THE MEfAMORPHOSIS OF A LOVE STORY:

A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY COMPARISON OF AND

by

Elizabeth Conn

A SENIOR THESIS

m

GENERAL STUDIES

Submitted to the General Studies Council in the College of Arts and Sciences at Texas Tech University in Partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

BACHELOR OF GENERAL STUDIES

. ~moved

1• DR~KENNETHDA-V'Is Honors College Chauperson of Thesis Committee

DR. RICHARD WAMj@ER Department of Family Studies

Accepted

DR.MICHAELSCHOENECKE Director of General Studies

December 2001 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the members of my thesis committee, Dr. Kenneth Davis and Dr. Richard Wampler, for their continuing support and scholarly leadership. I would also like to Dr. Michael Schoenecke for providing help and advice whenever it was needed.

11 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...... 11

CHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION...... 1

II. SOURCES OF SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO AND JULIEf...... 3

The Montagues and the Capulets and the Manifestation

Hostility...... 3

Giovanni Boccaccio and the Rise of the

Legend in Italy...... 4

The Legend of Romeo and Juliet Reaches England...... 5

III. A CHARACTER AND PLOT COMPARISON BETWEEN SHAKESPEARE'S PLAY AND GOUNOD'S OPERA...... 7

Romeo...... 8

Juliet...... 9

The N urse/Gertrude...... 11

Friar I...aurence...... 13

Tybalt and ...... 14

Secondary Characters...... 15

IV. A COMPARISON OF BERNSTEIN'S AND SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO AND JUUET...... 17

Dueling Families...... 17

Young Lovers...... 19

Death...... 20

V. CONCLUSION ...... 22

1ll Gains and Losses When the Medium Changes...... 22

Romance Versus Sexuality...... 25

In Conclusion...... 26

BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 28

IV CHAPTER I

INTRODUCfION

Two households both alike in dignity, In fair Verona where we lay our scene From ancient grudge, break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean: From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life: Whose misadventured piteous overthrows, Doth with their death bury their parents' strife, The fearful passage of their death-marked love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which but their children's end nought could remove, [s now the two hours' traffic of our stage. The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. (Romeo and Juliet Prologue. 1-14)

William Shakespeare was not the first to give the story of Romeo and Juliet to the

world, but his work, above all others, survives generation through generation as a symbol

of innocence and true love. Shakespeare's words are crafted into perfection; each line is a

perfect poem. Such magnificence can in no way be duplicated, but the story behind the

art has often been borrowed, rewritten, reworked and modernized.

Many attempts have been made to set the Romeo and Juliet story in a musical

genre. Two such pieces are the romantic opera Romeo et Juliette by Charles Gounod and the Broadway musical West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein. The elements of

Shakespeare's 16th Century play are important issues for the people of any era, as evidenced by the popularity of Gounod's 18th Century opera and Bernstein's 20th Century musical, and therefore provide the perfect storyline for a dramatic musical text. Going even further, Gounod's and Bernstein's works are more than musical compositions: they

1 are musical dramas, intended to absorb a viewing audience. "It is possible to deny music a dramatic role, then, only if one insists that drama is a product of words alone" (Swain

4); therefore, a comparison of Shakespeare's and Gounod's and Bernstein's interpretations reveals how the drama of Romeo and Juliet is transformed throughout various artistic disciplines.

2 CHAPTER II

SOURCES OF SHAKESPFARE'S ROMEO AND JULIET

The Monta~ues and the Capulets and the Manifestation of Hostility

It is undeniable that Shakespeare's play was fed by pre-existing works and

legends. The first reference to a Romeo and Juliet-type story is found in the third century

A. D. in Ephesiaca of Xenophon of Ephesus (Narrative 269). Anthia, separated from her

husband, is rescued from robbers by Perilaus. To avoid marrying the man she does not

love (and in consideration of her first marriage), Anthia obtains a potion from a physician

that she thinks to be poison, but is merely a sleeping tonic. She awakes inside a tomb and

is "rescued" by another band of tomb robbers (Brooke 269). Though suicidal lovers and

misrepresented deaths are found in the earliest of literature, the "traditional conception of

the Montecchi (Montagues) and the Cappelletti (Capulets) ... begins with an obscure

passage in Dante's Purgatorio where, in one verse, the names of the factions are found for the first time in juxtaposition" (Moore 4). In fact, evidence shows the families of

