Song of the Week: 'Tonight' from West Side Story

This week I have chosen 'Tonight ' from West Side Story as my song of the week. On May 5th 1962 The soundtrack from this popular, Tony nominated, Musical shot to No.1 in the US album charts and went on to spend 54 weeks in that No.1 position, proving it's popularity.

During my A-Levels I analysed a few songs from this musical and I really enjoyed it. I hadn't listened to or watched the show before but learning about the music really peaked my interest and I began to listen more and watch the film.

The plot of the show was written by American playwright, stage director and screenwriter, Arthur Laurents, who is also known for writing another Tony nominated Musical 'Gypsy' and working with Alfred Hitchcock on his film 'Rope'.

West Side Story's lyrics were written Stephen Sondheim, well-known musical-theatre lyricist who was mentored by musical theatre Great Oscar Hammerstein (of Rogers and Hammerstein famous for musicals such as Oklahoma, South Pacific and The Sound of Music). Sondheim is a multi-award winner and is known for his complex compositions.

Finally the music for West Side Story was written by American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist, Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein is a multi-talented composer who has written in many different styles including symphonic and orchestral music, ballet, film and theatre music, choral works, opera, chamber music and pieces for the piano. While many of his works are popular worldwide and performed in venues all over the world, none have been quite as popular as West Side Story.

West Side Story was inspired by the popular Shakespeare Play, Romeo and Juliet, but in this version the two feuding groups are the Jets and the Sharks, two street gangs from the Upper West Side of New York City who are from two completely different ethnic backgrounds. The Sharks, who are from Puerto Rico are antagonized by the Jets who are White Americans. Tony, who used to be a member of Jets and is best friends with Jet's leader Riff falls in love with Maria, Member of the Sharks and sister of the gangs leader Bernardo. The musical follows the love story of Tony and Maria and if you know the story of Romeo and Juliet then I think you know how it ends.

Bernstein wrote the music for this show perfectly. There is one musical technique that I want to focus on and that is the use of the tritone. A tritone is an interval of three whole tones (an augmented fourth) which gives it an unsettling nature. This unsettling nature has lead it to be nicknamed 'the Devils interval' as it is usually used to represent uncertainty and tension. Bernstien uses this a lot throughout the musical, which is understandable given the storyline but it is noticeably absent from from our song of the week,'Tonight', which may be Bernstein's way of evoking hope that this love story will have a positive ending.

In this clip you can see the similarities with 'Romeo and Juliet' as we have a balcony scene which is a well-known part of the Shakespeare play. Maria is also telling Tony that they are from different cultures and it could be dangerous for them to be together. There are many perfect fourths in the melody, which are pleasing to the ear and lead the listener into a positive attitude.