West Side Story ─ Cultural Perspectives on an American Musical

In 1957, West Side Story, a musical based on a book by Arthur Laurents, featuring a score by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreography by Jerome Robbins, debuted on the Broadway stage. The show was an immediate hit and the film version racked up ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture. In West Side Story: Cultural Perspectives on an American Musical, Elizabeth Wells presents a major scholarly study of the legendary creation, viewing it from cultural, historical, and musical perspectives. From the "mambo craze" of the 1950s to the work's ongoing permeation of popular culture, Wells looks at the myriad ways in which this canonic musical reflects and refracts American culture.

Drawing on primary documentary sources, oral history (including interviews with members of the original creative team, such as Sondheim and Laurents), and early sketch material, Wells explores the creation and dissemination of West Side Story to diverse audiences. After a history of its creation, each chapter investigates the musical from a different cultural perspective, examining its relationship to the classical canon and Leonard Bernstein's investment in that tradition, juvenile delinquency in the 1950s, feminism and the women of West Side Story, Latin-American and Hispanic influences, and the play's international reception and distribution. Richly illustrated with images and musical examples and complete with appendixes, including a timeline, discography, and cast and crew list, this fascinating account is a must-have for specialists and non-specialists alike.

She is associate professor and head of the music department at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada. She has been published in Cambridge Opera Journal and Journal of the American Musicological Society.