Montague and Capulet that eventually play into Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet "never resided in Verona, and in fact, never existed at all" (Moore 3). Therefore, the

Shakespearian versions of the Montagues and the Capulets were based on political factions. As Moore further points out, the Cappelletti, "far from being a family living in

Verona, were a faction associated with the political affairs of Cremona" and were apparently named for the small caps they wore as an insignia (9). The first Dante commentator to refer to the Cappelletti's and the Montecchi's as families in Verona was

"the influential Benvenuto da Imola" in 1379 (Moore 20). But "the notion of enmity

3 between the Montecchi and the Cappelletti seems to have originated with Fransisco da

Bute" in 1380 (Moore 20).

Giovanni Boccaccio and the Rise of the Romeo and Juliet Legend in Italy

The rise of the Romeo and Juliet legend in Italy occurs with the publication of

Giovanni Boccacio's romances Filostrato and Filocolo. Bocaccio's novelles are considered to be a "dominant stylistic influence" (Moore 21) on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, not to mention Boccacio's "vaguer influence on the Romeo plot" (Moore 21).

Evidence suggests that Shakespeare took many of his plot characteristics from Luigi da

Porto, an Italian writer of the early 1500s (Muir 21). Da Porto's novella Giulietta e

Romeo (Moore 43) is the forefront of two particular Shakespearean subplots, the balcony scene and Juliet's emerging independence as she approaches her nuptials. As Muir points out, "da Porto tells us that Romeo used to climb Giullietta's balcony and listen to her discourse" and that "Giullietta goes alone to the Friar's cell for her wedding; in all the other versions she is accompanied" (22). The "first important (Italian) imitator of Luigi da Porto's masterpiece was the Caliere Gerardo Boldieri, who adopted the feminine pseudonym of 'Clizia'" (Moore 67). Boldieri's novella was written in 1553, twenty-four years after the death of Luigi da Porto (Moore 67), and it brings several plot innovations to Romeo and Juliet which "relate principally to the character of the friar; the flowery speeches of the hero and his duel with Tebaldo; and the psychology of the heroine"

(Moore 67).

4 The Le&end of Romeo and Juliet Reaches England

Pierre Boaistau's Histories tragiques was published in 1559 and is responsible for bringing the Romeo and Juliet legend to England. The two English predecessors of

Shakespeare to tackle Romeo and Juliet were Arthure Brooke and William Painter, the former publishing Romeus and luliet in 1562 and the latter publishing Rhomeo and

Iulietta in 1566. While Brooke's version is considered the greatest influence by far on

Shakespeare's play, Painter's work was "faithful to (Boastau's) original" but showed little in the way of original thought or idea (Moore 95). Brooke's poem, however, laid a solid foundation for the play that would later become 's most famous work. Parallels exist throughout Brooke's poem and Shakespeare's play. From the beginning, like Brooke, Shakespeare opens with a sonnet, but while Brooke gives the

"main details of his plot, Shakespeare presents the general 'public' outline and the tone of of his story" (Narrative 278). Brooke goes into deep detail during his Chorus Prologue, describing the enmity between the Montagues and the Capulets and Prince Escalus's attempt to form a peace between the two families (Muir 23). But the genius of

Shakespeare overshadows Brooke's attempt at every tum.

In Brooke Shakespeare "found his subject well laid out and ready for quick dramatization, hut told with a turgid emotionalism and pedestrian repetitiveness" (Moore

21). "The surprising thing is that Shakespeare preserved so mush of his source in vitalizing its dead stuff" (Narrative 278). Lastly, Shakespeare developed Paris, Capulet and Montague almost entirely from Brooke's characters, but Shakespeare's characters were "made more real and effective" (Muir 25) especially Mercutio and the , by which, some say, Shakespeare "displayed ... his unequalled power of dramatic 5 presentation of character" (Muir 30). Overall, the Narrative and Dramatic Sources of

Shakespeare says it best: "Brooke's poem is a leaden work which Shakespeare transmitted into gold" (277-278).

