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ON THE TOWN – Leonard Bernstein, Roger Edens, Lennie Hayton
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
When the 1944 ballet “Fancy Free” by Jerome Robbins gained critical acclaim, it was brought to Broadway as a play with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It opened on December 28, 1944 at the Adelphi Theatre, running for 462 performances. Following this successful run MGM management decided to bring it to the big screen. It secured the film rights, Arthur Freed was placed in charge of production with a $2.1 million budget, Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen were tasked with directing, and Betty Comden and Adolph Green would write the screenplay. Kelly would also manage the choreography. For the cast, Gene Kelly would star as Gabey, joined by Frank Sinatra as Chip, Jules Munshin as Ozzie, Vera-Ellen as Ivy, Betty Garrett as Hildy Esterhazy, and Ann Miller as Claire Huddesen. Read more…
WEST SIDE STORY – Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Gustavo Dudamel, David Newman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
When Stephen Sondheim died aged 91, just a couple of weeks ago, the world of musical theater lost one of its best and most beloved practitioners. Although he was well-known for many of the scores he wrote himself – A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, many others – possibly his most beloved work by the general public was the one on which he “only” wrote the lyrics: West Side Story. On it Sondheim collaborated with the legendary composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, creating a then-contemporary version of Romeo & Juliet transposed from renaissance-era Italy to 1950s New York, replacing the Montagus and the Capulets with street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. It debuted on stage in 1957, and then was turned into a screen musical in 1961 by co-directors Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. That film went on to become one of the most successful and popular Hollywood musicals in history, and eventually won ten Oscars, including Best Picture. And now, 60 years later, we have a new version of the same story, directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg. Read more…
ON THE WATERFRONT – Leonard Bernstein
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Director Elia Kazan and novelist/playwright Arthur Miller sought to bring to the big screen a tough and gritty tale of New Jersey longshoremen who struggled to make a living in the late 1940s against mobsters and corrupt union officials. When they could not find any traction with the studios, Miller moved on, but Kazan never gave up on the idea. When he came upon a new screenplay by Budd Schulberg based upon a series of Pulitzer Prize winning articles “Crime on the Waterfront” by Malcolm Johnson, his hopes were rekindled. Well Kazan purchased the film rights and he and Schulberg pitched the screenplay to studio executive Darryl Zanuck of 20th Century Fox, but were rebuffed, with him saying, “Who’s going to care about a bunch of sweaty longshoremen?” Undeterred, Kazan sought out independent producer Sam Spiegel who managed to strike a deal with Columbia Pictures. For the film Kazan brought in a cast for the ages with Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy, Karl Malden as Father Barry, Lee Cobb as Johnny Friendly, Rod Steiger as Charlie Malloy, and Eve Marie Saint as Edie Doyle. Read more…
Remembering Leonard Bernstein, 1918-1990
Composer, conductor, pianist and educator Leonard Bernstein died at his Manhattan, New York, home ten years ago today, on October 14, 1990, at the age of 72, from complications of progressive lung failure.
One of the towering figures of twentieth-century American music, Bernstein achieved international fame in the concert hall and on Broadway, but his relationship with cinema was surprisingly brief. He wrote only one original score specifically for a motion picture, yet that score—Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront—became one of the landmarks of American film music.
Bernstein was born Louis Bernstein in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on August 25, 1918, the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. He studied at Harvard University and the Curtis Institute of Music and achieved national prominence in 1943 when he famously substituted at short notice for Bruno Walter with the New York Philharmonic. He subsequently became one of America’s most celebrated conductors, eventually serving as music director of the Philharmonic while simultaneously pursuing careers as a composer, pianist, broadcaster and teacher.
Cinema first encountered Bernstein’s music through On the Town. The 1944 Broadway musical, written with Betty Comden and Adolph Green and developed from Bernstein’s ballet Fancy Free, was purchased by MGM and filmed in 1949 with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. However, studio chief Louis B. Mayer replaced almost all of Bernstein’s original score, an early indication of the difficulties the fiercely independent composer would have with Hollywood filmmaking. Read more…
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