BBC Prom 67: Bernstein – Stage and Screen – See the BBC 4 broadcast on Friday September 11th at 19:30.
It is fitting for a film critic to flag up BBC Prom 67 this year, as it is the John Wilson Orchestra’s tribute to the great American conductor, pianist, author and composer, Leonard Bernstein who died 25 years ago this year. Bernstein wrote dozens of orchestral, chamber, choral and vocal music, but he will be best remembered as the man who reinvented the musical with West Side Story.
Bernstein also wrote the film score for the Academy Award winning film, On the Waterfront starring Marlon Brando, although his score lost out in the Oscar race to The High and the Mighty. Only his song, New York, New York was used in the film adaptation of his hit stage musical, On the Town. His operetta Candide, based on the novella by Voltaire, was not an instant hit but has gathered a cult following and was a hit on the London stage last year. But it was with West Side Story that Bernstein became one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century.
The 1961 film version of West Side Story holds a 94% rating on the film website Rotten Tomatoes, and very few films do better. To put it in perspective, the average rating for Titanic was 88%; the Oscar wining film adaptation of the musical Chicago was rated 86%; and last year’s Oscar winner, Birdman, scored a 92%. Back in 1961, a box office gross of $43 million against a budget of $6 was impressive: particularly for a 152-minute musical that takes place in the slums of NYC, and is based on a play by William Shakespeare.
The film was directed by Robert Wise (I Want to Live! The Sound of Music) and the great choreographer Jerome Robbins. The lyrics were written by Stephen Sondheim and the cinematography by Daniel L. Fapp who, two years earlier had shot The Five Pennies and two years later shot the Great Escape. With that pedigree it is not surprising that West Side Story won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Cinematographer, Best Editing and Costume Design, plus two supporting acting awards, Best Sound and, of course, Best Original Score. There are only three films that have won more Academy Awards than West Side Story, and none was a musical.
Bernstein was born in 1918 in Lawrence Massachusetts to Ukrainian Jewish parents and grew up with a love of music, acting, and staging shows. After graduating from Harvard cum laude where he studied music and befriend the great composer Aaron Copland, he studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Bernstein moved to NYC and it was there, in 1943, that he had the big break that has become legendary.
Bernstein had recently taken up the job as assistant conductor to Artur Rodzinski of the New York Philharmonic, when, on November 14th, the guest conductor fell ill. With no rehearsal and on very short notice, Bernstein had to take centre stage at Carnegie Hall conducting a series of challenging pieces for a discerning audience. It was a triumph. The New York Times review said it all: “It’s a good American success story.”
On Saturday, 5 September, John Wilson conducted his orchestra with the Maida Vale Singers. Vocalists included Louise Dearman, Lucy Schaufer, Scarlett Strallen (a Proms debut artist) and the popular Julian Ovenden. For those who could not get tickets or make the trip to London, the BBC will be broadcasting the Prom Live on Friday, 11 September at 7:30.
Let’s hope that the budget cuts to the BBC will not end this wonderful tradition of the Proms, or, for that matter, of broadcasting the best of the Proms into our homes.