6 CHAPTER III

A CHARACfER AND PLOT COMPARISON BEfWEEN SHAKESPEARE'S PLAY

AND GOUNOD'S OPERA

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is truly unequaled, but many have tried to recreate his timeless play, adjusting it to fit a multitude of eras and genres. Charles

Gounod lived from 1818 to 1893 (Harding 22, 223), a long life that allowed Gounod to become a prolific composer, best know for his music of the church and his acclaimed opera Faust (Huebner 155). Gounod's second most famous work debuted at the Theatre

Lyrique in Paris on April 27, 1867 (Henderson i). Romeo et Juliette was Gounod's second consolidation with librettists Michel Carre and Jules Barbier (Lacombe 17) their first being Faust in 1859 (Harding 108). Though Carre and Barbier deserve ample recognition for their work, the opera is truly Gounod's and will be referred to as such for the purposes of this paper, in both discussion of music and libretto. Critics were disappointed in Romeo et Juliette after Faust, but the opera is still performed today and therefore holds a place in history, if for no other reason than the story itself and the music which Huebner describes as "exquisite ... each (piece) is ajewel individually cut and meticulously polished" (156). Gounod's opera merely borrowed the story from

Shakespeare, but the change in discipline allows for alternate character interpretations and slight plot variations.

7 Romeo

The character of Romeo is, of course, one-half of the most significant couple in literature. As the play begins, Romeo is pouty and childish as he mourns over his lost love, . His flowery language doubled with Shakespeare's underhanded rhyme scheme display an immature Romeo, not yet marred by love.

Why such is love's transgression. Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast. .. Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes ... What is it else? A madness most discreet, A choking gall, and a preserving sweet. .. Well, in that hit you miss; she'll not be hit With Cupid's arrow, she hath Dian's wit, And in strong proof of chastity well armed From love's weak childish bow she lives unharmed ... o she is rich in beauty, only poor That when she dies, with beauty dies her store. (Romeo and Juliet l.i.lSO- 211)

But in Gounod's opera, Romeo does not appear until the ball at the Capulets', where he falls in love with Juliet at first sight. So, while Shakespeare takes the time to explore

Romeo's duality at the beginning of the play, Gounod's opera neither takes the time nor the initiative to portray Romeo's character as anything more than a tragic, lovesick adolescent, willing to do what he must to be with his lover. In the play, as Romeo is developed, he is transfonned from a starry-eyed romantic to a man bent on revenge. In

Act Three, Scene One, Romeo must face the death of his close friend, Mercutio.

Romeo's language reflects his rage:

Alive, in triumph, and Mercutio slain. Away to heaven respective lenity, Now , take the 'villian' back again That late thou gav'st me, for Mercutio's soul Is but a little way above our heads,

8 Staying for thine to keep him company. Either thou, of I,or both must go with him. (Romeo and Juliet III.i.llS- 125)

Shakespeare's words are strong and relay Romeo's fury at the slaying of Mercutio, but

Gounod takes Romeo's fury to a higher level and develops it musically. Romeo's furious,

"Ah ... he is slain! Away to heaven, of shameful caution! And thou, of fire-eyed retribution, now of my heart the law shalt be" (162-163) reveals his red-hot anger, while the musical line parallels his fury. The line begins on an FI, a note just high enough in a tenor's mid-range that it can be sung extremely powerfully. The line stays in the same powerful mid-range, only straying higher on the words "heaven" and "Thou" (Gounod

162-163). Such a line, and others like it throughout the opera, reveals the inspiration behind Gounod's decision to make Romeo a tenor. Operatic history is steeped with lovesick and heroic tenors, and lower voices such as baritone and bass are often reserved for older, authoritative types like Capulet and . By making Romeo a tenor,

Gounod defines Romeo's character as a young, yet courageous, man.

Equally revealing was Gounod's decision to make Juliet a light-lyric soprano.

The voice part suits her perfectly, for Juliet herself is only a child, and the light lyric voice has the agility and softness to sound almost childlike. When Juliet is first introduced in the opera she is at the ball, singing gaily about the people and the music.

Her musical lines are light and airy, with a hint of coloratura, perhaps added in to indicate the laughter of childhood or the giddiness of joy. Shakespeare's Juliet is also introduced as a young, innocent adolescent. Unlike in the opera, in the play Juliet speaks for the first

9 JUliet's maturity is further revealed in her reaction to Tybalt's death, at the hand of

Romeo.

Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name When I thy three-hours wife have mangled it? But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? That villain cousin would have killed my husband. Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring, Your tributary drops belong to woe Which you mistaking offer up to joy. My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain, And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband. (Romeo and Juliet III.ii.97-106)

The opera portrays Juliet's reaction with a single sung phrase.

