Wonderful town
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| Title: | Wonderful town |
| Original title: | Wonderful town |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Leonard Bernstein |
| Book: | Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov |
| Lyrics: | Betty Comden and Adolph Green |
| Premiere: | January 25, 1953 |
| Place of premiere: | New York City , Winter Garden Theater |
| Playing time: | about 2 hours |
| Place and time of the action: | New York City, 1935 |
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Wonderful Town is a musical from 1953 composed by Leonard Bernstein . The lyrics are by Betty Comden and Adolph Green , the libretto was written by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov based on their play My Sister Eileen (1940) and the stories (1938) by Ruth McKenney .
After On the Town (1944), Bernstein, Comden and Green created another musical portrait of their hometown New York with Wonderful Town . The composition falls into one of the most productive phases in Bernstein's life - between 1950 and 1957 he also wrote the stage works Peter Pan , Trouble in Tahiti , Candide , West Side Story and the film music for On the Waterfront (Die Faust im Nacken).
content
I. act
The story takes place in the summer of 1935 in Greenwich Village, New York . A city guide shows his group all the sights in the district, the special sounds and the weird birds, artists and bon vivants who are at home here. Among the hundreds of people who wind up in town each day are sisters Eileen and Ruth Sherwood from Ohio. After finding a shabby room with would-be painter Appopolous and meeting their neighbors Wreck and Helen, they set off in search of fame, money and success.
Eileen wants to become an actress. She is pretty, charming, and naive. All men grin after her as if they were hypnotized - she herself is not at all aware of this effect. Ruth is less beautiful than intellectual and has an irritating habit of saying exactly what is on her mind at all times. Having set out to become a successful writer, Ruth went through a fruitless chain of interviews at various New York magazines. Bob Baker, editor at Manhatter, makes fun of her short stories and advises her to return to the provinces. Eileen is also unlucky at first, at least professionally. In return, she wins the heart of Frank Lipcott, the branch manager in the drugstore around the corner, who immediately takes pity on the hungry, destitute customer.
Bob appears at the sisters' house to inquire about Ruth. Eileen invites him to stay. In doing so, she forgets that she has already met Frank on the same date. To make matters worse, Chick Clark also stops by, a die-hard newspaper maker who invites himself to see Eileen. Three men and two women in a stuffy room, a bottle of wine and half a portion of spaghetti for everyone - the party turns into a disaster. Bob and Frank are leaving. In order to have Eileen all to herself, Chick fakes a phone call for Ruth: she is supposed to immediately take over an article and drive to Brooklyn, where a Brazilian military ship has moored.
Ruth is supposed to do interviews on site, but the pleasure-loving cadets just want to dance! They follow Ruth all over town, and only Eileen's appearance can distract them. Everything is sinking into conga chaos. Eileen is arrested for causing disturbance.
II. Act
Ruth goes to earn money: she's standing in the street with a sign around her neck. It advertises the Village Vortex, a hip jazz club. Little by little, the initially wooden Ruth gets the hang of how to address the cool jazz community.
Eileen has been released from prison thanks to her impact on the police and Bob's help. Just as Ruth and Eileen are about to admit their failure and return to Ohio, fate turns. Chicks Zeitung carries Ruth's cadet story with the lead story “Blonde sex bomb sinks Brazilian navy”. All of a sudden Eileen is a box-office magnet! The Village Vortex invites you to audition. Eileen is about to take this chance when she meets Bob. He has now recognized Ruth's talent and has also fallen in love with the author.
Chick appears in the Village Vortex that evening and offers Ruth a permanent position. Eileen is so touched that she can't stop crying. Her singing number is about to burst ... The only way to get her to perform is for her and Ruth to sing together. The Sherwood sisters have their joint New York debut with an old song from their days as a children's duo. The number is a huge success. Eileen is hired on the spot. Ruth and Bob become a couple.
Music numbers
I. act
- Overture
- Christopher Street (guide, choir)
- Ohio (Ruth and Eileen)
- Conquering New York
- One Hundred Easy Ways To Lose a Man (Ruth)
- What a Waste (Bob, editors)
- Ruth's Stories
- A Little Bit in Love (Eileen)
- Pass The Football (Wreck)
- Conversation Piece (Eileen, Frank, Ruth, Chick, Bob)
- A Quiet Girl (Bob)
- Conga (Ruth and Choir)
II. Act
- Entr'acte
- My Darlin 'Eileen (cops and Eileen)
- Swing! (Ruth and Choir)
- Quiet Incidental
- 16a. Ohio recapitulation (Ruth and Eileen)
- It's Love (Eileen, Bob, Chor)
- Let It Come Down - Ballet at the Village Vortex
- The Wrong Note Rag (Ruth, Eileen, choir)
- 19a. It's Love Reprise - Finale Act Two (Ensemble)
- Bow & Exit Music
Instrumental line-up
The current stage version is orchestrated for a five-part woodwind set (1st part: transverse flute , Eb clarinet , Bb clarinet , alto saxophone ; 2nd part: Bb clarinet, bass clarinet , alto and baritone saxophone ; 3rd part: oboe , English horn , B -Clarinet, tenor saxophone ; 4th part: piccolo , flute, Bb clarinet, tenor saxophone; 5th part: Bb clarinet, alto and bass saxophone , bassoon ), four trumpets , three trombones , timpani , percussion (two players), piano , optional celesta and strings .
