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1 results

  • 14 - West Side Story / Suite

  • from Part III - The Legacy
  • Edited by Paul R. Laird, University of Kansas, Elizabeth A. Wells, Mount Allison University, Canada
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to <i>West Side Story</i>
    Published online:
    09 January 2025
    Print publication:
    09 January 2025, pp 231-251

  • Summary

    For Jerome Robbins, musical theatre dance provided spectacle, but its primary function was to communicate story, acting as a cohesive thread between visual, aural, and textual elements. Robbins turned dance into a common language in the world of the play, an extension of a character’s vocabulary. For West Side Story, Jerome Robbins envisioned a prominent ensemble comprised of singing–acting dancers responsible for conveying essential narrative elements. By centering the action of the ensemble, movement and music lead lyrics, book, and design in translating given circumstances and character action. He enhanced aesthetic unity, thematic synthesis, and flow by developing a choreo-direction process which integrated American Stanislavski-based method acting principles with staging and dance composition. This ultimately contributed to the legacy left by West Side Story on film, Broadway, and concert dance.