Love! Thy life Tybalt sought, And I pardon thy blow; For if he were alive, I should 0 longer have thee! Naught of sorrow I feel, no remorse do I know. He did bear thee hate and I love thee! (Gounod181-182)

Juliet's words are few, but the mournful minor key in which her recitative occurs, gives further insight into Juliet's true feelings of loss. like Shakespeare, Gounod wants his characters to be multi-faceted and complex, but because of restraints within the medium, he must use the music and the words to create dualistic characters that often exist only to move the action forward and to fill time between large-scale musical peaks.

The N urse/ Gertrude

Another character that experiences a transformation is the Nurse. In

Shakespeare's play, the nurse acts as a go -between for Romeo and Juliet and is the equivalent of a mother to Juliet. Since she is a servant, she uses bawdy, common language when describing Juliet's romance with Romeo.

11 You know not how to choose a man. Romeo! No, not he. Though his face be better than any man's, Yet his leg excels all men's. and for a Hand and a foot, and a body ... yet they are past compare ... J am the drudge, and tail in your delight. But you shall bear the burden soon at night. (Romeo and Juliet II.v.39- 43,75-77)

Shakespeare does not allow the servant to become a flat, secondary character; instead, the

Nurse is as complex as Romeo and Juliet themselves. The Nurse supports Juliet's romance with Romeo and is the only character that knows of their marriage besides Friar

Laurence. But the Nurse loses Juliet's trust when she advises Juliet to move on and marry

Paris. Suddenly, the Nurse metamorphosizes from a friend and confidant to a servant, aware of her station in life and willing to betray any friendship to obey her master.

Whereas her earlier words praised Romeo, her speech after Romeo's banishment is harsh and opposes her earlier sentiment.

I think it best you married with the County. 0, he's a lovely gentleman. Romeo's a dishc10ut to him ... Beshrew my heart, I think you are happy in this second match, For it excels you first; or if it did not, Your first is dead, or 'twere as good he were As living here and you no use of him. (Romeo and Juliet lII.v.218-226)

The Nurse's operatic counterpart is given little chance to be more than a silly servant.

Gounod's Gertrude plays a pivotal, but small role as Juliet's twittering caregiver. Her lines are sparse and inconsequential, but without the existence of Gertrude's character,

Juliet would have no one to converse with and tell her secrets to.

12 Friar Laurence

Friar Laurence is presented as the most complex of the secondary characters by both Shakespeare and Gounod. In the beginning the Friar is illustrated as a gentle, wise man of nature.

0, mickle is the powerful grace that lies In plants, herbs, stones, and their true qualities; For nought so vile tat on the earth doth live But to the earth some special good doth give; Nor aught so good but, strained from that fair use, Revolts from true birth stumbling on abuse: Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied, And vice sometime's by action dignified. (Romeo and Juliet II.iii.I6-23)

He is also Romeo's trusted advisor and cares enough to caution him from moving too quickly, but he also supports Romeo's decision to marry Juliet.

Ay! Tho' blind be their ire when offense may be given, I will lend my aid to you now; May centuries of hate, that bath your houses riven, Be quench'd in the love you avow! (Gounod 124-125)

In both the play and the opera, the Friar's behavior is almost godlike. He is capable of sincere forgiveness, a trusted advisor and hopes for peace over all else. But by the end of

Shakespeare's drama the Friar is revealed to be only human and leaves Juliet in the tomb with her dead husband, afraid of the consequences that will befall him if he remains.

I hear some noise. Lady come from that nest Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep. A greater power than we can contradict Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away. Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead, And Paris too ... Stay not to question, for the Watch is coming. Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer stay. (Romeo and Juliet V.iii.151- 1.56,158-159)

13 Gounod's Friar Laurence has no such conclusion. His final act in the opera is to go off in search of Romeo, to warn him of Juliet's sleeping potion.

Tybalt and Mercutio

Other characters make their mark in Shakespeare's drama. Mercutio and Tybalt are similar characters on either side of the court. Both are hot-tempered and willing to fight for their loved ones to the end. Tybalt is the cousin of Juliet and is responsible for arranging her marriage to Paris. He is gentleman and his small role reveals him to be an aristocrat, unwilling to allow the Montagues near his family.

Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford No better term than this: thou art a villain ... Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries That thou hast done me, therefore tum and draw. (Romeo and Juliet III.ii.56-57 ,62-63)

Gounod chooses to give Tybalt more life, and portrays his character as a true man's man, particularly when he is trying to convince Paris that Juliet will make a suitable wife at the beginning of Act One.

How now my dear Paris! Art thou gazing on our festal and fair array But as yet no note hast thou taken of the rarest treasure we own, That is destin'd for thee alone ... It (love) shall yet awake, or I wonder: Only see! By the hand her father leads her yonder! (Gounod 18-20)

As compared to Tybalt, Shakespeare's Mercutio's role is larger, and therefore his character is explored more deeply. Mercutio is loud and boisterous, often ribbing

Romeo, but willing to stand up for his friend's life. Mercutio makes his famous Queen

Mab soliloquy early in his role, revealing himself to be a dreamer.

14 o then I see hath been with you. She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes In shape no bigger than an agrate stone On the forefinger of an alderman, Drawn with a team of little atomies Over men's noses as they lie asleep ... Sometimes she gallops o'er a courtier's nose And then dreams he of smelling out a suit; And sometime comes she with a tithe-pig's tail, Tickling a parson's nose as a lies asleep; Then dreams he of another benefice ... True, I talk of dreams, Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy, Which is as thin of substance as the air And more inconstant than the wind, who woos Even now the frozen bosom of the north And, being angered, puffs away from thence Turning his face to the dew-dropping south. (Romeo and Juliet I.iv.53- 68,77-81,97-103)

Mercutio's role in the opera is equally compelling. He is smart with his friends and there to defend their honor when need be. Whereas Tybalt is a tenor, Mercutio's role is cast as a baritone, further illustrating his slight bawdiness and manliness.

The roles of Mercutio and Tybalt are most pivotal during the duel scene. In typical operatic fashion, the tempo is fast and the texture is woven together by a strong bass line. Paired with racing melismas and short vocal inserts the scene creates tension and excitement for the audience as Tybalt and Mercutio fight to the death.

Secondary Characters

Both Gounod's and Shakespeare's works employ several peripheral characters that fill in plot gaps and provide subplots outside of the primary love story. Paris, Lord

Montague, Lord Capulet and the Prince (or Duke as he is penned by Gounod), all find

15 their way into the story. Paris is the eager, but unrequited lover to Juliet. Capulet and

Montague (play only) are the disapproving parents and dueling neighbors. And the

Prince (Duke) is the ruling party that finally banishes Romeo from Verona after her kills

Tybalt.

Interestingly, for the opera the librettists "introduced Stephano, the page, a character not found in the original play, and having no necessary connection to the story" as an effort to increase the number of roles for young female singers (Henderson ii).

Staying true to form, Shakespeare makes an attempt to develop these characters through detail and dialog, while Gounod chose to invest his time in the primary characters and almost exclusively the love plot. Gounod also chose to take dramatic license with the

Shakespeare's ending. The play ends with Romeo finding Juliet seemingly dead in her tomb. Romeo kills himself with poison and Juliet wakes to find Romeo dead. She then kills herself and Friar Laurence is left to explain their deaths to the families, which reconcile at the end. Shakespeare's conclusion is a tidy one, suitable for the literature of that time. The ending of Gounod's work involves Romeo finding Juliet seemingly dead in her tomb. Romeo drinks the poison to join her in death, but Juliet awakes and the couple sings a love duet before Romeo dies. Juliet then stabs herself with his dagger and the sweeping fortissimo of the orchestra brings the opera to a close. Though both endings are notably tragic, Shakespeare's expectant Juliet, waking next to her dead lover is heart­ breakingly poignant.

16 CHAPfERIV

A COMPARISON OF BERNSTEIN'S WEST SIDE STORY AND SHAKESPEARE'S

ROMEO AND JUUET

In September 1957 (Laufe 222), West Side Story turned Broadway upside down.

Bernstein's musical was unlike any show that had come before it. Critics were skeptical and "considered the unsavory plot unsuitable for musical theater" (Laufe 224); however, viewers loved West Side Story and the production became the first musical hit of the

1957-58 season (Laufe 221). Filled with raucous sexuality and considerable ethnic overtones, audiences were delighted to find reality within the fictional world of Tony and

Maria.