Productions (selection)
- The world premiere production directed by George Abbott and choreographed by Donald Saddler premiered on Broadway on February 25, 1953 at New York's Winter Garden Theater . She saw 559 performances there up to the denier on July 3, 1954. The cast included Rosalind Russell as Ruth, Edie Adams as Eileen and George Gaynes as Robert Baker. Carol Channing played Russell's role for the last six months of the series. The production won five Tony Awards in 1953 , including Best Musical.
- In the West End of London , the play ran for the first time on February 22, 1955 in the Prince's Theater for a total of 207 performances, it played Pat Kirkwood as Ruth, Shani Wallace as Eileen and Sid James as Wreck.
- On November 30, 1958, CBS Television broadcast a television version of the musical starring Rosalind Russell (Ruth), Jackie McKeever (Eileen), Sydney Chaplin (Bob) and Jordan Bentley (Wreck).
- The most recent Broadway revival premiered on November 23, 2003 at the Al Hirschfeld Theater and ran for 497 performances through January 30, 2005. Kathleen Marshall directed and choreographed, Donna Murphy and later Brooke Shields (Ruth), Jennifer played Westfeldt (Eileen) and Gregg Edelman (Bob).
- The German-language premiere took place on November 9, 1956 at the Vienna Volksoper in a production by Heinz Rosen. The translation was by Marcel Prawy ; Dalibor Brazda took over the musical direction . Dia Luca and Heinz Rosen created the choreographies, Walter von Hoesslin set the stage and Alice Maria Schlesinger created the costumes. The cast included Ulla Salert as Ruth, Olive Moorefield as Eileen, Bruce Low as Bob, Hubert Dilworth as Goal [= Wreck] and Siegfried Arno, who had returned from emigration, as Appopolous.
- Wonderful Town celebrated its German premiere on November 6, 1981 in the Oberhausen Theater . For the production by Joel Schnee, who also created the choreographies, Marcel Prawy revised the book and lyrics of his Vienna version from 1956. Werner Schwenke (stage design) and Ilse Evers (costumes) were responsible for the equipment. Elfi Gerhards (Ruth), Annelie Siebert (Eileen), Markuu Niemelä (Bob) and Heinz-Werner Köper (Kicker = Wreck) sang under the musical direction of Saul Schechtman.
- On December 22nd, 2016 Wonderful Town was the first musical production to be performed in the new building of the Dresden State Operetta in Kraftwerk Mitte . The new German translation comes from Roman Hinze and works out the comedic moments of the original libretto more convincingly. The staging team included Peter Christian Feigel (musical direction), Matthias Davids (direction), Melissa King (choreography), Mathias Fischer-Dieskau (stage design) and Judith Peter (costumes). The main roles were starring Sarah Schütz (Ruth), Olivia Delauré (Eileen), Bryan Rothfuss (Bob) and Marcus Günzel (Wreck).
- Kim Criswell wrote a connecting narrative text for concert performances, which is also available in German.
Recordings (selection)
- Original Cast Album 1953: Decca 9010 (LP); Re-release 1990 on CD: MCA Classics, MCAD-l0050.
- Broadway Revival Cast Album 2004: DRG Records, DRG-CD-12999.
- Simon Rattle recorded the work several times, in 1999 as a studio album (EMI Classics 5-56753-2) with Kim Criswell as Ruth, Audra McDonald as Eileen, Thomas Hampson as Bob and Rodney Gilfry as Frank, and in 2002 on DVD (Euroarts 2052299 ) as a live recording of the New Year's Eve concerts of the Berlin Philharmonic in the Berlin Philharmonic.
- The production of the Dresden State Operetta in the 2016/17 season was recorded as a live double CD with the soloists, the choir and the orchestra of the State Operetta under the direction of Peter Christian Feigel and has been on the market since September 2017: Hitsquad Records (MG Sound) , 668385.
