the Sharks started looking for a “turf” for themselves‚ they interfere with the Jets and this causes multiple conflicts. There have been an abundance of different
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There have been several moments in theatre that seems to whitewash the ethnic characters. West Side Story is one of those musicals. West Side Story is a loose musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The twist is that it’s set in 1950s New York‚ with the plot set around youth street gangs entangled in a racially charged conflict over their “territory” in the lower West Side of Manhattan. There is the Puerto Rican “Sharks” led by Bernardo‚ who has recently brought his family‚ including
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America (West Side Story) Introduction This document is the lyrics of the song America extracts from the movie West Side Story. This movie is a musical directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise in 1961. It sets in NY in the 50’s. It deals with a confrontation between two rival gangs : the Jets (american) and the Sharks (Portorican). It also deals with a love story between Tony and Maria. Their love story is based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as the two lovers belong to different groups
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West Side Story is the modern take on the well-known William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliette‚where Tony and Maria replaced Romeo and Juliette and are involved in New York street gangs. On the harsh streets of the upper west side‚ two gangs battle for control of the turf. The situation becomes complicated when a gang member falls in love with a rival’s sister.Jerome Robbins(Director and choreographer)‚ Arthur Laurents(Author) and Leonard Bernstein(Composer) came together with the idea to write a
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The musical direction and sound design in the Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s production of West Side Story contributed to its success and excellence. The musical director of this production is Steve MacKinnon‚ and the sound designer is Craig Beyrooti. The production contained a live orchestra on stage for the music. The music reflected the tone of the scene and the play. As I walked into the theater‚ I was greeted by the sound of old Jazz that in some moments turned into suspenseful music. This music
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“I feel pretty. Oh‚ so pretty‚ I feel pretty and witty and gay. And I pity any girl who isn’t me tonight”. One of the most popular songs from the world wide successful musical West Side Story. The book was written by Arthur Laurents. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and Music by Leonard Bernstein. The star Maria who moved from Puerto Rico to live in New York wasn’t feeling pretty all the time. It was a temporary joy when she decided to love the American sharks gang member Tony. Her love lead to many major
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Love and Lust are two different things with regards to relationships. Love is when two people like something about each other‚ but having a desire for someone is called Lust. In the book "West Side Story" by Stephen Sondheim‚ two people from different gangs think they love each other‚ but from my point of view‚ they are just attracted to each other. They don’t show true love because they keep on thinking about their looks and they showed desire towards each other. First of all‚ true love is when
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presents itself in to simplistic of a way. The story divides two gangs apart just by social class but the way Ponyboy see’s it everyone has the same struggles at the end of the day. Also keeping with motif‚ the author empathizes on the details of character eyes. Ice blue being heartless and invulnerable while another guys eyes were black as if blocked from feelings and always on the ready. I cant help but relate this book to the West Side Story. It was a movie that came out some time The outsiders
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differences of West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet‚ the modern director captures Shakespeare’s original themes and ideas in West Side Story. Because West Side Story is a movie musical‚ it will be a lot of narrative conveyed through the song. While in the Romeo and Juliet we will be more find the characters says to himself or herself using poetic words of Shakespeare. That is the general differences that clearly visible on both movies. But if we examine in more detail‚ the movie West Side Story and Romeo
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