Dueling Families

Shakespeare's play begins with a violent confrontation between the Capulets and the Montagues. As the play moves forward, it becomes clear that the hate between the two families has become a tradition of violence embedded in a history far older than the current members and, therefore, has little basis in the fact of the day. But the families continue to act on the hatred that has been passed down from one generation to the next, causing strife in Verona and angering the prince, who acts as the law of the land.

Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace, Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel- Will they not hear? What ho, you men, you beasts That quench the fire of your pernicious rage With purple fountains issuing from your veins: On pain of torture, from those bloody hands, Throw your mistempered weapons to the ground,

17 And hear the sentence of your moved Prince, Three civil brawls bred of an airy word, By thee old Capulet and Montague, Have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets, And made Verona's ancient citizens Cast by their grave bessemeing ornaments To wield old partisans, in hands as old, Cankered with peace, to part you cankered hate. (Romeo and Juliet I.i.76- 90)

The Prince's harsh words reflect the frustration that whole city must endure when a brawl breaks out between the two families, but also hint at the childishness of such fighting.

Comparatively, West Side Story is also a story about a monstrous, all- encompassing hatred between two groups. Bernstein's choice to base the discord between the groups on racial issues was a reflection of the times. Racial bigotry was a huge conflict in 1950s America, and Bernstein's musical acts as a social commentary of that era. West Side Story's racial conflict drives a wedge between the two groups and gangs have resulted. These gangs, each festering with their own side of the same hatred, are like families, loyal to their members and willing to risk death to combat any threat to their way of life. This loyalty is represented wholly in a piece from Act 1: "Jet Song."

When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way From your first cigarette to your last dyin' day. When you're a Jet, if the spit hits the fan, You got brothers around, you're a family man! You're never alone, you're never disconnected! You're home with your own: when company's expected, You're well protected! Then you are set with a capital J Which you'll never forget till they cart you away. When you're a Jet you stay a Jet. (Bernstein 14-18)

The loyalty off the Jets, and similarly the loyalty of the Sharks, is manifested in hatred and violence. Bernstein's dueling gangs and Shakespeare's fighting families are categorized differently, but their issues are born of the same hatred.

18 Young Lovers

If Shakespeare and Bernstein's works are based in confronting loyalty, they are characterized by the plight of two young lovers from different sides of the strife. More than any other aspect of the plot, Romeo and Juliet and Tony and Maria are essentially the same couple. Both couples are young and struggle to find themselves when they find each other. Romeo and Tony are both strong and influential in their circles and equally immature about matters of the heart. Juliet and Maria are sweet, innocent girls, each struggling under the weight of defying their families.

The marriage of both couples seals their fate. Although they are bound to one another, they are forever separated from the ones they love. Shakespeare and Bernstein do choose to handle the marriage scenes differently. Romeo and Juliet's marriage occurs off-stage after a hasty conversation with Friar Laurence.

Romeo Ah Juliet, if the measure of thy joy Be heaped like mine, and that thy skill be more To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue Unfold the imagined happiness that both Receive in either by this dear encounter.

Juliet Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, Brags of his substance, not of ornament. They are but beggars that can count their worth; But my true love is grown to such excess I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth. (Romeo and Juliet II.vi.25-35)

Bernstein chooses to play out the marriage scene onstage with a romantic duet.

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. Make of our lives one life, day after day, one life. Now it begins, now we start. (Bernstein 105-107)

19 The reason the marriage scenes are handled differently may lie in the discipline itself.

Shakespeare's work is steeped in subtleties. His language is poetic and employs imagery to produce a plot where little action is required on the stage. By keeping the marriage scene off the stage, Shakespeare defines the love of the two characters, but also allows the audience to draw their own conclusions about the intimacy between the couple. West

Side Story's marriage scene is played out on the stage for presumably the same reason

Gounod includes the marriage scene in the opera: the love duet.

Little subtleties exist in the musical theater discipline. Because dialogue is secondary, music is primary, and somewhere in between the plot must reveal itself.

Consequently, exciting songs are about the action of the plot, not the conversation between the climaxes. So Bernstein's choice to bring the marriage scene onstage can be mainly attributed to the musical theater genre.

