Ravinia 2019, Issue 4, Week 8

I have ever met.” Many of Bernstein’s composi- tions—for example, the incidental music for The Birds (1938) and The Peace (1940), both plays by Aristophanes; Symphony No. 2 ( The Age of Anx- iety ; 1949) on W.H. Auden’s poem of the same name; West Side Story (1957) based on William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet ; and Songfest: A Cycle of American Poems (1977)—validate Foss’s opinion. Literature again fired Bernstein’s imagination during the summer of 1954, when he and his wife, Felicia, leased a house on Martha’s Vine- yard. Concurrent with work on his musical the- ater adaption of Voltaire’s satirical 1759 novella Candide , Bernstein labored on an orchestral composition for violinist Isaac Stern. Inspiration came from Plato’s Symposium , written around 380–375 BCE, which describes a fictitious gath- ering of seven aristocratic residents of Athens, each of whom praises the god Eros and ex- pounds on the erotic love and acts of heroism he inspires. These luminaries deliver monologues or speak in dialogue in Bernstein’s five-move- ment Serenade (after Plato’s ‘Symposium’) . The solo violin serves as the evening’s elected master of ceremonies, guiding the festivities but also synopsizing the various viewpoints on love. Bernstein outlined the “guideposts” in the Ser- enade : “In Socrates: Alcibiades , the philosopher describes his visit to the seer Diotima, quoting her speech on the demonology of love. This is a slow introduction of greater weight than any of the preceding movements and serves as a highly developed reprise of the middle section of the Agathon movement, thus suggesting a hidden sonata-form. The famous interruption of Alcib- iades and his band of drunken revelers ushers in the Allegro , which is an extended Rondo ranging in spirit from agitation through jig-like dance music to joyful celebration. If there is a hint of jazz in the celebration, I hope it will not be taken as anachronistic Greek party music but rather the natural expression of a contemporary Amer- ican composer imbued with the spirit of that timeless dinner party.” Bernstein conducted the premiere on September 12, 1954, at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy, with the Israel Philhar- monic Orchestra and violinist Isaac Stern. Danzon and Galop from Fancy Free Scored for two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, bass drum, suspended cymbal, woodblock, triangle cowbell, piano, and strings Dancer/choreographer Jerome Robbins and composer/conductor/pianist Leonard Bernstein were both in their mid-20s when they met in New York City in October 1943. Robbins had been a member of the newly formed Ballet The- atre (predecessor of American Ballet Theatre) since the summer of 1940, first in the corps de ballet and later as a solo dancer, and Bernstein had just begun his appointment as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic. Both artists brimmed with professional energy and drive. Robbins had developed a gritty urban dance scenario featuring three sailors on a 24- hour leave in Manhattan, each competing for the affection of street-smart ladies. Perhaps in- spired by Paul Cadmus’s provocative The Fleet’s In! (1934), a painting depicting sailors carous- ing ashore, Robbins drew his own sketches of dancing sailors to accompany the scenario. These formed the materials shared on that first meeting with Bernstein, who responded with a rhythmic theme sketched on a paper napkin earlier that day. One of the 20th century’s most important artistic partnerships was born. The Ballet Theatre production of Robbins’s first choreographed ballet opened at the old Metropolitan Opera House on April 18, 1944. Bernstein and Robbins had settled on the title Fancy Free , a reference to “footloose and fancy free,” which was their depiction of the carefree swagger of the American soldiers. The audience greeted the premiere with an astounding two dozen curtain calls. Critics were equally effusive. The New York Times described the new ballet as “just exactly 10 degrees north of terrific.” “One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man” from Wonderful Town The tale of Wonderful Town begins with a se- ries of autobiographical stories, written by Ruth McKenney for the New Yorker magazine during the 1930s, of two sisters from Columbus, OH— Ruth and Eileen Sherwood—who venture to New York to build careers as a writer and an actress. Playwrights Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov adapted McKenney’s narrative into a Broadway comedy called My Sister Eileen in 1940. Two years later, Hollywood director Al- exander Hall adapted My Sister Eileen for the silver screen, with Rosalind Russell as Ruth Sherwood, Janet Blair as Eileen Sherwood, and Brian Aherne as magazine editor Robert Baker. A movie musical followed in 1955, and My Sister Eileen also became a short-lived CBS television sitcom in the early ’60s. Meanwhile, several plans to transform the play for the musical theater never materialized; the compositional team of Leroy Anderson and Ar- nold Horwitt completed a full-length musical version in 1952, but their effort ultimately failed to please producer Robert Fryer. Five weeks before the beginning of rehearsals, Fryer abandoned the Anderson–Horwitt setting and assembled an entirely new artistic team with composer Leon- ard Bernstein, lyricists Adolph Green and Betty Comden, and choreographer Jerome Robbins. Renamed Wonderful Town , this musical version of My Sister Eileen opened at the Winter Garden on February 26, 1953. Rosalind Russell reprised her original interpretation for the Broadway musical, earning a Tony nomination. Enjoying a run of 559 performances, the musical won sev- eral honors, including a Donaldson Award, New York Drama Critics Circle Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and a Tony Award. Wonderful Town takes place in 1935. The Sher- wood sisters arrive in Greenwich Village and rent a basement apartment. After encounter- ing some of their crazy neighbors, they begin to question the decision to leave Ohio. The ex- ceptionally attractive Eileen displays a particu- lar knack with the young men, even attracting half of the Irish police force. Ruth unfortunately possesses so much skill in the opposite direction that she could write a bestseller called One Hun- dred Easy Ways to Lose a Man . Robert Baker, the editor of Manhatter magazine who has reviewed some of Ruth’s writings, also seems interested in Eileen. A series of fluke occurrences provides the sisters their first legitimate career opportu- nities and saves them from eviction. Along the way, Robert realizes that he actually loves Ruth. “So Pretty” The political side of Leonard Bernstein often emanated through his music, and so it was with Rosalind Russell in the original Broadway cast of Wonderful Town (1953) Isaac Stern (1963) JULY 22 – JULY 28, 2019 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE 111