TAUNTING

Anita and the Jets Broadway Original Cast September, 1957 Chita Rivera and [l-r] Martin Charnin, Lee Becker (background), Tommy Abbott, Hank Brunjes, Tony Mordente, Grover Dale, David Winters, and Frank Green

The Taunting of Anita may not be everyone’s idea of a musical number, but, like the Rumble, it is most assuredly the result of precise and difficult choreography. After the near-operatic presentation of "I Have a Love," this explosive eleventh-hour confrontation between woman and gang, and the crucial lie that propels the story to its tragic conclusion, is an astonishing combination of a harsh literal depiction of the facts of the story and a stunning symbolic display of the nature and results of prejudice.

With classical genius, the creators scored this ugly scene with partially re-worked music of two earlier, decidedly lighter numbers. Thus Anita’s shining and carefree triumphs in "America" and the Mambo portion of The Dance at the Gym are invoked here to describe her cruel and unjust humiliation.

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