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Lighting In West Side Story

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West Side Story is a musical modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. This story was originally converted for use on stage by Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins and was first shown on stage in 1957. It is set in New York City's Upper West Side in the 1950s. The musical focuses on the rivalry between two gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. These two gangs are the Jets, consisting of only white American men and women, and the Sharks from Puerto Rico. These themes relate to Romeo and Juliet with the Jets being the Montagues, who possessed territory of the Upper West Side streets, and the Sharks being the Capulets, who were trying to gain control and power as they recently moved to New York. Tony (Jonathan Roxmouth) is the …show more content…

The lighting design in this version of West Side Story was produced by Joshua Cutts. High-key lighting is used during fight scenes by having a strong bright light on the characters creating an idea of tension between the two gangs on stage and also in the dancing scenes by panning over the audience to create anxiety and uncertain hesitance between Tony and Maria on stage. Low-key lighting is used in the beginning scene while the Jets are intimidating a member of the Sharks creating a threatening mood; it is also used when Maria and Tony discuss running away together and their future plans creating a romantic mood. Lighting is used to alter the plain grey panels containing the stage into a lively and active dance hall. Spotlights were used to single out individuals on stage as to show they were more important than the characters around and behind them. In one of the more romantic scenes in the performance, multiple strings of fairy lights descended from the ceiling one after the other. This created a very romantic mood, as the scene conveyed, and, due to their brightness, added to the audience's interest and attention. The fairy lights were the only evidence of coloured lighting, the lights being yellow, which gives the scene a mellow and natural feel. There was a drug store sign and some of the lights did not work because they

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