Customer Reviews

Bernstein - Wonderful Town / Audra McDonald, Kim Criswell, Thomas Hampson, Wayne Marshall, Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic

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'Wonderful Town' is not Leonard Bernstein's best score, but you wouldn't know it from this exuberant performance in the unlikeliest of places: New Year's Eve 2002 at the Philharmonie, the home of the Berlin Philharmonic. Led by their new chief conductor, Sir Simon Rattle, and featuring an all-star cast of American singers, this semi-staged BPO concert version of the Bernstein's 1953 Broadway hit is amazingly right in all its particulars. From the jazzy overture to the encore of 'Conga!' in which Rattle entreats (in German) the gala audience to get up and form a conga line, the joy and esprit of this concert has to be seen and heard to be believed. The singers are as good as they get. Kim Criswell, one of the best Broadway singers of recent times, plays the aspiring writer, Ruth Sherwood, with brass, spunk, and shaky cynicism; her 'One Hundred Ways to Lose a Man' had the audience roaring. Ruth's sister Eileen is performed by the delectable Audra McDonald, winner of three Tonys before the age of 28. (Interestingly, it's a homecoming of sorts for McDonald; she was born in Berlin in 1970.) A graduate of Juilliard, McDonald has one of the most gorgeous voices around these days, and personality to spare. Her 'A Little Bit in Love' is scrumptious. One number that brings a lump to the throat is the sisters' duet, 'Ohio' ('Why, Oh Why, Oh Why Oh, Why Did I Ever Leave Ohio?').

Singing multiple roles in his marvelous baritone, the handsome Brent Barrett sings 'Christopher Street' and rocks the house with 'Pass the Football.' I was frankly amazed that the German audience seemed to have no trouble understanding some of the 1950s American slang in that and other songs. They clearly were having the time of the lives. Thomas Hampson, as Baker, sings 'A Quiet Girl' and the duet with Eileen 'It's Love' in his world-class baritone and flawless diction. Secondary roles, including some taken by the chorus, European Voices (in American accents), were ably done.

Simon Rattle, known for his love for classic American light music, is completely in his element in this complex Bernstein score with its rapid changes of meter, tricky accents, and jazzy harmonies. More than that, he was obviously enjoying every moment. But even more amazing was the patent enjoyment of the ordinarily staid Berlin Philharmonic musicians. It is often said that European musicians just don't 'get' American popular music, but that clearly is not the case here. One is unlikely to ever hear a more beautiful instrumental performance of this score. In 'Swing!' the licks by the BPO brass were worthy of any of the famous Big Bands of the thirties and forties. The Raschèr Saxophone Quartet were in the pit to add to the Big Band sound. British keyboardist Wayne Marshall (best known as an organist, but a frequent collaborator with Rattle, including the jazz piano role in Rattle's recording of 'Porgy and Bess') played the dazzling orchestral piano part.

I cannot recommend this DVD highly enough.

1 DVD; Sound: PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, or DTS 5.1. Subtitles: English, German, French. Running time: 76 minutes

Scott Morrison

This concert version of the Betty Comden/Adolph Green/Leonard Bernstein 1953 Broadway hit demonstrates just how much skilled, experienced professionals can accomplish. The three turned out the score in four weeks. The production was a vehicle for Rosalind Russell's star return to Broadway after years in Hollywood...and Russell couldn't sing. They fashioned a series of raucous, tender, funny, romantic songs, with Russell's efforts tailored to her comedy skills and limited vocal ability. The show was a smash, and so is this concert performance conducted by Simon Rattle.

Kim Criswell sings Ruth Sherwood and Audra McDonald sings her younger sister, Eileen. The book is based on Ruth McKenney's best seller My Sister Eileen. Ruth wants to be a writer, Eileen wants to be an actress. They leave their home in Ohio and head for New York, where they wind up in a crummy Greenwich Village apartment. They meet an assortment of oddballs, have a series of adventures, and Ruth finds love and success. It's a funny, sweet story. Comden and Green fashioned lyrics that are satirical but good-natured. Bernstein rose to the task with songs that could be funny and tender, but also with set pieces designed to show off Russell. These pieces -- Conga!, One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man, Swing! -- are complicated, often raucous and were deliberately designed to be show-stoppers for Russell. They're still show-stoppers with Criswell.

Comden and Green had a way of making fun of things that seldom left wounds. Listen to the lyrics of Pass That Football, What a Waste or Conga! and you'll most likely laugh at the wry recognition of your own pretensions. While I admire most of Bernstein's Broadway shows, my admiration is more intellectual than emotional. Still, you have only to listen to the romantic theme given to Terry and Edie in On the Waterfront or to Lonely Town or Some Other Time from On the Town to realize he was capable of writing music of great longing and sweetness. He hasn't hit that mark here, but he's done some clever, highly polished work, and he's also come up with a couple of poignant-happy melodies that are outstanding: It's Love and A Quiet Girl.

