West Side Story: Cultural Perspectives on an American Musical
*Starred Review* West Side Story is such an iconic musical, it’s difficult to believe that, as Wells points out in her illuminating study, it could have been an unmitigated disaster. As originally conceived by choreographer Jerome Robbins, with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, it was meant to be an exploration of anti-Semitism, a modern-day adaptation of Romeo and Juliet with warring Catholic and Jewish street gangs. Although the Jewish plot was dropped in favor of Puerto Rican gang members, it was still the creation of four “privileged” Jewish American men who, as Sondheim notes, “had never even met a Puerto Rican.” What’s more, it featured no stars. Consequently, very few people thought the show had a chance on Broadway, and therefore it failed to attract investors. Both scholarly and entertaining, Wells explains in great and fascinating detail how West Side Story became one of the most successful musicals of the twentieth century and beyond and, more important, why it made an indelible mark on American culture. One of the great ironies of the story, she observes, is that the score was thought to be “unsingable” by Columbia Record executives. A must for serious fans of Broadway musicals. --June Sawyers