Conclusion of West Side Story–One Hand, One Heart Forever

As we said in our last post, all good things must come to an end; and we have come to the end of our exploration of the music from West Side Story. However, this music is magical, and anytime you get a yearning to hear and see it again, just come back to our FB page or our website. So, click on the link below, and let’s enjoy the rest of the music.

We will not be including the music in this post for the song, “Cool,” but it is the second song in the David Fletcher recreation in the September 1 post. It takes place the same night, right after Tony and Maria declare their love on her balcony. The song and dance for “Cool” brings our attention back to the pent up anger and frustration packed into these kids. It is volatile. The two gangs meet and set up the time and place for their rumble. As they discuss greater and greater forms of violence, Tony pushes them back into a fair fight, one without weapons. Just one man’s fists against another man’s body. It is hard to believe but all of this activity–from the time the two gangs met in the opening sequence to the dance in the gym to the scene on the balcony–has taken place in one day.

But that one day has turned into night; and then night has turned into the following day.

We start this new day with Tony meeting Maria at the bridal shop. They think they will have the rest of their lives to love one another and be together. And, as all young people do, they feel that they will live for a long, long time. They know the reality of their love and the long odds against them; still, they kneel in the bridal shop and recite their vows to one another. At the end of the vows, they quietly sing “Make of our hands one hand/Make of our hearts one heart/Make of our vows one last vow:/Only death will part us now.” In their innocence, they have no idea how prophetic that one last vow will become. We do not have a separate clip of Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert performing this song, but you can find it (third song) in David Fletcher’s recreation in our September 1 post. In addition, we have a clip from the 1984 PBS special, featuring Carreras and Te Kanawa.

As the two gangs prepare for the rumble and Tony prepares to stop the fight at Maria’s request, the various parties consider the fight and the aftermath of the fight. There are five sung parts, making this quintet very similar to the quartet that we played for you much earlier this year from Verdi’s opera, Rigoletto. We have no video but do have the audio of the quintet from the PBS special.

Maria feels the power of love, and it makes her feel pretty. To the rest of her friends, she just appears to be out of her mind. If you go back to David Fletcher’s recreation in the September 1 post (fourth song), you can watch Carol Lawrence and the original cast perform, “I Feel Pretty.” In addition, we have a clip from the 1984 PBS special for you.

It is the blend of love and good humor in this song that stands in stark contrast to the fight that could not be stopped and that has claimed two lives–Riff and Bernardo. Even crueler, Bernardo’s life was taken by Tony.

When Chino breaks the news to Maria, she cannot believe it. She was so sure that Tony could stop the fight. Now, Tony has her brother’s blood on his hands. They meet; he swears he tried to stop the fight and then everything got out of hand. She forgives him, and they declare their love in a moving song and ballet, “Somewhere.” Again, we have no separate video clip, but the original performance is captured in David Fletcher’s recreation in our September 1 post (fifth and next to last song).

Maria learns that Chino has a gun and is searching for Tony. Chino has sworn to avenge Bernardo’s death by killing Tony. Maria must get a message to Tony; she must keep him off the streets until they can run away. She asks Anita for help, but Anita is deep in her own pain. Bernardo was her boyfriend. In a very rare, contrapuntal duet in four parts, the two women pour out their hearts to each other. First, Anita sings “A Boy Like That” in harsh staccato tones, begging Maria to give Tony up and stick to her “own kind.” The consonants are harsh and abrupt. Then, Maria sings about her love for Tony (“I Have a Love”) in beautiful, long melodic lines. Then the two women sing together, each emphasizing their separate melodic lines. Finally, as Anita realizes the depth of Maria’s love for Tony, they sing the finale: “When love comes so strong/There is no right or wrong/Your love is your life.” You can see the original stars, Carol Lawrence and Chita Rivera, at the end of the David Fletcher recreation in our September 1 post; in addition, we are providing you this clip from the PBS special.

Anita goes to Doc’s to deliver the message, but members of the Jets are there. They don’t trust Anita and rough her up.

Instead of giving them Maria’s message, Anita pays them back by telling them that Chino has killed Maria. Upon hearing this, Tony leaves the safety of Doc’s and wanders the streets begging Chino to kill him too. Suddenly Tony sees Maria, and he starts toward her when Chino appears and shoots Tony. The vow has been fulfilled; they have loved each other until death has parted them.