ABSTRACT
Many musical theatre composers have been classically trained musicians; very few have maintained their standing in the art music community at the same time that they were composing for the stage. One of those few was Leonard Bernstein, who succeeded in writing musical theatre masterworks even as he became one of the most celebrated conductors in the classical music world. Bernstein's preparation of Candide was interrupted over and over again by other projects—television programs, various conducting gigs, a festival at the Hollywood Bowl, and a renewed attempt at getting East Side Story off the ground. Bernstein borrowed the hemiola rhythm of "America" from the huapango, a dance from the Huastec region of Mexico along the Gulf Coast. It has been suggested that Bernstein was influenced by Aaron Copland's orchestral composition El salon Mexico in writing "America". It is certainly possible to find hints of other composers in Bernstein's score for West Side Story.
