CHAPTER 16 | JAZZ IN THE POSTWAR YEARS 407
In his 1967 book The American Musical Theater: A Consideration, Lehman Engel, a
composer and conductor of Broadway shows, made up his own list of classic musi-
cals from the years 1940–57. The list included the six Bernstein praised in 1956, plus
Brigadoon, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Carousel, and The King and I. To Engel, what set
these musicals apart was not the music, choreography, scenery, or acting but the
more realistic stories and better-rounded characters. All the shows on Engel’s list
succeeded as dramatic wholes. At the same time, like earlier Broadway shows, they
contained hit songs that circulated independently. The list leaves no doubt that
Rodgers and Hammerstein were supreme masters of the form. It also testifi es to the
creative powers of two leading composer-lyricists of an earlier day who fl ourished
in the postwar era, when they found the right book. One was Irving Berlin, whose
Annie Get Your Gun was the leading hit of 1946. The other was Cole Porter, whose Kiss
Me, Kate (1948) took Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew as its starting point.
Musical comedy had traditionally revolved around the blossoming of
romance: once the heroine and hero declared mutual love, the adventure was
over, and so was the show. Although stories and characters grew more realistic,
reliance on an old-fashioned view of romantic love persisted in the mid-century
years. Convinced that audiences came to the theater to watch two lovers fi nd
their way into each other’s arms, the makers of musicals held to that time-tested
formula, showing little inclination to explore beyond it.
Even the near-operatic West Side Story—the only tragic example in Engel’s
canon, it ends with the hero being shot dead—seems the exception that proves
the rule. Modeled after Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the story turns on love
at fi rst sight. The lovers, Maria and Tony, are affi liated not with Montagues and
Capulets but with two rival New York street gangs, the Puerto Rican Sharks
and the self-styled “American” (i.e., white) Jets. W hile most musicals end with
the hero and heroine poised to begin a life together, Maria and Tony are denied
that chance by a hate-fi lled society. Yet before he dies they enjoy their moment
of bliss, musical theater style, in an updated Balcony Scene. That scene’s musical
centerpiece is a thirty-two-bar aaba song that, as “Tonight,” became one of the
show’s biggest hits.
In the show’s score, however, the title “Tonight” is not used until the song is
reprised in a later ensemble (LG 16.5). In fact, Bernstein composed the ensem-
ble number fi rst, then saw the wisdom of pulling out Tony and Maria’s parts to
form a love duet for the earlier Balcony Scene. Originally conceived as a quintet,
the “Tonight” ensemble is usually sung by more than fi ve people, with the parts
for the two gang leaders reinforced by gang members. The number begins as a
pair of minor-key verses sung in alternation by Riff (and his Jets) and Bernardo
(and his Sharks), the two joining in unison for the major-key, blues-tinged cho-
rus. A third verse is sung by Bernardo’s girlfriend, Anita, but instead of a return
to the chorus, Tony breaks in over her last notes with the lyrical song from the
Balcony Scene. The Jets, repeating the opening verse, shake Tony out of his rev-
erie, and Riff and Tony converse to fragments of the bluesy chorus. At the same
time, Maria sings her reprise of the Balcony Scene song, increasing the number
of voices to three. Soon A nita and Bernardo (and his Sharks) join in as well, creat-
ing a web of fi ve-voice counterpoint over the pulsating orchestra.
Music makes possible a richness of texture that would be unintelligible in the
spoken theater. At the same time, lighting and staging make clear to the audience
that the principals are inhabiting different scenes and are not interacting with
one another (except for the Jets and Tony). Complex ensembles are high pointsLG 16.5West Side Storyoperatic ensembles172028_16_386-411_r3_sd.indd 407 23/01/13 10:56 AM