Archives for 2014

“Talent is like a faucet; while it is open, you have to write. Inspiration?—a hoax fabricated by poets for their self-importance.”

Jean Anouilh (quoted in the New York Times, Oct. 2, 1960)

In today’s Wall Street Journal I write with unrestrained enthusiasm about the new Broadway revival of On the Town. Here’s an excerpt.

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When did you last see a big-budget musical that made you want to shout with joy? If you’ve been feeling anxious about the lukewarm state of American musical comedy, get ready to get hot again: The new Broadway revival of “On the Town” is everything a great show should be.

“On the Town,” in which Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jerome Robbins tell the tale of three wide-eyed sailors with just 24 hours to see New York for the first time, came to Broadway for the first time in 1944 and instantaneously made stars out of its prodigious creators (their average age on opening night was 27). But MGM botched the 1949 film version by scrapping most of Bernstein’s brash, bittersweet music, and “On the Town,” in part for that reason, has never had a commercially successful Broadway revival. As a result, it’s not nearly as well known as the other major musicals of the ‘40s and ‘50s, meaning that Masschusetts’ Barrington Stage Company has taken a huge risk by transferring its 2013 revival to New York. Will it buck the odds and become a hit? I’m no producer, but anyone who isn’t thrilled by this tinglingly well-staged production needs a heart transplant.

Of all the key shows from the golden age of American musical comedy, “On the Town” most successfully blended frivolous ends with sophisticated means. Bernstein himself said that “the subject matter was light, but the subject was serious,” and for all the screwball silliness of its cotton-candy plot, no one who saw “On the Town” could possibly ignore the dark shadow that World War II cast across the stage: Gabey, Chip, and Ozzie (Tony Yazbeck, Jay Armstrong Johnson and Clyde Alves) have only one day in which to find their true loves (Megan Fairchild, Alysha Umphress and Elizabeth Stanley) before they must sail off to war, and very possibly to their deaths….

“On the Town,” in short, is far more than a piece of fancy fluff, and while John Rando, the director, is a recognized master of comic timing who could make even “Long Day’s Journey into Night” funny, he never skimps on warmth….

Would that Robbins’ own dances had survived other than in fragments, but Joshua Bergasse’s brand-new choreography is so tinglingly imaginative that even dance buffs won’t stop to think twice about what might have been: Each step pulses with passionate life….

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Read the whole thing here.

The trailer for On the Town, shot on location in New York:

Eileen Farrell and Leonard Bernstein perform “Some Other Time,” from the score of On the Town, on PBS in 1987:

“Too much depression will not result in a work of art because a work of art is an affirmative gesture. To compose, you have to feel that you are accomplishing something. If you feel you are accomplishing something, you won’t feel so depressed. You may feel depressed, but it can’t be so depressing that you can’t move. No, I would say that people create in moments when they are elated about expressing their depression!”

Aaron Copland (quoted in The Creative Experience: How and Why Do We Create?, courtesy of Maria Popova)

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

BROADWAY:
• Cabaret (musical, PG-13/R, closes Jan. 4, reviewed here)
• The Country House (drama, PG-13, closes Nov. 9, reviewed here)
• A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (musical, PG-13, all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Love Letters (drama, PG-13, closes Feb. 1, reviewed here)
• Matilda (musical, G, reviewed here)
• Les Misérables (musical, G, too long and complicated for young children, reviewed here)
• Once (musical, G/PG-13, closes Jan. 4, reviewed here)
• This Is Our Youth (drama, PG-13, closes Jan. 4, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:
• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)
• Indian Ink (drama, PG-13, closes Nov. 30, reviewed here)

IN SPRING GREEN, WIS.:
• American Buffalo (drama, PG-13, closes Nov. 8, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK OFF BROADWAY:
• The Fatal Weakness (drama, PG-13, closes Oct. 26, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ONTARIO:
• When We Are Married (comedy, PG-13, closes Oct. 26, reviewed here)

CLOSING SATURDAY IN NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ONTARIO:
• Arms and the Man (comedy, G/PG-13, reviewed here)

“Falling is one of the ways of moving.”

Merce Cunningham (quoted in The Creative Experience: How and Why Do We Create?, courtesy of Maria Popova)

From the original 1944 Broadway production of On the Town, Nancy Walker and Cris Alexander sing “Come Up to My Place,” by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green. The show was directed by George Abbott and choreographed by Jerome Robbins and the set was designed by Oliver Smith. This is an excerpt from the first episode of The Army-Navy Screen Magazine, a biweekly newsreel produced by the Signal Corps’ Army Pictorial Service under the supervision of Frank Capra. Released in 1945, it is the only known sound film of the original production of On the Town. A new Broadway revival of the show opens tomorrow night:

(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday and Wednesday.)

What a day,
Fortune smiled and came my way,
Bringing love I never thought I’d see,
I’m so lucky to be me.

I’m so proud
You chose me from all the crowd,
There’s no other guy I’d rather be,
I could laugh out loud,
I’m so lucky to be me.

Betty Comden and Adolph Green, “Lucky to Be Me” (from On the Town, music by Leonard Bernstein)

From 2004:

Remember that dance, like music and painting, is not an essentially intellectual art form. Of course it can exert an intellectual appeal (especially on intellectuals), and the more you know about it, the more you’ll appreciate it, but enjoyment of the immediate experience doesn’t require the participation of the higher brain centers. As the saying goes, dance hits you where you live–and some people, oddly enough, don’t like to be hit there….

Read the whole thing here.