K I personally feel it's West Side Story but I really do understand those who say Gypsy, but I think Bernstein has as much to with the amazingness of WSS as Robbins. If what you think is greatest about it is the dancing, then the dancing can only work to the music they're dancing too and that's what is absolutely amazing.
Oy...okay I can't help myself. I'm currently assistant musical directing my county's WSS in addition to playing in the pit for my second time, and I just...the music is amazing, and I mean, if you briefly break down just the music for each song:
Prologue-the dancing combines with the music to give you all the background you need to know with no speaking parts. It starts with the solo sax, jumping to everyone joining in for the "jet" theme, stopping and slowing down as they encounter Bernardo, pumping back up to the Jet theme, stopping again and turning into the Shark theme as they enter, intertwining with the Jet theme, the complete stop and change of speed and tone as the two start fighting and the complete escalation that's shown throughout most of the fight sequence to fit the moods, the complete silence when arab is caught and the tension music and gah...amazing
The Mambo becomes a dance all about fighting and tension, but all they're doing is dancing in the gym, but the music shows you that
The theme of Maria--just so pretty and romantic
Most of cool, particularly instrumentals, just an amazing combination of accidentals and rhythms to create a wonderful dance easily establishing the tension that the number wants to
Tonight quintet-just obviously amazing how everything is intertwined in one song
Rumble-possibly one of the most amazing "songs" ever. Again, the music combining with the choreography the simple tension at the beginning, the slight chance in dymanic as Riff starts fighting, tension builds, everything builds, then there's silence and then it starts w/ just the clarinet slow and quiet and jsut keeps getting louder and faster until everyone's playing crazy high notes all leading up to Riff's death, and then when Tony kills Bernando, the music completely changes to create completel loud chaos and even if you're playing it perfectly you think it sounds ridiculous and the littl ebeats that come up after the cops, and the precise rhymths and ulgh...amazing
The contrastment of the utter sweetness of I Feel Pretty to everything that has happened
The entire ballet sequence from the lead-in to the schirzo to somewhere itself, sooo pretty and dreamy, and the way the dream transfers seemingly in the music to a nightmare through little beats and pieces and before you know it you went from the sweetness of Somewhere to the end of the rumble
The complete contrast between the stark, anger and deep instruments in "A Boy Like That" to the sweet, high notes of "I have a love"
and so little instruments is contributed to the finale, it plays off so wonderful, just adding on a couple instruments playing the last notes, and that's all you hear
Bernstein is a genius
Perhaps a bit of a jack, sorry, and this now concludes the official Leonard Bernstien love post.
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli
