Bernstein: Wonderful Town

by Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Simon Rattle

Overview

Leonard Bernstein's 1953 musical Wonderful Town, with song texts by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, hasn't had frequent performances and recordings. It has lots of things going for it: one of Bernstein's memorable tunes in "Ohio" ("Oh, why-o, why-o, why ..."), a conga scene that is inadequately motivated but certainly anticipates West Side Story, and an ensemble cast conception that was certainly known to the writers of A Chorus Line 20 years later. It also has some things going against it: the number "One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man" is retrograde even by the dismal standards of musical theater gender relations, and the storyline is a bit random. Bernstein seems to have acknowledged this with his concert version of the score, which showcases his tunes and his up-to-the-minute familiarity with jazz and Latin rhythms while not weighing itself down with the tale. Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra are fine, relaxed performers in this repertory, and they deliver a performance that goes beyond usual symphony-orchestra correctness. One wonders how the topical references to American football, Kiwanis clubs, and the like, go down with overseas performers, but Duncan Rock as Wreck seems comfortable with the latter (sample "Pass the Football") and the lead female vocal duo of Australia's Danielle de Niese and the American Alysha Umphress are fine in the more universal theme of small town girls in the big city. The cast's American accents are impressively consistent, probably more so than they would be in a U.S. production, and the sound from this 2017 live recording at the Barbican keeps everything clear. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	09/07/2018
Label:	Lso Live
UPC:	0822231181323
Rank:	11947

Tracks

1. Wonderful Town~No. 1 Overture
2. Wonderful Town~Act I: No 2 Christopher Street
3. Wonderful Town~Act I: No 3 Ohio
4. Wonderful Town~Act I: No 4 Conquering New York
5. Wonderful Town~Act I: No 5 One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man
6. Wonderful Town~Act I: No 6 What a Waste
7. Wonderful Town~Act I: No 8 A Little Bit in Love
8. Wonderful Town~Act I: No 9 Pass the Football
9. Wonderful Town~Act I: No 10 Conversation Piece
10. Wonderful Town~Act I: No 11 A Quiet Girl
11. Wonderful Town~Act I: No 12 Conga!
12. Wonderful Town~Act I: No 13 Entr'acte
13. Wonderful Town~Act II: No. 14 My Darlin' Eileen
14. Wonderful Town~Act II: No 15 Swing!
15. Wonderful Town~Act II: No 16 Quiet Incidental
16. Wonderful Town~Act II: No 16a Ohio (Reprise)
17. Wonderful Town~Act II: No 17 Its Love
18. Wonderful Town~Act II: No 18 Ballet at the Village Vortex
19. Wonderful Town~Act II: No 19 Wrong Note Rag
20. Wonderful Town~Act II: No 19a Finale. It's Love (Reprise)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Alysha Umphress   Primary Artist,Vocals
Danielle de Niese   Primary Artist,Vocals
Simon Rattle   Primary Artist,Conductor
Michael Baxter   Vocals
Jane Quinn   Vocals
Kevin Brewis   Vocals
Duncan Rock   Vocals
Ashley Riches   Vocals
Soophia Foroughi   Vocals
Stephen John Davis   Vocals
David Butt Philip   Vocals
Flora Dawson   Vocals
Nathan Gunn   Vocals
London Symphony Chorus   Choir/Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra   Orchestra
Andrew Keelan   Vocals

Technical Credits

Neil Hutchinson   Editing,Mastering,Balance Engineer,Mixing
Gary Brown   Casting Consultant
Andrew Cornall   Producer
Claire Delamarche   Liner Note Translation
Andrew Stewart   Liner Notes
Paul Mitchell   Photography
J. Henry Fair   Photography
Andrew Staples   Photography
Sandra Powers   Photography
Daniele Quilleri   Casting Consultant
Debbie Scanlon   Photography
Edward Bhesania   Liner Notes
Betty Comden   Text
Leonard Bernstein   Composer
Anna Bergman   Photography
Adolph Green   Text
Matthias Heyde   Photography
Jonathan Stokes   Engineer