Ravinia 2019, Issue 3, Week 6

Previous page: Leonard Bernstein composing at his desk (black and white); Paulo Szot tears up his hymnal as the Celebrant in Ravinia’s 2018 production of Bernstein’s Mass (color cutout). This page: Bernstein presiding over a West Side Story rehearsal, with Carol Lawrence, who played Maria, at his left and lyricist Stephen Sondheim at the piano (left)—Ravinia presents the film version, starring Natalie Wood as Maria, on July 12; Szot presiding over the Street Chorus in Mass (below)— Szot will return for an encore performance on July 20, along with the rest of the artistic and creative forces behind the production named one of the 10 best classical events of 2018 by the Chicago Tribune . On the Town , as it was originally conceived 75 years ago, was a wartime view of how to cram a lifetime of experiences into a 24- hour shore leave. Three sailors meet three women in “New York, New York,” of course, but time is the enemy as everyone knows that the guys will all be sailing off to God knows where, perhaps never to return, in less than a day. Instead of that being dealt with in a serious manner, Betty Comden and Adolph Green—whom Bernstein insisted be involved with the show—give us vaude- ville-like comedy in the book and lyrics that were quite risqué for 1944: women flirting with men quite openly and sailors who have barely left home trying to grow up in a hurry while experi- encing the Big Apple, all with the clock ticking. It was remarkably contemporary and effective in its day as a diversion from World War II, but it instantly became a period piece at the end of the war; sailors were still on leave, to be sure, but they were no longer heading off into a life and death struggle. Wonderful Town followed a similar theme nine years later, as two sisters from “Oh, why oh, why oh, did I leave Ohio” decamp to New York in search of fame and fortune. Like in On the Town , dance is a central element in Wonderful Town , with Bernstein’s music increasingly eclec- tic, adaptable, and central to the drama. There is even an explicit Latin jaunt that foreshadows West Side Story in “Conga” in a dance with Brazilian cadets. Bernstein wrote songs and choruses (both the music and the lyrics) and other incidental cues for a would-be musical of Peter Pan with Jean Arthur and Boris Karloff, but much of Bernstein’s music was again cut, with only five of his songs used in the 1950 Broadway production. Bernstein was so displeased that he turned down the opportunity to collaborate on a film version that theo- retically would have used more of his score. Although often staged as a musical, Bernstein called 1952’s Trouble in Tahiti a “one-act opera in seven scenes.” (Bernstein protégée Marin Alsop conducts and directs soprano Patricia Racette and Tony-winning baritone Paulo Szot in the star roles for two performances at Ravinia on August 22.) This satiric “battle of the sexes” in mid-century suburbia is operatic in that it is through-composed with arias such as “There Is a Garden” calling for classically clarion sound and flexible vocal technique. PREVIOUS SPREAD: COURTESY LEONARD BERNSTEIN OFFICE; PATRICK GIPSON/RAVINIA 34 RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 1 – JULY 14, 2019