1

America: Groundbreaking, Controversial, Timeless

Natalie Hammonds

Theatre History III: 1950s Seminar

November 28th, 2019

West Side Story opened on Broadway in 1957 and broke many Broadway stereotypes of

the time, pushing social boundaries and bringing forth new ideas. West Side Story has become

one of the most iconic and important musicals to date. “America,” one of the most recognizable

songs from the show, has made a lasting and meaningful impact both within the theater world

and beyond its borders.

West Side Story was a groundbreaking musical that challenged stereotypes, broke

convention, and stirred the ethnic pot like no play before it. Jerome Robbins, making his

directorial debut with West Side Story, introduced topics and concerns that were relevant to his

own personal life and to society. The musical deals with immigration, gang violence, and

segregation. This was the first time these issues had been so blatantly expressed on a Broadway

stage. Jerome Robbins was a Jewish immigrant from Poland. “I never wanted to be a Jew,”

Robbins said. “I wanted to be safe, protected, and assimilated.”1 His name in the program went

through several name changes such as Robin Gerald, Gerald Robins, and then finally to Jerome

Robbins. His full name was Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz, but his family legally changed their last

name to Robbins decades after moving to New Jersey.2 He was taught from an early age to blend

in. While many consider him set apart for his genius, Robbins always desired to fit in.

Robbins’s desire to be American is prevalent throughout his work on West Side Story.

The song “America” is one of the most obvious examples of this. Sung by the characters Anita

and Rosalind, Puerto Rican immigrants, the lively Latino song is all about what life is like in
1
Jacobs, Laura. “Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, and the Road to West Side Story.” Vanity

Fair. Vanity Fair, January 3, 2018. https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/01/leonard

bernstein-jerome-robbins-and-the-road-to-west-side-story.
2
“Jerome Robbins.” Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, April 15, 2019.

https://www.biography.com/performer/jerome-robbins.
3

America. Leonard Bernstein wrote the score for the song, and Stephen Sondheim wrote the

lyrics. Sondheim accepted the job with hesitation saying, “I have never been poor, and I have

never known a Puerto Rican.”3 Anita and Rosalind sing back and forth about what life is like in

Puerto Rico. Anita has an extremely negative view of Puerto Rico and convinces the majority of

the other Puerto Rican girls to join her in singing, “I like to be in America, O.K. by me in

America, Everything free in America, For a small fee in America.” Anita mentions several

luxuries of life in America such as knobs on doors, wall-to-wall floors, and all-around comfort.

Most of her lyrics are refuting Rosalind’s statements about Puerto Rico. The stereotypical

thoughts about Puerto Rican immigrants by Americans are shown in Anita’s lyrics responding to

Rosalind. She mentions hardships like the hundreds of people in each room, no roads to drive on,

and no electricity to turn on a tv.4 Sung with a comedic flare and upbeat rhythms and dance

moves, audiences found themselves laughing and cheering despite the offensive lyrics.

The reviews of the Broadway opening of West Side Story were extremely positive. A

New York Times article written after opening night says, “Pooling imagination and virtuosity,

they have written a profoundly moving show that is as ugly as the city jungles and also

pathetic, tender and forgiving… The subject is not beautiful. But what West Side Story

draws out of it is beautiful. For it has a searching point of view.” 5 One reporter from The

3
Catton, Pia. “'West Side Story' Was Originally About Jews and Catholics.” History.com. A&E

Television Networks, September 26, 2017. https://www.history.com/news/west-side

story-was-originally-about-jews-and-catholics.
4
“Lyrics.” West Side Story. Accessed November 12, 2019

https://www.westsidestory.com/lyrics.
4

Daily News-circa 1957 writes, “The lyrics, by Stephen Sondheim, have simple grace…” 6

There is a lack of acknowledgement in the Broadway reviews about the portrayal of life

in Puerto Rico. This is because most, if not all, of the authors of these articles are

American’s who fall into the mindset of a character like Anita. There is a severe under-

representation in media of the Puerto Rican community in response to the Broadway

opening of West Side Story.

