Last Bow to Broadway: The American Musical

Posted by Sony BMG Masterworks

December 8, 2008

By Daniel Felsenfeld

I’d say that disc two of Broadway: The American Musical is a great outline of commercial theatre coming into its own. It was the era of true greats throwing their first stones: Leonard Bernstein (here represented for On the Town and the inimitable West Side Story, about which more later of course) and Kurt Weill in his various incarnations. I single these two composers out even though other greats are represented—Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Gershwin, i.e.—because it they represent an odd and vanished moment of the so-called “high art” tradition coming to the “low art” palaces of Broadway. Weill is a weird artist because he had many styles, both of which are typified here: his Cabaret-Opera style (Threepenny Opera) and his Broadway style (Lost in the Stars). He also wrote symphonies, string quartets, operas, etc. When he came to America, he adapted his style to fit the bill—brilliantly, effortlessly—and contributed some enduring works, though it is also the sign of the times that a collaboration between himself and fierce leftist iconoclast Bertolt Brecht (via the translation of Marc Blitzstein) could have a life on (or off) Broadway, especially when the subject matter is that of murder, prostitution, corruption, degradation and filth. Of course, it is hard for a certain segment of the population to hear “Mack the Knife,” a jazzy little number about a serial murderer (done for maximum irony) without thinking of Sinatra; worse, there are those of us who came of age a little later who cannot help but think of a singing crescent moon representing a certain fast food chain.

Leonard Bernstein is a different beast because in his famous and across-the-board influential musical West Side Story he took the opposite approach, in a way, taking contemporary classical music and forcing it to fit the commercial stage. The piece is a puzzle, intentionally or not. Listen to the whole score for hints of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Symphony of Psalms, Blitzstein’s (underrated) opera Regina, and Mahler’s Ninth Symphony. It’s all there, not to mention jazz, a dodecaphonic fugue, and just about anything Lenny the omnivore could throw in and work his magic upon. Regardless of weather or not you can hear these references, Bernstein’s score (represented by the fantastic song “Tonight” sung by Larry Kert and Carol Lawrence) is beautiful, moving and touching.

Bernstein, incidentally, is also represented by “Glitter and be Gay” from the lovely-but-problematic show Candide, a spectacular song from a piece that could never quite find its footing despite many rewrites by many brilliant people like Lillian Hellman and Stephen Sondheim—too many cooks, perhaps? The song is spectacular, a “jewel aria” like no other.

It is sad that I bid farewell as a blogger to Broadway: The American Musical, because I’ve so much enjoyed not only listening to it, but also thinking and writing about it. I am sure you will too.

More, next, on the complete Puccini. Tosca is hot, apparently, being featured not only in the Bond film Quantum of Solace, but also Gus Van Sant’s biopic Milk.

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Broadway: The American Musical