'Tonight there will be no morning Star' What does that phrase mean?
-
friendoffilm — 11 years ago(November 09, 2014 07:21 PM)
Hi, leader-7:
Thanks for your interesting points about the 'Tonight there will be no morning star" phrase in the song "Tonight'.
Although I'm aware that the full lyric is sung during the pre-Rumble Ensemble, I'm aware of the youthful hopefulness that exists between Tony and Maria. Yet, at the same time, I think that, deep down, there's also the prediction that things won't necessarily turn out the way they were hoping, if one gets the drift. -
friendoffilm — 10 years ago(July 12, 2015 07:45 AM)
Here's something else that the phrase
"Tonight there will be no morning star"
means:
That the film
West Side Story
, as a great golden oldie-but-keeper of a Classic movie, has withstood the test of time, beautifully. The people who were predicting that there would never be another film like it again were absolutely correct.
The MGM quote "
Unlike other classics,
West Side Story
grows younger."
also plays into that meaning, as well, because it rings so true, and because of the fact that the film
West Side Story
, for all kinds of reasons, continues to have such a special appeal for so many people, myself included. As I see it, the film
West Side Story
will continue to withstand the test of timeforever. -
leader-7 — 10 years ago(July 27, 2015 10:22 AM)
friendoffilm look at the gem I just found on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6gok589fVg -
leader-7 — 10 years ago(July 27, 2015 11:25 AM)
And I just now (after 55 years) made the astounding discovery that the original Broadway RIFF was played by Michael Callan, billed as Mickey Calin.
Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. we're sweltering here in NY -
friendoffilm — 10 years ago(July 28, 2015 04:52 AM)
Hi, leader-7. Thanks for the well-wishing. Things are fine here in the Bay State, but we've got some hot weather coming our way, also.
I was also aware of the fact that the original Broadway Riff of
West Side Story
was played by Mickey Calin. -
leader-7 — 10 years ago(July 28, 2015 04:59 AM)
I grew up singing that album and the name Mickey Calin never hit home since the photo on the cover is of Larry Kert and Carol Lawrence I only had the 2+2 moment yesterday!
Hot here too they're expecting a week long heat wave for us on the east coast. Stay cool, real coollll.!
-
friendoffilm — 10 years ago(July 28, 2015 03:11 PM)
My initial introduction to
West Side Story
was through the soundtrack of the original Broadway
stage
production, with Mickey Calin as Riff, and Larry Kert as Tony, and Carol Lawrence as Maria, as well as Chita Rivera as Anita. This was back in the summer of 1962, prior to my entering the sixth grade, while attending day camp out in Tucson, AZ. A girl in the group I was with at day camp, who'd just received a copy of the LP album of the Broadway production of
West Side Story
as a birthday present, brought it to day camp with her one day, and played it for the rest of the group. My love for
West Side Story
and its music and the story behind it took off instantly.
Five days a week, every day on the bus to and from day camp, the kids sang all the songs from
West Side Story.
Kids would also roam the hallways in packs, snapping their fingers and singing the WSS songs, also. It was kind of cool.
When I got home, I'd play my parents' copy of that same WSS LP soundtrack album on my parents' Hi-Fi whenever I could, and I used to love to bang around with some of the songs from
West Side Story
on the piano.
Due, at least in part, to my relative social isolation from other kids while growing up, and partly because my mom didn't consider
West Side Story
a kids' movie (my parents would not take my sister and I to see it when its popularity and newness was at its height.), I didn't get to see the film version of
West Side Story
until around Christmastime of 1968, as a high school Senior, at a now-defunct cinema north of Boston, and where my siblings grew up, during a huge national re-release of the film. On seeing the film version of
West Side Story
for the first time, I fell in love with it instantly, and have been hooked on it ever since. -
Weber4278 — 10 years ago(January 17, 2016 12:19 AM)
I always thought that line was relatively straightforwardTony and Maria plan on meeting that night, and they don't want it to end.
"oh moon grow bright, and make this endless day endless night"
they want to remain in their blissfully oblivious world where its just the two of them forever, yet within that song we see all the forces that are going to tear them apart coming to a head. -
friendoffilm — 10 years ago(January 17, 2016 08:59 AM)
This:
they want to remain in their blissfully oblivious world where its just the two of them forever, yet within that song we see all the forces that are going to tear them apart coming to a head.
is a good point that cuts right to the quick, if one gets the drift. The forces that will tear Tony and Maria apart are what will prevent any morning star from emerging. Inotherwords, Tony and Maria's love will not see the light of day. -
pontevedro — 10 years ago(January 19, 2016 07:35 AM)
It's true enough, but Tony and Maria are the ones singing and they don't know that Tony will die. So what they mean when they sing it is what Weber says - they don't want the night to end because they're so happy.
Maybe another way to look at is that they don't want the night to end because they're happy right now, but they know that reality will intrude in the morning. Tonight they can enjoy their love, but tomorrow they'll have to work on how they can have a life together. IMHO you read too much into it when you suggest that it shows they're aware that their love is doomed. -
friendoffilm — 10 years ago(January 21, 2016 02:54 PM)
I see what you're saying about Tony and Maria's optimistic, romantic love of each other and how happy they are at the present, but I think that, at some level, both Tony and Maria know that their love will not see the light of daythat it will be blown apart by the hatred of the two gangs, and it came true.
-
JujusFlix — 9 years ago(April 09, 2016 08:44 PM)
Long time in answering here but imho, this phrase hearkens to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, in the scene after the couple spend their first night together. They go back and forth play-arguing whether or not morning has come (to paraphrase: "It is the Nightingale not the Lark that sings!"). This is because the night has been their moment - their safe haven. The day brings only troubles they must face (specifically, arrest and death for Romeo). The same I think is being hinted at for Maria and Tony, though they haven't arrived at that point of Tony being a target yet, the song is foreshadowing what is come. They will have to face troubles in the light of day and "no morning star" means they will linger in the night - or thier
moment
forever.
"Good times, noodle salad"