Chita Rivera, the originator of the Broadway role Anita , said, “‘America’ was

tremendous fun to perform because of the tempo, the Latin rhythm. Stephen’s lyrics for that song

are so biting and comical. I got letters from Puerto Rican people who had totally misunderstood

it – they thought that I really meant it was an “ugly island” and didn’t realize that Anita was

joking to make a point. They were highly emotional about it.”7 Chita Rivera is a Puerto Rican

and stood by the show and its message, as well as the satirical song about her homeland. Many

people speculate that her support diminished the racial tension that the play produced. Viviana

Vargas, in her article, “The West Side Story Appropriation We Never Really Talk About,” writes

about many of the racial issues underpinning West Side Story. She goes on to describe the lack of

conversation about the many problems she finds including racial insensitivity, white washing,

and overall misrepresentation. “Here’s why we don’t talk about this: Chita Rivera,” Vargas
5
“Archives.” West Side Story. Accessed November 16, 2019.

https://www.westsidestory.com/archives.
6
“Archives.” West Side Story. Accessed November 16, 2019.

https://www.westsidestory.com/archives.
7
Wiegand, Chris. “How We Made West Side Story.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media,

September 18, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/sep/18/how-we-made

west-side-story-stephen-sondheim-chita-rivera-musicals.
5

complains. She states that because there is an authentic Puerto Rican singing the offensive jabs at

her country, society justifies it as non-racist. Vargas goes on to say, “The Puerto Rican voice of

the 1950s was stolen and rewritten for appropriated consumption. Meanwhile, the real issues the

community faced as people looking for another shot at life as US citizens coming from a territory

were ignored and essentially erased in the eyes of US American mass culture.”8 The Puerto

Rican community felt offended and dismissed. In response to this, changes were made to both

the script and lyrics when the musical was made into a movie in 1961.

Sondheim made several changes in the order of the songs and in the lyrics. In “America,”

he altered the song to be sung by all the sharks and their girls instead of just the four girls. He

also changed several lyrics. There has been much speculation as to why Sondheim changed the

lyrics and the significance of those changes. Most agree that it was necessary to sustain the

musical from an on-rushing sense of doom.9 Sondheim recalls the minor outcry from the Puerto

Rican community from the lyric describing Puerto Rico as an “island of tropical diseases.”10 This

lyric prompted a New York Times article by Howard A. Rusk where he wrote, “Puerto Rico has

no significant disease problems related to its tropical climate…Mr. Sondheim’s lyrics will

probably remain unchanged, and Puerto Rico’s morbidity and mortality rates will continue to

decline.” 11 The lyrics did change with the movie version, however, and the line about tropical
8
Vargas, Viviana. “The West Side Story Appropriation We Never Really Talk About.”

HowlRound Theatre Commons. Emerson College, August 25, 2017.

https://howlround.com/west-side-story-appropriation-we-never-really-talk-about.
9
Gottlieb, Jack. “Leonard Bernstein at 100.” Works | Works | Leonard Bernstein. Accessed

November 12, 2019. https://leonardbernstein.com/works/view/9/west-side-story.

diseases was omitted entirely because of the backlash it generated. The movie version of

“America” is sung by all of the sharks and their girls, but it is prominently a duet between Anita

and Bernardo. Rather than just criticizing Puerto Rico and highlighting the luxuries of living in

America, the movie version has much more back and forth banter about life in America and

Puerto Rico. Several lyrics in the movie – which were missing from the stage version -- highlight

the struggles that Puerto Ricans face in America. Lines such as, “Life can be bright in America,

If you can fight in America, Life is all right in America, If you’re all white in America.”12

Elizabeth Wells states, “The purpose of “America” is clearly to provide an opportunity for a

dance number, and, although it obliquely addresses cultural problems, it would be difficult to

imagine that it seriously attempts to address social ills…”13 Robbins is qt.in West Side Story:

Cultural Perspectives on an American Culture sharing his initial thoughts and ideas for the song.

“The Puerto Ricans are at home, relaxed, at ease without any outside pressures…not on guard.

The scene should have feelings of warm, relaxed affection…should bring out the warmth and

kidding qualities of the humor of the song ‘America’.”14 While Sondheim and the creative team

found these lyrics changes sufficient and the purpose of the song clear, the Puerto Rican people

were not happy.

After the movie, there were many more published responses from the Latino community.

