Broadway for Gershwin was no doubt a major success and a highly influential era in musical theatre as we know today, yet Broadway for Sondheim was more than just a ‘play thing’ – it was a ‘concept’:
“Concept, the word coined to describe the form of the Sondheim musical, suggests that all elements of the musical, thematic and presentational, are integrated to suggest a central idea or image…Prior to Sondheim, the musical was built around the plot….The book structure for Sondheim, on the other hand, means the idea. Music, lyric, dance, dialogue, design and direction fuse to support a focal thought”. (Gordon, 1990, p.7).
(Gordon, 1990, p.7).
However, the musical era of Sondheim can be argued to be a place that consisted of many different types of loss – loss of love, loss of identity, loss of freedom, and so on. These themes of loss are all demonstrated throughout many different musicals post-1957, including West Side Story, 1957, and Grease, 1971.
West Side Story, 1957, which “took on the spectre of ethnic-base, gang-related violence that had become part of life on the streets of New York and other large American citites” (Knapp, 2006, p.153) is a musical with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Steven Sondheim, known as a ‘modernised’ version of the tragic tale Romeo and Juliet.
Sondheim brought an edgy, feverish musical style which was key due to the tri-tone interval. He also created a dissonant percussive score, which dissonance creates tension – the sequence is unstable, unresolved and ominous. ‘Maria’ and ‘Cool’ are examples of tri-tones, however, the tri-tone in ‘Maria’ (ma-ri-a) sounds hopeful and secure. Knapp (2016) states that ‘Maria’ “triumphantly resolves the triton of the show’s basic cell in an upward appoggiatura closely resembling the launching gesture of Tchaikovsky’s famous love theme” (p.211), so although the tri-tone is labelled as the ‘hate motif’, Tony and Maria’s love ‘resolves’ the rivalry between the two gangs, which alternately, here, this is not losing anything, but gaining something – peace and reconcilement Nevertheless, the tri-tone mainly symbolises negativity, tension and essentially loss of love as a species. Specifically, in West Side Story, the tri-tone as is also labelled as the ‘hate motif’ as it is closely associated with the gang warfare, therefore it ultimately creates a loss of respect and humanity, two contributing factors to love as a whole generic topic, due to the two opposing gangs feeling hatred towards one another simply just for their territory. It can also be argued that there is a loss of freedom in the sense of gang warfare as the Sharks are being segregated by the Jets due to them having migrated over from Puerto Rico. Knapp (2016) further discusses the topic of discrimination and segregation of the Puerto Ricans when stating “the allusions to the primitive living conditions of Puerto Rico in West Side Story (“wall-to-wall floors in America”) have been seen as either ignorant or shamelessly pandering to the presumed prejudices of its American audience” (p.185), explaining how the overall portrayal of the Puerto Ricans throughout the musical is simply insensitive purely for the entertainment of the Americans in the audience, further providing a loss of freedom and also a loss of identity in the sense that all the male and female Sharks are being stereotyped, not allowing them to have their own individual identities, but to be generalised as a Puerto Rican migrant.
There is a dance and spatial element in West Side Story is very important in terms of communicating themes, especially themes of loss. Knapp (2016) states “it’s dance element is perhaps the most ambitious contribution…the degree and subtlety with which dance not only establishes character and situation, but also develops theme and plot, set a new standard for the American musical stage” (p.184). For example, in ‘America’, the males and females are separated into two groups. This is clearly shown as all the girls are situated behind Anita who is talking directly across to Bernardo, whom all the males are situated behind. The Puerto Ricans being segregated into the two gender groups suggests a loss of gender equality, as it could be argued that the females are being blinded by the American Dream, with Bernado saying how Anita “has been brainwashed”, ultimately suggesting that the females are the weaker sex in comparison to the men who are not afraid of getting right to the point and are not being ‘brainwashed’ by the wonders of America. This could also make female audience members feel as though they’ve lost their feminine empowerment and confidence as the females in ‘America’ are almost portrayed as being submissive.
Fiddler on the Roof, 1964, is a show that “resonated with many of the issues attendant on the civil rights movement of the early 1960s…including racial persecution, diaspora, and intermarriage” (Knapp, 2016, p.215). Alike West Side Story, it involves the theme of intermarriage, with Chava refusing to marry a fellow Jew at the request of Tevye, Chava’s father, and Maria to marry Chino, a fellow Shark, at the expectancy of Bernardo, Maria’s brother. Both Tevye and Bernardo are important male authority figures to both females, therefore showing the power that these males have over these females, even though it is only out of love and protection, they ultimately disregard these female’s wishes – a loss of freedom. However, these females gain female empowerment and individuality as neither of them actually end up marrying the males they were intended to – going against their male authorities’ wishes to fulfil their own.