Death

Shakespeare and Bernstein handle death differently, and once again genre could be the single responsible factor for the variance. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. The entire plot stems from unity through eternity or the idea that even death cannot separate a love that is true and real. To create the perfect tragedy, Shakespeare is forced to slay both of the young lovers, giving the audience a taste of the bittersweet irony that forms real tragedy. Unlike a musical work, a play is not contingent on several voices working together to create power and drama. A play relies on the words of each individual character and creates drama when a character is challenged. Therefore, Shakespeare's

20 ending creates drama through the words of Romeo before his suicide and Juliet before hers.

Romeo a my love, my wife, Death that hath sucked the honey of thy breath Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty ... For fear of that I still will stay with thee, And never from this palace of dim night Depart again. Here, here, I will remain With worms that are thy chambermaids ... a true apothecary Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. (Romeo and Juliet V.iii.91- 93,106-109,119-120)

Juliet What's here? A cup closed in my true love's hand? Poison I see, hath been his timeless end. a churl. Drunk all, and left no friendly drop To help me after? I will kiss thy lips. Haply some poison yet doth hang on them. To make me die with a restorative. Thy lips are warm ... Yea,noise? Then I'll be brief. a happy dagger. This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die. (Romeo and Juliet V.iii.161- 167,168-169)

The death of Tony and the burden Maria carries as she is left behind is also tragic, but the existence of any life allows the audience hope. Considering that most of West

Side Story's contemporaries were happy, go-lucky musicals of the 1950s, perhaps

Bernstein felt that the death of two characters would be too overwhelming for the audience. And, as mentioned before, by modifying the death scene from Shakespeare's original, Bernstein makes it possible for the couple to sing one last love duet at the end of the show, which provides fulfillment for the modem audience. Even though the conclusions are different, Bernstein's final scene is equally tragic and haunting.

There's a place for us. A time and place for us. Hold my hand we're half way there, hold my hand And I'll take you there. Somewhere! (Bernstein 199-201)

21 CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

Gains and Losses When the Medium Changes

The Operatic Genre vs. Shakespeare's Play

There is little doubt that a work is affected by a change in the medium. Romeo and Juliet as an opera is very different from Romeo and Juliet as a play or even a musical. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses and each brings its own glory to the

Romeo and Juliet legend. Music has the ability to evoke faint nuances and striking emotionalism that mere words cannot. A good composer, as Gounod and Bernstein were both considered to be, not only uses every note to create an emotional piece, but molds the music into a masterpiece using the instruments of the orchestra and the voices of the singers. Within this masterpiece, a single musical passage can relay a mood, such as

Juliet's passage from Gounod's Romeo et Juliette. Juliet's words translate as:

Ah! I tremble! Woeful hour! They have taken him, my treasure! Oh heart rending power! Ah woe is me! In him was all my pleasure, My life was he, Yet fortune unkind holds him apart from me! (Gounod 229-235)

Juliet's line is simple, but the chords underneath provide a sorrowful support beyond the understanding of the physical world with an occasional passing tone or accidental that strikes at the heart of the listener. Without so much as a word, the listener knows the sorrow in Juliet's heart as she discovers her lover is dead. Juliet's fortissimo cry and the heartfelt plea of the chorus beneath stir the listener's emotions. One can ride on the notes

22 of the music, the high, rich chords and full voices bringing the bond of the lovers to a

plane beyond the understanding of just a word.

On the other hand, a play moves quicker and can give more description and detail.

Whereas Romeo et Juliette skims the surface of such characters as the nurse and Tybalt,

Shakespeare's play takes the time to explore both of these characters in detail. But what

truly brings out the detail is Shakespeare's legendary use of figurative language. For

example, Romeo's soliloquy from the famous "Balcony Scene."

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun! Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon Who is already sick and pale with grief That thou her maid art far more fair than she, Be not her maid since she is envious, Her vestal livery is but sick and green And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off. It is my lady, 0 it is my love! o that she knew she were! She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that. .. Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, Having some business, do entreat her eyes To twinkle in their spheres till they return. What if her eyes were there, they in her head? The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars As daylight doth a lamp. Her eyes in heaven Would through the airy region stream so bright That birds would sing and think it were not night. See how she leans her cheek upon her hand. o that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek! (Romeo and Juliet II.i.2-12,20-25)

In these twenty lines, Shakespeare's figurative language compares Juliet to the sun,

compares Juliet's beauty to the moon, compares the moon's sick and green uniform to