While the movie was wildly successful, winning 10 Academy Awards, many Puerto Ricans
12
“Lyrics.” West Side Story. Accessed November 12, 2019.

https://www.westsidestory.com/lyrics.
13
Wells, Elizabeth A. West Side Story: Cultural Perspectives on an American Musical. London:

Scarecrow, 2011.
14
Wells, Elizabeth A. West Side Story: Cultural Perspectives on an American Musical. London:

Scarecrow, 2011.
7

were offended by some of the stereotypical messages.15 Frances Negrón-Muntaner describes the

film’s effect by saying, “There is no single American cultural product that haunts Puerto Rican

identity discourse in the United States more intensely than the 1961 film, West Side Story,

directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins.” He goes on to reference journalist Blanca

Vázquez in Centro who wrote, “And what did the ‘real’ Puerto Rican, Anita, do in the film? She

not only was another Latina ‘spitfire,’ she also sang a song denigrating Puerto Rico and by

implication, being Puerto Rican. I remember seeing it and being ashamed.” 16 Rita Moreno, the

actress who played Anita in the West Side Story film, was interviewed for an article in

Entertainment Weekly. She fondly recalls her time working on the movie and talks about the

song “America.” She says when she first got the part, she was very nervous about the line

“Puerto Rico, you ugly island, island of tropical diseases.” Luckily the line was rewritten before

she had to mention it to the director. She was then asked if she had received any pushback from

Puerto Ricans, and she replied saying, “No, they love the movie. They love the Sharks. Although

the then-mayor of San Juan was a woman named Felisa de Gautier, and she condemned the

movie: “Gangs? That’s terrible!” She was an outlier.”17 However, it does not seem like Falisa de

Gautier is an outlier anymore. Negrón-Muntaner, in his article I Feel Pretty, describes the way
15
Catton, Pia. “'West Side Story' Was Originally About Jews and Catholics.” History.com. A&E

Television Networks, September 26, 2017. https://www.history.com/news/west-side

story-was-originally-about-jews-and-catholics.
16
Negrón-Muntaner Frances. “Feeling Pretty.” Social Text18, no. 2 (2000): 83–106.

https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-18-2_63-83.
17
McGovern, Joe. “Rita Moreno Remembers 'West Side Story's' Bold, Subversive 'America'.”

EW.com, July 4, 2017. https://ew.com/movies/2017/07/04/rita-moreno-west-side-story

america/.
8

the Puerto Rican nationalists and those who are assimilated into American culture are divided

over politics and ideology in the song “America.” He says this particularly hit a chord with

Puerto Rican spectators because that is the way islanders have historically discussed their

relationship, acrimoniously.18 Although the Puerto Rican community was much more outspoken

about the song after it premiered in the West Side Story movie, that did not stop the song from

becoming popular, evolving into what some might call an American classic.

The song “America” has been performed numerous times since the 1950’s by various

artists at numerous venues. The Nice, a band of four guys that started in London, performed an

instrumental version of the song at the Royal Albert Hall in 1968. This is arguably the most

controversial performance of the song in history. With the US Ambassador to Britain present, the

four band members performed their rendition of “America “instrumentally as a response to the

killing of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr.. They ended their performance by burning an

American flag. They were quickly ushered off stage and banned from the Albert Hall forever,

leaving the audience horrified. Leonard Bernstein replied: “I utterly loathe what they’ve done.

They’ve corrupted my work.” The Nice Band claims to have done it to highlight what a corrupt

society America was and still is.19 The song has also been performed several times with a

positive spin on it.

In 1994 The Three Tenors, a group of opera-singing Spaniards, Luciano Pavarotti,

Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, performed at the Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles,
18
Negrón-Muntaner Frances. “Feeling Pretty.” Social Text18, no. 2 (2000): 83–106.

https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-18-2_63-83.
19
Dome, Malcolm. “The Story Behind The Song: America by The Nice.” Classic Rock

Magazine. Louder, December 10, 2016. https://www.loudersound.com/features/story

behind-the-song-america-by-the-nice.
9

California during the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The concert was meant to give a touch of high

culture to the World Cup finals.20 The concert was filmed for TV broadcast to more than 100

countries with 1.3 billion viewers. It was also recorded for an album. “America” is a fan favorite

on the album. The World Cup concert helped launch The Three Tenors into pop music culture.

The performance at Dodgers Stadium remains one of the most popular concerts in all of the

World Cups.21 The growing popularity of “America” didn’t stop there.