Kim Criswell is an experienced Broadway musical actress who can belt out a song with the best of them. Audra McDonald is just as good as the quieter sister, and her voice is magnificent. They make a great duo. Thomas Hampson plays Robert Baker, who eventually realizes he loves Ruth, not Eileen.

This was the 2002 Berlin Philharmonic's New Year's Eve concert and was filmed in the concert hall as a minimally staged production. In this case, it's the songs, the music and the singers that count, and they all come off magnificently. The DVD picture and audio presentation is excellent. Highly recommended if you like Comden and Green and Bernstein's Broadway shows.

Incidentally, Eileen McKenney married a young author, Nathanael West. He wrote Miss Lonleyhearts and The Day of the Locust. Both books are worth reading. They were young, talented, and were killed in a car crash on their way to Scott Fitzgerald's funeral. Her life made part of a warm, funny book, a play, a movie and then a musical, but didn't have a happy ending.

I was immediately taken with the overture. Considering it wasn't one I was familiar with, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The enthusiasm of the musicians was amazing under the baton of Simon Rattle. The performers are flawless, as expected but the overall quality of the DVD is stunning in its clarity and most especially the sound. One of the absolute best quality DVD concerts I've ever encountered. This DVD is a definite winner!

An enjoyable disc with a couple of caveats. The 5.1 audio settings make the audience sound like it's in a 5-gallon jug. And it was dispiriting and distracting to see Kim Criswell rely on a notebook for the lyrics to "Conga."

That performance of the "Wonderful Town" is to my opinion a must for every misic lover - as this "live performance" is so special in any sense - it attracts the listener/viewer continuously throughout that outstanding evening in Berlin. Also the musicians of the Berlin Phil. under Simon Rattle are taking an active part of the celebration, a real feast for the ears and for the eyes!

I purchased this DVD based on Scott Morrison's review - and am very happy I did. It's great fun - a pleasure for the eyes and ears.

There is a time and a place for everything under the sun - and that includes Lenny's showtunes. This sort of concert should have been entrusted to the likes of Michael Tilson Thomas in San Francisco where it could be jazzed up idiomatically.

How degrading it is to see the Berlin Philharmonic - the mighty steed of Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwangler and Herbert von Karajan - participating in a Conga Line. Who can doubt that some Andrew Lloyd Webber is on the agenda?

All gods are dead.

Underpinning this shabby venture is the proletarian view that "all music is good music."

Second-rate Strauss, third-rate Bruckner, limp Brahms, passable Holst, shambolic Schubert and Beethoven that is blandness personified - Sir Simon has yet to make one landmark recording in Berlin or Vienna that will outlive its marketing hype (with the possible exception of the Mahler Tenth). So far it has been a dud appointment. One looks vainly to see if 'Mene, Mene, Tekel u-Pharsin' has been inscribed on the walls of the Philharmonie but everyone seems to be having such a jovial time with Sir Simon - why not fill up the goblets with wine and belt out some of Lenny's showtunes?

Perhaps this recording will be his legacy. My fellow provincial Rutilius Claudius Namatianus passes on his regards.

This performance will due as the only one available. But when will CBS Masterworks release DVD's of some of their classic television broadcasts. In this case I am talking about the 1958 one time only live broadcast of Rosalind Russell's recreation of the original broadway production of WONDERFUL TOWN, for which she won the TONY. I have viewed the excellant kinescope of this performance (co-star Sydney Chaplin)at the museum of broadcasting on several occasions. The quality is good and with a little digital remastering could equally match the quality of the available for purchase kinescope of 1957's Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella starring Julie Andrews (another question: since both these were originally broadcast in color, wouldn't the FAR IMPROVED computer colorization processes available now be appropriate?) Oh well, enjoy a nice concert performance of a terrific 1950's. But you haven't seen this show till you see ROZ conga with the Brazillian navy and making small dinner talk ("I was re-reading Moby Dick the other day ...it's about this whale). It's a far funnier and much more nuanced performance than her celebrated Auntie Mame.

a concert presentation of the leonard bernstein/betty comden/adolph green musical adaptation of "my sister eileen" with audra mcdonald radiant as eileen and kim criswell terrific as my. written in a matter of a few weeks after the earlier score by leroy anderson had been scrapped, this is the least respected of bernsteins scores for broadway (well, we wont go into "1600 pennsylvania avenue" but ...). still, it is a knockout of its kind, and the cast here is quite good, tho as is usual in these circumstances the orchestra under simon rattle, while highly proficient, doesnt quite get "it". now if only someone would release on dvd the 1958 television production starring original leading lady rosalind russell ...

I agree the performance was outstanding and all the performers did such a great job. The sound/video quality is exceptional. But... the problem is the Bernstein's score itself is not very good. I didn't like the musical very much: no depth and no good melodies... To me, the concert was all about superficial pleasure lacking the essence of true art. With the same effort and time and money, Simon Rattle and BPO could have done more meaningful concert for a better classical work. Life is too short for so-so music!