# Why West Side Story is my Alltime Favorite Movie: **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 23, 2009, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-west-side-story-is-my-alltime-favorite-movie/518621 "2009-11-23T10:08:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 14
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-west-side-story-is-my-alltime-favorite-movie/518621/14 "2009-11-24T01:52:41Z")
Some interesting info about the musical that I came across and posted in an earlier thread. > [@Obvious things about a creative work you realize after the millionth time (OPEN SPOILERS POSSIBLE)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/122): > > The notes for the word “Maria” in the song of that name, C-F#-G, are the same notes as on the phrase “Who knows?” in “Something’s Coming” with the last two notes in a lower octave. In addition, the opening 3 notes of the musical, G-C-F#, are the same, just starting on the G instead of the C… > > …the original concept of the musical was for a Jewish girl and a Catholic Italian-American boy, with the anti-Semitism of the Catholics as a source of conflict. They eventually rejected this because the subject had already been explored in “Abie’s Irish Rose” and similar productions. > > I also came across [this page](http://www.forward.com/articles/11647/), which contains a letter that reports Bernstein claimed the whole musical was based around the G-C-F# notes. The letter also claims that those notes are a remnant of the Jewish/Catholic concept because that’s one of the soundings of the shofar on Jewish New Year! I did find one shofar rendition on YouTube that was closer to C-F#-G. > > From the letter: “The overture is vivid tone-painting of terrifying Jew-baiting, for example, subjecting this shofar theme to being mocked and chased by the other instruments.” --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-west-side-story-is-my-alltime-favorite-movie/518621)._