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with the fusion in
, composing the “operetta” medley “A
Quick One, While He’s Away” for
e Kids Are Alright
.
HE POWER AND POPUL ARI T Y
of
Tommy
and the intriguing concept of rock opera
in uenced other composers of the time,
including one of the greatest classical minds.
Townshend recalled that when Leonard
Bernstein saw e Who perform
Tommy
in
, he excited-
ly exclaimed to the -year-old rocker, “Do you realize what
you’ve done?!”
Soon a erward, in
, Bernstein premiered his own
epic-proportioned, innovative, rock-infused work,
Mass
.
Commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Bernstein’s
Mass
was part of the opening ceremonies of the theater bearing
her late husband’s name, the John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts in Washington, DC.
Mass
is a sweeping,
challenging musical theater piece of more than movements,
based on the Roman Catholic mass, but through its lead char-
acters—the Celebrant, the choirs, and the altar servers—raises
controversial and cutting questions of God, faith, redemption,
and eternal salvation. e Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with
Bernstein protégée Marin Alsop conducting the force of hun-
dreds of musicians that includes Paulo Szot as the Celebrant,
the Highland Park High School Marching Band, the choruses
Vocality and Chicago Children’s Choir, and almost two dozen
more vocalists, will perform
Mass
at Ravinia on July .
Bernstein’s bold score is written for a large classical or-
chestra and choir, but it its original form, he also introduced
non-traditional sights and rock-related components—the
“Street Chorus” ensemble played various instruments such as
electric and acoustic guitars, drum sets, steel drums and bon-
gos, synthesizers, and tambourines not in the pit, but onstage.
Bernstein also reached into the rock world for a little com-
posing assistance, beckoning Paul Simon, four lines of whose
appear in “Half of the People.” More substantial contributions
came from Stephen Schwartz, whose own controversial rock
musical
Godspell
opened o Broadway just months earlier.
ough not considered a rock opera in
the conventional sense, Bernstein’s
Mass
is an embracing e ort by a prestigious
composer seeking to expand his own
reach and channeling rock’s intrinsic
energy into a classical composition, as
he had also done so o en with jazz.
Tommy
also may lay claim as an
impetus for another landmark piece of
rock and theatricality. In
, Andrew
Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice collaborat-
ed with Biblical bravado and bombast
to create
Jesus Christ Superstar
. e
original double album’s songs and
overall sound leaned heavily on the
classically avored British “progressive
rock” style of the time. Rice’s lyrics are
hopeful, raging, and ethereal, and Web-
ber’s music emotes with shades of Puccini. e raucous rock
opera resurrects the story of Jesus’s latter life, as his peace- lled
preaching transforms to sacri ce and cruci xion. Told from
Judas Iscariot’s perspective, the piece immediately ascends on
the magni cently majestic orchestral overture and continues
to compel with songs like “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,”
“What’s the Buzz / Strange ing Mystifying,” “Everything’s
Alright,” and the roof-raising “Superstar.” One month a er the
premiere of
Mass
, it rose to the Broadway stage and earned ve
Tony Award nominations.
The silhouetted Daltrey’s Tommy becomes
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subjects of several early rock operas.
Jackie Kennedy Onassis gazes in wonder at the the grand spectacle of Leonard
Bernstein’s
Mass
before it opened the Kennedy Center in 1971. The masterpiece
and will receive its Ravinia and Chicago Symphony Orchestra premiere on
Julyb28 with the Paestroȅs ɶnal prot«g«, Marin Alsop, leading its cast of hundreds
T
WILLIAM SNYDER (DALTREY)
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JUNE 18 – JULY 8, 2018
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