Cool (West Side Story song)

"Cool" is a song from the 1957 musical West Side Story. Leonard Bernstein composed the music and Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics. This was the first song they wrote together, and Sondheim later recollects that Bernstein must have written the opening line ("Boy, boy, crazy boy") since he himself was not prone to writing melismatically.[1] This song is known for its fugal treatment of a jazz figure, described by one writer as "possibly the most complex instrumental music heard on Broadway to date".[2] In the 1957 musical, the song is performed by Riff as he advises the Jets to stay cool before entering the Rumble. This is however changed in the 1961 and 2021 film adaptations.

Summary in the 1961 film

Since the death of Riff (Russ Tamblyn), Ice (Tucker Smith) takes over as the leader of the Jets and he reasons with his team to play it cool.

Summary in the 2021 film

Hours before the rumble, Tony (Ansel Elgort) sings it to Riff (Mike Faist) to get the Jets to call off the fight while playing Keep Away with the gun bought by Riff.[3]

In 2011, actor Harry Shum Jr. performed the song, as his character Mike Chang from TV series Glee, in the third episode of season 3, "Asian F" (aired on October 4).[4]

An episode of Animaniacs features a parody version as "Coo Bird" sung by Bobby of The Goodfeathers. The song is also parodied in the Flight of the Conchords episode "The Tough Brets" with the song "Stay Cool, Bret".

The Castle episode "Cool Boys" has Richard Castle and Detective Slaughter sing it to distract some criminals holding them at gunpoint.

British sketch show Horrible Histories parodied this song as a song about the English Civil War.

References
  1. West Side Story (1961 film) (Commentary Track). Stephen Sondheim. MGM Home Video. 2012. MGM Home Video.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  2. Nigel Simeone, Leonard Bernstein, West Side story (Ashgate Publishing, 2009), ISBN 978-0754664840, pp. 84, 102. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  3. Bouzereau, Laurent (2021). West Side Story the Making of the Steven Spielberg Film. ISBN 9781419750632.
  4. Stephens, Samantha (October 4, 2011). "'Glee': Mike Chang's 'Asian F' earns an A+". The Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts). Retrieved 23 February 2017.
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