Further Reading
14th September 2018
Bernstein's 1953 musical receives a sparkling performance from the London Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle, with a cast led by Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, and Nathan Gunn.
12th September 2018
Watch our exclusive video-interview with the London Symphony Orchestra's Music Director about their live recording of Bernstein's raucous paean to The City That Never Sleeps, out now on the orchestra's own label.
Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra pay homage to Leonard Bernstein with a recording of Wonderful Town that captures the energy and excitement of sold-out performances from December 2017. Featuring an all-star cast led by Danielle de Niese and Alysha Umphress, this release coincides with worldwide #BernsteinAt100 celebrations marking the centenary of the Orchestra’s former President.
Bernstein’s five-time Tony award-winning musical follows sisters Ruth and Eileen on their quest to make it big, pursuing careers in writing and acting from their cramped basement apartment in New York’s bohemian Greenwich Village. Fresh from rural Ohio, the sisters end up getting more than they bargained for, realising that life in the Big Apple is not as glamorous as it may seem.
A bright and cheery love letter to the city that never sleeps and the colourful characters inhabiting it, Wonderful Town draws on Fields and Chodorov’s 1940 play My Sister Eileen, which itself is based on a series of autobiographical short stories by the ‘real-life’ Ruth McKenney.
Bernstein’s infectious score includes classic numbers such as ‘Ohio’, ‘One Hundred Easy Ways’, and ‘A Little Bit in Love’, as well as a riotous conga that had delighted audiences dancing in the aisles of the Barbican hall. The digital version of the album will include an additional version of Conga!’, featuring audience participation, as a bonus track.
Concert reviews:
‘I cannot imagine better casting for the sisters than the quintessentially sassy Danielle de Niese and the effortlessly funny Alysha Umphress.’
The Times
‘Simon Rattle pulls out all the stops for LSO’s Bernstein celebration’
Financial Times