Leonard Bernstein @ Carnegie Hall & 1957

On November 14, 1943, 25 year old Leonard Bernstein made his New York Philharmonic Orchestra directorial debut when he stepped in at the last minute to replace an ailing Bruno Walter for a concert at Carnegie Hall. Just two months earlier Bernstein had been named the Philharmonic’s assistant conductor - the first American and the youngest person ever chosen for the position. The next day the story of his debut made the front page of the New York Times.

Now, 65 years later to the night I was sitting in the best seat I have ever had for a concert at Carnegie Hall, center orchestra, row K, seat 106, a ticket purchased only a few days earlier. I was mega-charged, as was everyone seated around me, for the "Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds" concert.

The conductor for the evening was young Alan Gilbert who was recently named Music Director beginning in the 2009-10 season.

To say that the evening was electrifying doesn’t do it justice. The opening number was the Symphonic Suite from “On the Waterfront.” Awesome. The second was a 33 minute work called “Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium) for Violin,” featuring Glenn Dicterow, the Concert Master for the Philharmonic. Beautiful.

After intermission came the pieces that everyone was waiting for - works from the ground-breaking 1957 musical “West Side Story.” The first piece was Suite No. 1, featuring a Tenor and a Soprano in the roles of Tony and Maria. They sang: Maria; One Hand, One Heart; Somewhere; and, The Balcony Scene. This received a roaring ovation. It was breath-takingly beautiful.

Then a group of 25 singers came on stage to join Tony and Maria. They were from the New York Choral Artists. The final number of the evening was Suite No. 2: I Feel Pretty; Jet Song; America; and, Tonight. I cannot adequately describe how wonderful this was.

At the conclusion the audience gave everyone a roaring standing ovation. Luckily, it wasn’t over. They did two encores: Rumble from West Side Story and The Overture to Candide.

I was once again reminded about how much better the acoustics are in Carnegie Hall versus Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.

During the West Side Story numbers I felt my mind drifting back to 1957 and my unique experience involving the show when it was in its out-of-town previews. I will share the story now in the form of a verbatim copy of a posting I made last year to the New York Theater Chat Board called “All That Chat” --
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“In the summer of 1957 I was coming to the end of my tour of duty in the Army and was stationed in Washington, DC, living off-base with a bunch of army buddies, including one who had a part-time job with the afternoon newspaper (the name escapes me).

One night he came in from work and told me that his Editor had given him two tickets to a musical that was finishing up its out of town tryout and would soon open on Broadway. He asked me to go with him because he knew of my interest in the theater, even back then, and, also, the tickets included an after-performance party with the creative team, cast members and the press.

I asked him about the show and he said all he knew about it was that it was a musical based on a modern version of Romeo & Juliet. To this I replied - “no f**king way am I gonna see something like that, no f**king way.” He begged me and begged me to go with him and kept emphasizing the party afterwards. Finally I gave in and said I would go. According to some old notes I have the date was August 19, 1957 and it was the opening night at The National Theatre in Washington, DC.

Well, we were both blown away by the show. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, or, frankly, since. I remember though that some of the older people (I was all of 23yrs. old) seated around us were horrified by the “coarseness” of some of the lyrics, especially in “Gee, Officer Krupke,” and there were audible gasps with the final line:

Gee, Officer Krupke,
Krup You!

I don’t remember too much about the after-party other than it was at one of the posh hotels and had plenty of free booze and food. Someone pointed out a person named Leonard Bernstein and a very young looking guy named Sondheim, but neither name registered with me at the time.

The rest of the story is history., of course. I don’t know how many times, thousands I am sure, that I thanked the Gods of the Theatre for making me go to see a musical of a modern version of Romeo & Juliet.

Bottom-line I count this as the highlight of all of the theater experiences I have ever had.

Bill”
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Let me summarize my feelings about the concert - ONE OF THE BEST EVER!!!!

I have just scored tickets to some major Broadway shows and will share the info with you in a later posting.

It is raining and ugly out and I am killing time until the 3:30 kickoff of the Gator/So. Carolina game on CBS.

Go Gators!!

Billi Pod
wanjr@aol.com