Story: West Side Story Documentary (video)
Summary: West Side Story was an acclaimed and popular Broadway musical about an ill-fated and impossible love between Tony and Maria. This story is about a recording of the Broadway score in 1984, 25 years later. Bernstein records the songs with a new generation of performing artists, renown singers who learned to act in the opera rather than Broadway actors who learned to sing in the theater. It's a remarkable documentary that captures the dynamic between the maestro and these superstars.
Perhaps because Bernstein is conducting his own piece as an old man, music that he composed many years earlier as a much younger man, you can talk about aging in this context. What does it mean to return to a work from your youth?
Page: 2 Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein conducting, circa 1959
Along with Stephen Sondheim and others, Leonard Bernstein composed a score that shocked, delighted and awed millions.
Page: 3 Troyanos, Bernstein, Te Kanawa and Carreras
Tatiana Troyanos, Leonard Bernstein, Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras
More than 20 years later, Bernstein recorded the entire score again with some of the greatest performers of the day. The music was remarkably fresh and it still is.
Page: 4 A Boy Like That (video)
West Side Story Documentary
In this scene, we're transported to the studio where Te Kanawa and Troyanos sing, "A Boy Like That." <break time="2s"/> She tells Maria, "He'll murder your love! He murdered mine..." <break time="2s"/> But Maria answers, "I have my love." She asks, "What else can I do." <break time="2s"/> Finally, Anita agrees.
Page: 5 Talking about the Making of West Side Story recording of 1984
Leonard Bernstein
What would you like to talk about.