The musical Grease, 1971, “had a raunchy, joyous, and surprising multigenerational appeal” (p.323) and actually gave the Broadway box office a boost” (p.323) according to Kenrick, 2008. It tells a story of a group of high school kids in the 50s involving a summer romance between Danny Zuko and Sandy Olson, however it is not all love and happy romances – like West Side Story, it involves a variety of different themes of loss. One form of loss is the loss of identity, especially in Sandy’s character. She starts off the film appearing as the typical ‘girl-next-door’ wearing many pale and pastel colours such as pink to match this stereotype. She starts off as a prim and proper, sensible character who one day changes drastically into this new, fiery lady in a sultry and bold black outfit fit red lipstick and nails, only wanting to fit in in with the Pink Ladies and to impress ‘her man’. A website called GirlsDoFilm states that “she’s given up her morals and her character traits in order to fit in, she’s trying to emulate the ‘Pink Ladies’; she really did ‘haul all her cookies to the beach for some guy’”. Essentially, this quote is proving the loss of Sandy’s identity of the good-girl image to this new ‘Sultry Sandy’ purely to impress her friends and Danny Zuko, completely overriding who she really is to blindly try to ‘live up to their expectations’ almost. This can also be considered as a loss of female empowerment as Sandy felt she needed to change who she is simply for the satisfaction and time of day from one guy, proving a negative as Sandy is thinking the complete opposite of ‘I don’t need to change who I am for a guy’.
Like the Jets and the Sharks in West Side Story, it could be argued that both the T Birds and the Pink Ladies collectively portray a loss of identity and individuality. Each male member of the T Birds all look and dress the same, with their hair perfectly styled, their leather jackets and their open-buttoned shirts underneath, and each female member of the Pink Ladies also all look and dress the same, with their short, curled hair, black leggings and pink bomber jackets. With the males and females respectively in their groups looking and acting the same, this creates a loss of individuality and identity as not one male has their own style or persona and like-wise with the females. This is shown when Danny’s tough-guy image is maintained when Sandy and Danny are reunited again for the first time, which Danny resorts to a drastic jerk-like change in his attitude after showing her the tiniest bit of happiness and affection towards her in front of the T Birds. Sandy responds with “you’re a fake and a phony and I wish I never laid eyes on you!”, clearly showing how much he had hurt her all because Danny wanted to prove to his friends that he was still cool and could still hurt girls feelings and make them feel belittled, as that was the jerkish stereotype of the T Birds.
However, not all of the characters have a loss of identity. For example, Rizzo’s character actually gains and reinstates her identity. Talking about the song ‘Look At me, I’m Sandra Dee’, Gänzl (1994) states that “it was to Rizzo that the evening’s only number which expressed any genuine feeling fell – her angry retort to Sandy that she’d rather be her unpretentious, slightly soiled self than something fresh out of a bubble-gum packet” (p.578), then preceding to refer to the song ‘There Are Worse Things I Could Do’. The song starts off with Rizzo talking about how there are worse things that she could do than “go with a boy or two”, even though the neighbourhood thinks she’s “trashy and no good” (Jacobs & Casey, 1978, track 20), which implies that she is actually accepting who she is rather than believing that she is ‘trashy and no good’ which could ultimately persuade her into changing who she is just because of the judgement of others. Yet, Rizzo still does not change who she is for anyone, therefore showing a gain in identity as she is portraying confidence in who she is.
In relation to the loss of gender equality in West Side Story when the male and female Sharks are separated during America, this same loss is portrayed in Grease by the Pink Ladies. The T Birds are all wearing black to suit their ‘tough guy’ look, however the Pink Ladies, stated in the name, often wear many items of clothing that are pink, especially the notorious ‘Pink Ladies’ satin bomber jacket. This choice of colour could be questioned as it is well-known that people associate the colour pink with girls almost as a form of degrading females and their strength, as pink is seen as a ‘girly ‘ colour. An article from Independent backs up my statement, saying “there can be no doubt about it; pink is a feminist issue” and how someone considered “her passion for pink to be a “feminist failing”” (Hamilton, 2015). This then questions the reason for the choice of pink for the Pink Ladies – why not purple? Is the pink meant to make them appear as the weaker sex? Is the pink meant to make them seem more ‘girlish’ and ‘sissy?
In conclusion, there are many things that are ‘lost’ in Sondheim’s era, from loss of identity to loss of female empowerment, however not all things are lost. In the midst of many of the characters losing their identity and individuality, as shown in West Side Story and Grease, there are still the odd few characters who stick to their ground and actually gain something – their identity and persona being reinstated, such as Rizzo’s character. Many audience members may relate to this loss on an everyday basis, meaning they may themselves be battling to ‘fit in’ and be accepted, rather than embracing their own unique identities, therefore making many see this era as a place where people ‘lost things’ – their identity.
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