A few hours ago I opened my inbox to find an questionnaire inquiring, "Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of America?" As it happened, I had a classical radio station on in the background--I often listen to KUSC on iTunes--and found myself listening to Leonard Bernstein's "Symphonic Dances from West Side Story."
You can see what's coming, can't you?
"West Side Story," I found when I checked on Wikipedia, opened on Broadway in 1957. The music is simply magnificent--an adaptation of classical instruments and methods to distinctively American rhythms and themes. The story, based on "Romeo and Juliet," is, likewise, magnificent, the tragedy of a young Caucasian or Anglo who falls in love with a Puerto Rican girl in an ethnically charged and divided New York City neighborhood. "West Side Story" displayed the highest aspirations. In its music, story, and choreography, it sought to claim the high classical tradition of Europe for the United States. It sought to adapt the classical vocabulary to the New York City streets, celebrating American life even as it criticized racial divides. It sought to inspire. It sought to uplift.
That was Broadway, in, again 1957.
Broadway today? "The Book of Mormon."
I confess at the outset that I have yet to see the show. Apparently it's very, very funny--I'll grant that. But as best I can tell the comedy all arises from mockery, which is, aside from bathroom humor, perhaps the lowest form of humor. The music? I've listened. I suppose it has a certain energy--even, maybe, a certain puerile sense of fun. But high aspirations? Real beauty? Uplift? Inspiration? Not even close. And whereas you can play "West Side Story" with your children in the room, hoping that it might begin to interest them in music, no careful parent would consider playing "The Book of Mormon" in the presence of little kids. Just take a look at the sound track on iTunes. No fewer than three of the tracks are marked "Explicit."
I still want to be optimistic about the future of America, obviously--on balance, for that matter, I am optimistic. But there's simply no way around it. To an extent that would have astonished Americans of just a generation or two ago, our popular culture has become gross and debased.
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Feb '11
Re: Optimism/Pessimism Watch, Or How Does "The Book of Mormon" Stand Up to "West Side Story"?
To Peter: every few years or so, there are shows with excellent music and lyrics, some which will last, even if they don't receive symphonic treatments. Menken and Asher songs for Disney animated movies like the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast are very good, too.
To Diane (who votes, "meh") and all my Ricochet haters of musicals: I suppose this is all a matter of taste. Yes, in musicals, people burst into song and dance in unrealistic ways. And in police procedurals, the detective always figures out who done it, and in action movies, the villains rarely shoot straight--all stories have their conventions.
My girls grew up learning to sing Disney movie songs and graduated to Singing in the Rain, Sound of Music, On the Town, Guys and Dolls, Mary Poppins, and yes, West Side Story. Today, they love seeing shows when their parents are buying, and we've enjoyed Wicked, Little Shop of Horrors, and My Fair Lady. Stuck in the middle of the otherwise silly conventions of the musical are great songs, joyous dancing, beautiful voices.
Apr '11
Re: Optimism/Pessimism Watch, Or How Does "The Book of Mormon" Stand Up to "West Side Story"?
If I may paraphrase Peter's post:
You kids get off my lawn!
Aug '10
Re: Optimism/Pessimism Watch, Or How Does "The Book of Mormon" Stand Up to "West Side Story"?
Leslie Watkins: It's hard to relay how absolutely edgy West Side Story was for its time. the first hints I got of the cultural anti-Americanism that would dominate my young adulthood. Wonder if I've still got that LP ... · Nov 7 at 8:17pm
Thanks Leslie, I failed to mention that as we drove into the driveway from the movie, my little sister spied the pack of smokes in my pocket (doh!) and exclaimed something. My dad wheeled around and chased me into the house. I could hear his belt coming out of his pants. Boy did I get it ! Dumb thing to leave them there,right in my breast pocket.
Guess it's better than getting a shiv in the gut, but it was those little acts of rebellion that led us into the activism of the 60/70s. And that was like leaving your brain in your breast pocket. Wished he had been there to spank me in college when I really got into that foolishness.
Yeah I found the LP in my basement.
Edited on Nov 8, 2011 at 6:28amMar '11
Re: Optimism/Pessimism Watch, Or How Does "The Book of Mormon" Stand Up to "West Side Story"?
Peter: I am sympathetic to your overall critique of the entertainment industry. I think the broad contours of your argument are generally true or that, at the very least, our contemporary popular culture is not only base, it is debased (and it needn’t be so, has not always been nearly uniformly so and ought not be so). However, I might gently suggest that you hold your judgment until you’ve seen the show—one never argues from a position of strength when one begins “Well, I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard…..”
Also, to some other posters: to say, as Peter has off-handedly, that the popular culture is largely this way does not mean it is uniformly so (that is, it is not contradictory to hold Peter’s position and then to go on to argue that there are some very high quality movies/television shows/albums etc being produced today in some corner of the market).
It also does not strike me as mere “old-fogeyism” to observe that the background noise over which beautiful or noble themes must in all times work to be heard has become much louder in our time.
May '10
Re: Optimism/Pessimism Watch, Or How Does "The Book of Mormon" Stand Up to "West Side Story"?
I always disliked musicals, even though I liked some of the songs. Strangely, what changed my view was the delightful first Christopher Guest-led ensemble production,Waiting for Guffman.
Broadway doesn't realize that all their productions are now little more than overblown overbudgeted versions of Red, White, and Blaine.
Edited on Nov 8, 2011 at 9:28amAug '10
Re: Optimism/Pessimism Watch, Or How Does "The Book of Mormon" Stand Up to "West Side Story"?
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Then again--and this will forever earn me the scorn of one Mr. Peter Robinson--I've just never seen the appeal of musicals as a genre. · Nov 7 at 4:47pm
I was just about ready to enter into a hefty debate with Mr. Robinson regarding how he should be optimistic about the future...and then I saw Diane's comment and my heart was broken.
I cannot imagine "never see[ing] the appeal of musicals as a genre." It's an alien phrase to me. THE MUSIC MAN, SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, to name but a trinity of cinemagic. The combination of music and cinematic artistry comes as close to "total art" as can be imagined. How can one watch the barn raising scene in SEVEN BRIDES and ever doubt he appeal of the genre?
YANKEE DOODLE DANDY...1776...THE WIZARD OF OZ...
To live in a world without these works is to despair.
If the young editor of a conservative website cannot see the appeal and beauty of the musical as a genre...perhaps we are all doomed.
Jul '10
Re: Optimism/Pessimism Watch, Or How Does "The Book of Mormon" Stand Up to "West Side Story"?
I've never understood the compulsion to judge a work of art--be it theatre, film, television, sculpture, etc--without actually examining it. Goodness knows, no one on here would want me to judge their personal positions, religions or accomplishments without thoroughly considering them, right? I was initially very skeptical about The Book of Mormon because it seemed to me that it could only be coming from a place of mockery and there's an awful lot of Mormons in musical theatre, so...that didn't seem like a smart or necessary thing to do. Then I saw it. With my Mormon collaborator, as it so happens (we're both trained in musical theatre writing and are currently working on a piece about Margaret Thatcher, so while we're biased in favor of musicals...we're both pretty solidly-credentialed conservatives).
We both loved it. It's full of heart, and it will last. The only surviving creator of West Side Story agrees. Perhaps you should consider checking it out before you decide to write it off.
Jul '11
Re: Optimism/Pessimism Watch, Or How Does "The Book of Mormon" Stand Up to "West Side Story"?
I take exception to the way that missionaries are presented in the advertisements for this musical; I always wore BLACK SOCKS!!
-E