Ravinia 2021 - Issue 2

LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918–90) Selections from On the Town Leonard Bernstein has become an American cultural icon. His talents and diverse involve- ment in music are legendary—a wondrously gifted pianist skilled in classical and jazz idi- oms, a theatrical yet contemplative conduc- tor, a magnetic teacher and spokesman for the musical arts, and a composer equally at home in the concert hall or on Broadway. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants and a na- tive of Boston, Bernstein adopted New York City as a second hometown. In 1943, he was named assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Bernstein, on very short notice, replaced an ailing Bruno Walter as conductor of an NYPO concert on Novem- ber 13, 1944. This widely publicized debut in- stantly thrust the young American conductor into the international spotlight. He never dis- appeared from its glare and glamour. Four- teen years later, Bernstein became the orches- tra’s first American-born music director, a position he held until 1969. Not long after joining the Philharmonic, Ber- nstein’s first musical comedy, On the Town , opened at the Adelphi Theatre in New York City, on December 28, 1944. This stage work evolved very freely from his acclaimed ballet Fancy Free , produced seven months earlier. Their common elements include a wartime setting in New York and the antics of three sailors seeking love on shore. On the Town does not—contrary to a commonly held be- lief—share any music with Fancy Free . Oliver Smith, set designer for Fancy Free , had suggested the musical comedy spin-off to Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Rob- bins, and he offered to serve as producer. The composer insisted on the gifted team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green as lyricists. Work began in June 1944 with “concept” meetings, some taking place in a hospital room after Bernstein and Green both underwent minor surgery. Bernstein then left on a coast-to- coast summer conducting tour that included an appearance at the Ravinia Festival. From the beginning, On the Town adopted a more Leonard Bernstein serious than usual approach to musical com- edy; Comden described its cohesive plot and motivically unified score in terms compara- ble to Richard Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk (unified, or total, art work). The story celebrates the vibrant energy of New York City, while portraying the emotional highs and lows of young men and women liv- ing in an anxiety-filled time of global conflict. Three seamen on a 24-hour leave wander the streets of this “helluva town” looking for amorous adventures. The naive Chip encoun- ters the hard-edged taxi driver Brunnhilde (Hildy) Esterhazy. Ozzie, hell-bent on a sex- ual liaison, pairs up with the nymphomaniac anthropologist Claire de Loone (Comden and Green created these roles). The young roman- tic Gabey falls for the subway system’s “Miss Turnstiles” of the month—Ivy Smith—who also turns out to be a hootchy-kootchy danc- er at Coney Island. At the end of the day, the sailors leave their new loves behind, return to duty and ship off to war. Little more than a year after the Broadway opening, Bernstein derived an orchestral suite comprising three dance segments from his now incredibly popular musical comedy. Prior to the San Francisco Symphony pre- miere on February 13, 1946, he explained that On the Town contained an unusually prom- inent dance component “since the idea of writing it arose from the success of the ballet Fancy Free . … The essence of the whole pro- duction is contained in these dances.” One number cut before the New York pre- miere—“Gabey’s Comin’ ”—contributed ba- sic thematic material for the bluesy “Lonely Town: Pas de deux” (Act I) and “The Great Lover Displays Himself ” (Act II), an en- ergetic dance between Gabey and Ivy that symbolically unites the “Gabey” and “Miss Turnstiles” themes. The rip-roaring “Times Square: 1944” (Act I) captures the lively, un- tamed spirit of the city. With the sailors’ leave about to end, the pairs of lovers—Ozzie and Claire, and Chip and Hildy—lament the shortness of their time together but hope that “we’ll catch up some other time.” Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green in rehearsal for the stage production On the Town (1943) Selections from Wonderful Town The tale of Wonderful Town begins with a series of autobiographical stories, written by Ruth McKenney for The New Yorker maga- zine during the 1930s, of two sisters from Columbus, Ohio—Ruth and Eileen Sher- wood—who venture to New York to build careers as a writer and an actress. Playwrights Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov adapt- ed McKenney’s narrative into a Broadway comedy called My Sister Eileen in 1940. Two years later, Hollywood director Alexander Hall adapted My Sister Eileen for the silver screen. The movie starred Rosalind Russell as Ruth Sherwood, Janet Blair as Eileen Sher- wood, and Brian Aherne as magazine editor Robert Baker. A 1955 movie musical adapta- tion starred Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, and Jack Lemon and featured music by George Duning and Jule Styne. My Sister Eileen also became a short-lived CBS television sitcom featuring Elaine Stritch, Shirley Bonne, Chick Adams, and Stubby Kaye in the early 1960s. Meanwhile, several production teams an- nounced plans to transform the play for the musical theater with the probable musical in- volvement of Burton Lane, Irving Berlin or Cole Porter, and Richard Krakeur and Fred Finklehoffe. These projects never material- ized, although the compositional team of Le- roy Anderson and Arnold Horwitt completed a full-length musical version in 1952. Their effort unfortunately failed to please producer Robert Fryer. Five weeks before the begin- ning of rehearsals, Fryer abandoned the An- derson-Horwitt setting and assembled an en- tirely new artistic team with composer Leonard Bernstein, lyricists Adolph Green and Betty Comden, and choreographer Je- rome Robbins. Renamed Wonderful Town , this musical ver- sion of My Sister Eileen opened in New York at the Winter Garden on February 26, 1953, after a tryout at New Haven’s Shubert Theater. Rosalind Russell reprised her original inter- pretation for the Broadway musical, earning a Tony nomination. The show enjoyed a run of 559 performances and won received honors in 1953, including a Donaldson Award, New Carol Channing with three unidentified actors in Wonderful Town (1954) York Drama Critics Circle Award, Outer Crit- ics Circle Award, and a Tony Award. Russell revived the role of Ruth Sherwood for a 1958 television musical broadcast. Wonderful Town takes place in 1935. The Sher- wood sisters arrive in Greenwich Village and rent a basement apartment. After encoun- tering some of their crazy neighbors, they begin to question the decision to leave Ohio. The exceptionally attractive Eileen displays a particular 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 best- seller called One Hundred 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 sis- ters their first legitimate career opportunities and saves them from eviction. Along the way, Robert realizes that he actually loves Ruth. DAVID PACK (b. 1952) and JAMIE BERNSTEIN (b. 1952) “Thank You for the Big Heart” Leonard Bernstein played a significant role in the early years of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The inaugural con- cert on September 8, 1971, featured the world premiere of his brilliantly eclectic Mass: A Theater Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers . Seven years later, Bernstein served as mas- ter-of-ceremonies at the first-ever Kennedy Center Honors gala on December 3, 1978. He delivered a brief opening speech to the Ken- nedy Center and live television audiences, outlining the purpose and significance of this new national award: “the Kennedy Center Honors, to be presented annually to individu- als who, throughout their lifetimes, have made especially significant contributions to Ameri- can culture through the performing arts.” The inaugural group of honorees were Marian An- derson, Fred Astaire, George Balanchine, Richard Rodgers, and Arthur Rubinstein. Bernstein’s moment to be recognized as one of America’s “most gifted and illustrious” per- forming artists came in 1980, when he joined David Pack and Jamie Bernstein RAVINIA MAGAZINE • JULY 24 – AUGUST 15, 2021 54