Play Analysis: West Side Story

Ryan Bardwell

English 1101

Derek Theiss

6 October, 2015

Making a Difference, One Note at a Time West Side Story began as a Broadway play in 1957, then was made into an Academy Award winning film in 1961. The popular film is best known for its singing and dancing to outstanding music for a moving story. These memorable songs are the creation of none other than the brilliant Leonard Bernstein. He was not only a composer, but also a conductor and pianist with a passion for obtaining world peace, educating the young, and obliterating AIDS and segregation. Using his musical talents and the connections he made with them, Bernstein strived to make a positive difference in the world. The once shy child was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts on

He excelled in his academics and was known for his never-ending thirst for knowledge. He especially appreciated the power of words, mastering twelve different languages. He also increased his appreciation for music and made his unofficial debut as a conductor with his own rendition of music for The Birds. He then graduated from Harvard in 1939 and began studying orchestration, piano, and conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music. Bernstein spent his next two years at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s new institute of Tanglewood as a conducting assistant to Serge Koussevitzky. In 1943, due to Koussevitzky’s recommendation, Bernstein was selected to be Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic

He risked and severely damaged his reputation in 1970 when he and his wife, Felicia, hosted a Black Panthers fund-raiser. Although Bernstein was Jewish, he was accused of anti-Semitism on a personal level. The damage increased when openly stated he did not agree with the Vietnam War. Bernstein was so outspoken in fact, that President Hoover chose to monitor the family with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. On October 14, 1990, the man seemingly larger than life was smaller than death. He died due to cardiac arrest triggered by mesothelioma treatment in his own home. A private funeral service was held and he was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. The legend was put to rest, but his music and legacy will live on forever. Leonard Bernstein was a brilliant man with an even brighter personality. He strived to make a positive difference and succeeded in doing so through his music and beliefs. It is because of his beliefs and how strongly rooted he was to them, that he was able to make a difference. Whether it was through music, relationships with foreign countries, his dedication to curing the incurable, educating through music, or desegregation, Bernstein made positive differences, one note at a time. These differences are ones that affect everyone. If he had not been so adamant, what would today look