Press coverage
" Wonderful Town , which opened last evening, is the most uproarious and original musical carnival we have had since Guys and Dolls appeared in this neighborhood. [...] Leonard Bernstein has written it a wonderful score. Dispensing with hurdy-gurdy techniques, he has written a bright and witty score in a variety of modern styles without forgetting to endow it with at least one tender melody and a good romantic number. [...] Everyone else is also in the right key. They make the Village a good deal more warm-hearted and insane than it is in nature. "
“The prettiest and most surprising thing about the new 'musical' in the Volksoper is that it is so very different from the first [meaning kiss me, Kate ]. […] The libretto is […] simply columnar. […] In addition, there is an essential and decisive characteristic that the columnist punchlines are of a musical nature. [...] And this music has charm, drive and inspiration. It comes from Leonard Bernstein, a younger, highly talented composer who, in addition to his 'musicals', also writes weighty and substantial symphonies. In his ideas, artistry and folklore keep each other in balance. "
“At first some people were almost speechless when the musical Wonderful Town began so quickly: with the jazzy, loud melody of the prelude, the first, surprising changes in image, the original dance number, like the Ohio girls wandering between skyscrapers with their 'I'm looking for someone Job'. [...] There was enough final applause after the premiere, and it was well deserved by the performers, especially because of the intensity with which the musical genre was held up, in playing, dancing and singing at the same time. "
“Newcomer Sir Simon Rattle was looking for new ways individually. For his first turn of the year with the Berliner Philharmoniker, he almost completely reanimated the singing powers of a four-year-old but still dewy London CD production ─ including the brilliant Broadway stars Kim Criswell and Brent Barrett ─ and presented excerpts of the musical Wonderful Town : Leonard Bernstein's homage to the New York of the fifties ─ a lightly concealed, heartwarming declaration of love to Berlin. [...] Not until late, when at the end, at Sir Simon's behest, the fabulous European Voices stormed the hall and asked to dance, the orchestra cackled into the endless loop with the conga 'one two three kick' and the soloists did a confetti polonaise across the board Scharoun's sacred hanging gardens, the Philharmonie was transformed into a glowing, steaming party room, and a new age dawned. "
“[…] The attractive Eileen (Olivia Delauré) and her tafle sister Ruth (Sarah Schütz) come from Ohio to the melting pot of New York like hundreds of young girls before and after them - hopeful and with great expectations to make their fortune. One as an author (Ruth), the other as a singer (Eileen). Wonderful Town shows us quite impressively that this project is not always straightforward. In all conflicts about the coveted jobs, the apartment, the neighbors, Bernstein's play is also a feel-good musical and that is precisely why Davids lets the stage personage act with a lot of sympathy. The result is a study of the milieu of the artists' quarter Greenwich Village at a time when New Yorkers were in a great spirit of optimism. Judith Peter's costumes are very effective and reflect the fashion of the 30s without frills and exaltation. Mathias Fischer-Dieskau has devised a stage that exudes urban flair and the confines of a basement apartment in equal measure. He built a footbridge and variable stairs for the hustle and bustle of the street and created the New York skyline in the background of the stage. Everything flows smoothly into and around each other. Melissa King takes up this rhythm with her choreographies. She pulls out all the stops in her field: from the sequence of movements of each individual actor and the conga finale of the first act to the revue dances in the Vortex Club. The homogeneity of this ensemble is impressive. Olivia Delauré is Eileen with almost touching naivety: attractive, personable, innocent. You want to get to know this woman and Eileen has admirers. Belief in herself and her talent initially leave no room for this and only at the end does Chick Clark (Gerd Wiemer) get the chance to confess his love to her. With Sarah Schütz, a Ruth enters the stage who knows what she wants: self-confident, quick-witted. A strong woman to whom men capitulate. The Schütz is not only vocal - like all the actors in the production, by the way - she knows how to play comedy, and she sells that too. It is a great pleasure to listen to this piece, which is also a conversation piece for a long time. […] It is ultimately the music that makes this evening so distinctive. Bernstein's score cleverly combines light music with the symphonic and thus creates respect for a genre that receives little attention from the so-called cultural elite. Peter Christian Feigel lets the orchestra sound out every nuance of Bernstein's music and thus creates a sound that would do any orchestra on Broadway to honor. "
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Work entry at the music publisher Boosey & Hawkes
- ↑ Work entry at the music publisher Boosey & Hawkes
- ↑ quoted from the booklet EMI Classics 5-56753-2 (1999)
- ↑ quoted from Christoph Wagner-Trenkwitz and Felix Brachetka: "It is so green ...". Musicals at the Vienna Volksoper, Vienna 2007, p. 38f.