"Cool" is a song from the 1957 musical ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...

''. 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. 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". In the 1957 musical, the song is performed by Riff, the leader of the Jet Gang to calm their nerves before the rumble. This is likely to show he holds the gang together despite his flaws. This is however changed in the

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

film adaptations.

Summary in the 1961 film

Since the death of Riff (

Russ Tamblyn Russell Irving Tamblyn, also known as Rusty Tamblyn (born December 30, 1934) is an American film and television actor and dancer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tamblyn trained as a gymnast in his youth. He began his career as a child actor f ...

), Ice (

Tucker Smith Tucker Smith (born Thomas William Smith, April 24, 1936 – December 22, 1988) was an American actor, dancer, and singer who performed the role of Ice in the movie musical ''West Side Story''. Life and career Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ...

) 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 Michael David Faist (; born January 5, 1992) is an American actor. An alumnus of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Faist is the recipient of a Grammy and an Emmy, with nominations for a Tony and a British Academy Film Award. Faist be ...

) to get the Jets to call off the fight while playing

Keep Away Keep Away, also called Monkey in the Middle, Piggy in the Middle, Pickle in a Dish, or Pickle in the Middle, or Monkey, is a children's game in which two or more players must pass a ball to one another, while a player in the middle attempts to i ...

with the gun bought by Riff.

In popular culture

In 2011, actor Harry Shum Jr. performed the song, as his character

Mike Chang Michael Robert Chang Jr. is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series '' Glee''. The character is portrayed by actor and dancer Harry Shum Jr., and has appeared on ''Glee'' since the fourth episode in the first season, " ...

from TV series ''

Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...

'', in the third episode of

season 3 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In tempera ...

, " Asian F" (aired on October 4). An episode of ''

Animaniacs ''Animaniacs'' is an American animated comedy musical television series created by Tom Ruegger for Fox Broadcasting Company's Fox Kids block in 1993, before moving to The WB in 1995, as part of its Kids' WB afternoon programming block, until ...

'' features a parody version as "Coo Bird" sung by Bobby of The Goodfeathers. The song is also parodied in the

Flight of the Conchords Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's come ...

episode " The Tough Brets" with the song "Stay Cool, Bret". The '' Castle'' episode "Cool Boys" has

Richard Castle Richard Edgar "Rick" Castle (born Richard Alexander Rodgers) is a fictional character on the ABC crime series ''Castle''. He is portrayed by Nathan Fillion. The name Richard Castle is also used as a pseudonym under which a set of real books a ...

and Detective Slaughter sing it to distract some criminals holding them at gunpoint. British sketch show ''

Horrible Histories ''Horrible Histories'' is an educational entertainment franchise encompassing many media including books, magazines, audio books, stage shows, TV shows, and more. In 2013, Lisa Edwards, UK publishing and commercial director of Scholastic Corpor ...

'' parodied this song as a song about the English Civil War.

References

{{authority control Songs with music by Leonard Bernstein Songs from West Side Story 1957 songs Songs written by Stephen Sondheim