Juliet's beautiful wears, compares Juliet's eyes to twinkling stars, compares her bright

cheeks to a lamp, causes Juliet to make the birds sing as if it were day, and describes

23 Romeo's desire to be a glove on the hand of Juliet, so that he might touch her cheek.

Such intimate detail in word has no real place in an operatic setting, not only because

words in an opera must be tailored to fit with the music, but also because many operas,

including Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, are either performed in the original language, in

this case French, regardless of the vernacular of the audience, often impeding

international audience comprehension, or are performed using a translation of the original

libretto which often cannot be true to the original words either because lines must make

sense in the translated language or because rhyme schemes are often necessary for flow

and motion of line.

Bernstein's Musical Interpretation of Romeo and Juliet

In Bernstein's musical, the same story is sculpted into a modem day version.

Therefore, Bernstein not only brings variety to Romeo and Juliet through music, but also

through Stephen Sondheim's libretto. Modernizing a story has a two-sided effect.

Audiences can more easily identify with characters because they are living in a modem

world with modem problems, just as the listener (or reader) is. But modernizing a story

also steals something from the original; after all, the author's intention was for that story

to occur in those times, allowing the observer to live the lives of the characters as those

characters would in the original era. Bernstein's musical interpretation is also quite different from Gounod's. Whereas Gounod's music is full of romantic, heady chords and easy, symmetric rhythms, Bernstein's score is raw and full of heat and almost an anxiety that sets the stage for a drama that truly reflects the conflicts and lives of the characters

24 involved. "America's" cynicism pours from the lyrics, reflecting an immigrant's lack of true freedom, even in the "Land of the Free."

Puerto Rico, You lovely island, island of tropical breezes .. . Puerto Rico, You ugly island, island of tropical diseases ... . I like to be in America! O.K. by me in America! Everything free in America. For a small fee in America! (Bernstein 73)

And Bernstein's angry, racy music is doubly effective when matched with the choreography of Jerome Robbins. West Side Story is truly a dance show and at the time the choreography was groundbreaking and a stark contrast to the "family-oriented"

Broadway shows that preceded it. Like the music, the choreography in the original

Broadway production and in professional productions today is heavily rhythmic, often mimicking the sexual heat that underlies the entire work.

Romance versus Sexuality

Overall, it is clear that a change in genre can affect not only the meaning of a work, but also the message it leaves to the audience. Gounod's interpretation revolves around romance, whereas Bernstein's revolves around sex.

Gounod's Romantic Opera

Ironically, by taking on a love story of such magnitUde, Gounod created a work that did little to differentiate itself from any other romantic opera of the era. The restraints of recreating such a complicated story within the operatic discipline forced the love theme into the spotlight and shoved the secondary plot themes into shadows. The

25 opera virtually ignores the friendship between Mercutio and Romeo and gives little time to the mother/ daughter relationship between Juliet and her nurse. As a result, Gounod's opera, though a string of wonderfully crafted musical pieces, has no real place next to

Shakespeare's play.

The Sexual Heat of Bernstein's Musical Masterpiece

Whereas Gounod's work makes no more than a mark in the history of Romeo and

Juliet, Bernstein's musical stands on its own as a living descendent of Shakespeare's

Romeo and Juliet and as a masterpiece of its own time.

Every word and every note drip with sexuality. Bernstein's 20th composition style becomes the perfect canvas for a musical drama meant to be startlingly sexual. The dissonant chord structure gives the piece life, and each individual chord is an echo of the sexual frustration that builds until the consonance finally arrives and, with it, relief.

Raunchy, heated language further adds to the fire, as does the blatantly sexual choreography.

Juxtaposed to the sexual heat is the pure relationship between Tony and Maria.

Their love shines like a white beam through the red-hot sexuality, creating a dualism of plot and character that makes West Side Story a landmark in the history of musical theater.

In Conclusion

Gounod's work is truly romantic, Bernstein's work is truly sexual; both stem from a work that is and will continue to be a legend of literature. Shakespeare's play was 26 created from pre-existing stories, but he crafted those tales into a work that has become one of the most important in history. By infusing it into another artistic discipline,

Gounod and Bernstein have retold Romeo and Juliet in a different and mind-opening way. Though these interpretations definitely have their place in their respective genres,

Shaksepeare's play will always be the work against which all others will be measured.

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