In a way I suppose it all started with "West Side Story."
It was the economic success of their recording of that show in 1985 that emboldened the folks at Deutsche Grammophon to move on to "Candide," again with the composer conducting, only this time based on concert performances in London in 1989.The result was a similarly complete but more theatrically alive representation of the Leonard Bernstein score, especially on the corresponding video issue. Now, based on its success, they have done the same with "On the Town," his first big Broadway show. And this time the results can be sampled not only on tape or disc but via a "Great Performances" telecast, to air Wednesday, Dec. 22, at 8:30 p.m. on Ch. 7.
Of course this time they didn't have Bernstein on the podium. His spirit is present, however, by way of conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and, on the video at least, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, the show's original authors and stars. Here, five decades later, they serve as narrators and occasional supporting players. In addition they and Tilson Thomas collaborated in the restoration of a couple of songs originally dropped from the show.
Even without its archival edge, however, this stands as a memorable "On the Town."
Frederica von Stade (as Claire) and Samuel Ramey may not be much in the dialogue, but these are arguably the finest voices to be heard in these roles, and dramatically there is no problem once they start to sing. And the same might be said of Thomas Hampson, as Gabey, whose lovely "Lucky To Be Me" reminds us that melodically this is as close as the young L.B. ever got to Jerome Kern.
On the non-operatic side, Tyne Daly rings true as the brazen cabdriver Hildy - the Nancy Walker role - energizing such numbers as "Come up to My Place" and "I Can Cook Too" in authentic Broadway fashion. Similarly David Garrison (late of "Married With Children") catches Ozzie's comic quality. Ditto Kurt Ollmann with Chip's essential naivete.
If those titles don't all sound familiar, it may be because when MGM filmed this story of three sailors on leave in 1949 they retained the story line but only a few of the songs, and even then without some of the lyrics. Still, the youthful energy of "New York, New York" registered strongly, as did the Jerome Robbins-inspired choreography. (Originally the show was an outgrowth of his and Bernstein's earlier ballet "Fancy Free.")
This semi-staged production from London's Barbican Centre doesn't offer much in the way of dancing, but the energy is present, along with the haunting lyricism of things like the quartet "Some Other Time" - in many ways the finest number in the show - here taken even more langorously than on Bernstein's own recording (currently available on a Columbia CD).
That it is reprised on the video - this time with Comden and Green - makes that issue all the more affecting. On top of which it offers the bridge music the CD doesn't, the dialogue and narration (some of which you can hear being fed to Comden and Green over earphones) and the sight as well as sound of cameos by Cleo Laine (as the Nightclub Singer) and, as the self-absorbed Madame Dilly, Evelyn Lear. (There is also period film footage of New York.)
It also catches the enthusiasm of the performance - enough that I wonder whether, despite the concert trappings, three sailor suits and a cabbie's hat would have been so terribly out of place - and the basic optimism of the score.
Because, as the notes remind us, New York in 1944 was still an enjoyable place to live, even amid the trials of war. By 1957, for both Bernstein and Robbins, the urban energy was channeled into the gang violence of "West Side Story," a considerably less hopeful view of the city and its inhabitants.
Too bad that, like the recordings, it couldn't have gone the other way.