Bernstein's iconic West Side Story Suite

Bernstein’s iconic West Side Story Suite

JESSICA CABE, Festival Focus Writer

There are few works in the Broadway canon so beloved, so timeless, and so American as West Side Story. There is at least one tune in the show that everyone will recognize—all infectious enough to hum for days.

At 6 pm on Friday, July 26, the Aspen Chamber Symphony will perform Bernstein’s West Side Story Symphonic Dances in the Benedict Music Tent. Also on the program are Arturo Marquez’s Danzón No. 2 and Barber’s Piano Concerto, performed by renowned pianist and Aspen regular Inon Barnatan.

Programming West Side Story Symphonic Dances and Barber on one night illuminates the Aspen Music Festival and School’s (AMFS) season theme, “Being American.” There could be no celebration of American music without Bernstein, and no more lasting piece than West Side Story, notes AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher. Any survey of music in America will have to confront one of the greatest of all American musicians, and that’s Leonard Bernstein,” says Fletcher.

It was definitely going to happen that we were going to have some of his major works. Also, we wanted to have not only South Pacific as a representation of Broadway, and A Little Night Music as a Broadway show, but I think West Side Story is one of the greatest blendings of Broadway and classical. It just seemed like an irresistible choice.

Alan Fletcher president and CEO

Bernstein’s score from West Side Story quickly became an American classic. The July 26 performance of West Side Story Symphonic Dances surveys some of his most memorable melodies. See Bernstein, Festival Focus page 3

West Side Story debuted on Broadway in September 1957, and it has been affecting audiences ever since. It tells a Romeo and Juliet-inspired story set in 1950s New York City, with rival gangs at the center of a forbidden romance.

The Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang, and the Jets, a white gang, get in the middle of a budding romance between a former Jet, Tony, and Maria, the sister of the Sharks’ leader.

West Side Story changed American theater forever, with its incisive commentary on ethnic tension, plus its memorable dance scenes. Even those who haven’t seen the musical all the way through likely think of its signature jazzy fingersnaps at the mere mention of its name.

"it’s all gushing out of it—the gift of song, the gift of melody, the rhythms of the dances,” says Asadour Santourian, AMFS vice president for artistic administration and artistic advisor. “It’s just terrific music, and it transcends time."

West Side Story Symphonic Dances includes “Mambo,” “Cha-cha,” and audience favorites “Somewhere” and “Maria.” While the piece does not include all the songs from the musical, the entire story is represented from beginning to end. The work begins with a Prologue illustrating the growing rivalry between the Sharks and Jets. Other sections tell the story of Tony and Maria meeting for the first time and falling in love, the two gangs coming together for a battle, and the sobering finale.

"The piece comes from Bernstein’s height of ability to write for the Broadway medium,” Santourian says.

Bernstein was, of course, trained as a classical musician. The transfer of the dances into a symphonic setting was made rather easily because the dances are symphonic in their nature. Audiences continue to love the melodic appeal, as well as just the material: the love story of Romeo and Juliet, successfully reinterpreted to mid-twentieth century.

Asadour Santourian vice president for artistic administration

Don’t miss the opportunity to hear the most energetic of this beloved music performed live on the Tent stage, in a true celebration of “Being American.”