Entertainment Weekly (8/23-8/30/96, p.124) - "A great romantic's Gotham, brought to youby six top cabaret singers and the Orchestra of St. Luke's....Lovely and sumtuous." - Rating: A
Recorded at the Hit Factory in New York, New York in November 1995. Includes liner notes by Frank Rich.
New York City in the postwar years was a place bristling with energy, at the peak of its role as the backdrop for limitless adventure. And in the realm of musical theater, nobody captured that spirit the way Leonard Bernstein did: passion, beauty, and the search for love form a constant thread through his work, and always the youthful roar of New York edges into the proceedings. Although his commitment to classical music would eventually overtake his other interests, Bernstein made a profound and lasting contribution to musical theater. While his involvement with the Broadway stage was to last--with minor exceptions--little more than a decade, ending with the unforgettable WEST SIDE STORY, the range and variety of music he brought forth is enormous. LEONARD BERNSTEIN'S NEW YORK features selections from each of his works for Broadway, starting with ON THE TOWN, the musical inspired by Jerome Robbins' 1944 ballet FANCY FREE, for which Bernstein had also written the score. A cast of first-rate singers, including Dawn Upshaw and Mandy Patinkin, brings these songs to life, wonderfully accompanied by the Orchestra of St. Luke's.