West Side Story - Leonard Bernstein

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Experiencing West Side StoryFinal curtain callby John MauceriIn May I conducted West SideStory for the very first time.An all-school production at theNorth Carolina School of theArts under the stage directionof Gerald Freedman filled theRoger Stevens Center for twelveperformances and broke allhouse records, raising morethan $300,000 for the school.Experiencing West Side Storywith a cast, orchestra and crewof high school and college studentsfifty years after its creation,was a journey of timelessnessand inspiration. With GeraldFreedman (dean of the SchoolNORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF THE ARTSof Drama and Jerome Robbins’assistant in 1957) as stage directorand Kevin Backstrom restoringthe original choreography, wepresented something that wasboth authentic as well as brand,spanking new.Chita Rivera had spent timewith our 21-year-old Anita,Jenna Vakhouri. Sid Ramincame to Winston-Salem to blessthe orchestra with his presenceand Carol Lawrence, Mickey Calinand Grover Dale were on hand totell stories and demonstrate whattheir minds and muscles rememberedfrom a half century before.What I learned from the experienceis that there are no wastedwords, no wasted notes, and nodance “steps” in West Side Story.Everything tells the story andmoves the music drama forward.And imagine my delight to experiencethe original orchestration —(Sid! Three bass clarinets in “ABoy like That!”) and teach it toyoung people who had never seenthe show in a theater.Only occasionally did I findmyself explaining phrases like“social disease,” and why it isso funny for Graziella to look atAnybody’s and say, “An AmericanTragedy,” or the comic juxtapositionof a Puerto Rican gang saying,“Top of the evening, OfficerKrupke!” These were minor sidetrips into nostalgia and culturalhistory on the highway of timelessness.Since Arthur Laurentsand Stephen Sondheim inventedverbal placeholders for real,vulgar street talk — words andphrases like frabberjabber, andKrupp you! — it was remarkablyeasy for young actors to investcontemporary meaning to whatmight have seemed “charming”on the page.West Side Story is as violentand beautiful and essential todayas it was in 1957. Since the worldof gang violence is very much athing of today, with racial andtribal behavior dominating thenews, West Side Story acts asa great warning. Experiencingit with a company of brilliantyoung people gives one hope fora better world than the one welive in today.■John Mauceri is the Chancellorof the North Carolina School ofthe Arts and the Founding Directorof the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.He is a consultant to the LeonardBernstein Office and serves on theadvisory board of the LeonardBernstein Center for Learning.Conducting West Side StoryPrelude, Fugue & Riffs Fall/Winter 2007/20088by Donald ChanThe question I am asked themost is: After over 2,000 performancesand approximately50 or so different productions,do you still enjoy working on andperforming West Side Story? Andmy answer has to be a resounding— YES! Why? It’s the most completemusical that has ever beencomposed. The book, dance, andmusic are so intertwined that itwas and still is considered theshow that revolutionized musicaltheater in the 1950’s. Certainlyit was way ahead of its time.The music has everything fromlatin, jazz, classical, and even a12 tone row. It is never boring.I have done all sorts of productionswith all different sizes oforchestras: from 18 musiciansup to 65 musicians. The mostexhilarating of them was in2000 at La Scala in Milan, Italywith the La Scala Orchestra.I guess I am now consideredan honored statesman of WestSide Story productions, as I helpto supervise and consult othermusical directors and productionswhen asked. I will be celebratingthe 50th Anniversary of West SideStory with productions in Viennaand Paris this fall, and hope toreach my goal of 2500 performanceswithin the next year.■
The West Side Story Projectby Molly FortinEarlier this year, in an unprecedentedpartnership, theSeattle Police Department (SPD)and Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatrelaunched The West Side StoryProject, an innovative approachto youth gang violence prevention.The project was designed toengage middle and high schoolstudents as well as Seattle’s adultcommunity in a series of events.Taking advantage of The 5thAvenue’s production of WestSide Story, the project utilizedthe musical as a backdrop foran ongoing community dialogueabout the lure of gang membership,relationships between policeand youth and the harsh realitiesof youth violence. In an effortto facilitate and broaden thisconversation, several events tookplace, each with a different targetaudience. The project — a threemonth long series of workshops,forums and performances bySeattle high school students,youth program specialists, andlaw enforcement — sought touse theater as a catalyst fortalking about steps the Seattlecommunity could take to protectfuture generations from gangviolence. The project culminatedwith paticipating youth creatingand performing a modern versionof the classic musical as well asbeing provided an opportunityto attend The 5th AvenueTheatre’s production.A Teen Advisory Council of33 students was formed fromarea high schools and workeddirectly with Seattle PoliceDepartment (SPD) officers and5th Avenue staff for many monthsto frame the themes and discussionsfor the two West Side StoryProject Youth Summits.There were two West SideStory Project Youth Summits:one for middle school studentsand one for high school students.The summits explored the issuesof gang involvement, police relationsand valuing differences usingWest Side Story as a springboardfor the dialogue. SPD officers,youth program specialists and theTeen Advisory Council membersco-facilitated four workshopsbased upon particular scenesand songs from West Side Story.Additionally the project hostedan adult community dialoguein Town Hall Seattle. The eveningbegan with the cast of WestSide Story performing the song“Officer Krupke” live. In thissong, the Jets recount their experienceof being arrested by OfficerKrupke, who sends them to ajudge, who decides they need tosee a psychiatrist, who sendsthem to a social worker, who saysthey’re “no good” and just needto go to jail. The performancewas followed by a facilitateddiscussion with key Seattle policymakers,the counterparts to thecharacters in “Officer Krupke”(law enforcement, juvenile court,youth social services and childpsychiatry), who explored thesystems’ response to at-riskyouth in the Seattle community.Later small groups from areahigh schools worked with a teamof teaching artists from The 5thAvenue Theatre and created theirown modern version of West SideStory. Just as West Side Story wasa modern adaptation of Romeoand Juliet, these students updatedWest Side Story and presentedtheir own 21st century versionon stage to members of the SeattlePolice Department, 5th AvenueTheatre staff and family andfriends of the performers.Local high school students tell a Seattle Police Officer that he is “breaking thelaw” in a role-reversal workshop.All the participants in theseactivities were encouraged toparticipate in opportunities atThe 5th Avenue Theatre’srehearsals of West Side Story; tomeet and engage in “talk-backs”with the actors portraying theyouth in West Side Story, andwith a backstage pass at the theatre,to give students an insidelook at how the show was staged.Excitement about The WestSide Story Project has spreadacross the US and the UnitedKingdom. In Chicago at TheAnnual Meeting of the PoliceExecutive Research Forum (oneof the nation’s premier law enforcementorganizations dedicatedto innovation), a 90-minute presentationfocused on this uniquecollaborative effort.West Side Story tells the tragictruth about gang violence, butit’s animated by a spirit of hopefor the future, a spirit that allinvolved in The West Side Storyproject shared.■Molly Fortin is the PublicRelations Manager for The 5thAvenue Theatre.© Chris KremkauPrelude, Fugue & Riffs Fall/Winter 2007/20089
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West Side Story - Leonard Bernstein

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