In more recent times, the song has appeared in commercials and films. In 2018 the song

was used for the ending credits of the movie Vice, a story about Republican George W. Bush’s

Vice-President Dick Cheney. The song is sung by opera singer Angelina Réaux. When asked

about the choice of song, liberal director Adam McKay responds saying, “It was tricky to find

the tone at the end. The song from West Side Story helped a lot, too. It was satirical, a little bit

sad, but it also has energy and is a beautiful piece of music.”22 This choice seemed very

20
Kozinn, Allan. "The Three Tenors, Guess Who, to Sing." New York Times, July 14, 1994. Gale

Academic Onefile (accessed November 15, 2019).

NPR, July 16, 2014.

https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2014/07/16/330751895/how-the-three

tenors-sang-the-hits-and-changed-the-game.
22
Wakeman, Gregory. “Vice Director Adam McKay Talks Us through Its Controversial

Ending.” Metro US. Metrous, January 3, 2019.

https://www.metro.us/entertainment/movies/vice-ending-adam-mckay.
10

controversial with viewers, leaving them jarred and offended.23 However, this is not the only

time the song has been used to make a political statement.

Bill Murray, an American actor and comedian, recently released a new spoken word and

music album entitled New Worlds. Amongst many different songs of varying styles and other

American classics, Murray sings West Side Story’s “I Feel Pretty” and “America.” He ended his

performance at the Kennedy Center with these two songs where he “brought the house down” by

telling the audience “contrary to what some people think, Puerto Rico is in America.”24 Bill

Murray also performed the West Side Story medley on ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.’

He chose to conclude with the song “America” changing the last verse of the lyrics to say,

“Immigrant goes to America. Many hellos in America. Nobody knows in America. Puerto Rico’s

in America!” The audience roared immediately. After the show aired, many articles praised this

choice perceiving it as a jab to President Trump.25 The song has been used as both propaganda

and as an anthem for the United States. Rarely has the song been used for entertainment or a

“dance song” as it was originally intended.

Cheney. So Instead, It (Maybe) Demonizes America.” Vox. Vox, December 27, 2018.

https://www.vox.com/2018/12/21/18144605/vice-review-dick-cheney-adam-mckay

christian-bale-sam-rockwell-bush-steve-carell-rumsfeld.
24
Brickman, Ravelle. “Review: 'Bill Murray, Jan Vogler & Friends: New Worlds' at the

Kennedy Center.” DC Metro Theater Arts, March 6, 2018.

https://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2018/03/05/review-bill-murray-janvogler-friends

newworlds-at-the-kennedy-center/.
25
Wilstein, Matt. “Bill Murray Reminds Trump 'Puerto Rico's in America' by Performing Songs

from 'West Side Story'.” The Daily Beast. The Daily Beast Company, October 13, 2017.
11

There is a new remake of the movie coming out in 2020. The director Steven Spielberg

and his creative team flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico to talk to 60 invitees at the University of

Puerto Rico. Spielberg had an open discussion with the students and faculty about their concerns

with the movie and how his team could do a better job of accurately representing them. One of

the first things brought up were lyrics from “America.” Spielberg responded graciously

explaining how they were there to represent Puerto Rico in a way that would make Puerto Ricans

proud.26 The song has had a lasting effect . . . over 50 years later, it is still debated and discussed.

West Side Story changed musical theater forever when it took the Broadway stage in

1957. The song “America” has grown into one of the most controversial “classics” of all time.

Starting out as a satirical energetic dance number used to provide comedic relief, it has evolved

greatly over time. While “America” underwent major changes from the Broadway version to the

film version, the song has continued to evolve and can be heard promoting everything from

political propaganda to a song celebrating America and its freedoms. Few songs in Broadway

theatre history have stood the test of time like “America.” Only time will tell what future

versions of “America” will sound like to new and familiar audiences.

26
Abramovitch, Seth. “Steven Spielberg Met With Puerto Ricans About 'West Side Story'

Concerns.” The Hollywood Reporter, January 16, 2019.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steven-spielberg-met-puerto-rican-activists

west-side-story-concerns-1176285.
 12

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spielberg-met-puerto-rican-activists-west-side-story-concerns-1176285.

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https://www.westsidestory.com/archives.

Brickman, Ravelle. “Review: 'Bill Murray, Jan Vogler & Friends: New Worlds' at the Kennedy

Center.” DC Metro Theater Arts, March 6, 2018.

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originally-about-jews-and-catholics.

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america-by-the-nice.
 13

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 14

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