The NYT says that "West Side Story" is Bernstein's classic mix of "discord and schmaltz." Bernstein likely believes, deep down, that he is constructing an opera--and that is suggested by his self-conscious song title, "Quintet." We are meant to think of Mozart.
I love "Quintet" above all the other numbers because the discord and the schmaltz are right there together. Singing on his own, Tony can be just a bit insufferable:
Oh moon, grow bright--
And make this endless day, endless night--
Tonight!
But Anita cuts through the nonsense, thinking about her *own* lover:
He'll come in hot and tired.
So what?
Don't matter if he's tired--
As long as he's hot.
Sondheim could simply have the rival gang members puffing themselves up, but instead he chooses to look at self-deception. He has the gang members half-acknowledge their plans to use illegal weapons. "Well, IF things start to go too far...." With this kind of writing, Sondheim shows how we dig our own graves. He also writes about the childishness of violence:
Well, THEY began it--
And WE'RE the ones to stop it
Once and for all....
Tonight!
A murder seems inevitable--and it happens. It happens right before the "Act One" curtain. After all the verbal gassiness, there is total silence. People seem to move in a trance. Then: a shift. Sirens start screaming, and the survivors of the fight run for hiding spots--somewhere in the wings.
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