American Music; On The Town in San Francisco

On The Town
by Leonard Bernstein
San Francisco SymphonyDavies
Symphony Hall
San Francisco
May 26–29

Before he wrote the music for West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein had written another great American musical, On The Town which the San Francisco Symphony has recently revived. The show  was to define American musicals for the next 50 years.

In this classic American musical comedy, three sailors depart their ship with 24 hours of leave to explore New York City. Chip wants to see the sights his father has told him about, Ozzie wants to land a date with a Manhattan beauty, and Gabey wants to find one special woman – Ivy. After agreeing to all help Gabey find Ivy, they split up to cover more ground. Chip encounters a robust taxi driver, Ozzie falls for an at-times out-of-control anthropologist, and Gabey journeys to Coney Island. Friendship, perseverance, and pure adrenaline help these three sailors make the most of their time in the Big Apple.

On The Town started life as the ballet Fancy Free, choreographed by Jerome Robbins, with music by Bernstein. It was then expanded into a full-length Broadway musical with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.

When On the Town opened at the Adelphi Theatre on December 28, 1944, with Pearl Harbor just three years in the past. The audiences embraced the contemporary fusing of music and dance, the musical managing to create a remarkable empathy with its audience by conveying much about the mood of the country at war.

On the Town ran for 463 performances, closing on February 2, 1946, six months after the war's end and led to other urban musicals such as Guys and Dolls, Wonderful Town, Bells Are Ringing, and West Side Story,

This latest production by the San Francisco Symphony was billed as a concert performance but it was as much of a spectacle as  a fully staged production would have been. The three sailors were kitted out in their uniforms along with other sailors and the four female principals were also in costumes of the 1940’s. As well there was a group of men who provided the New York crowds and dancers.

A kaleidoscope of images showed the war in the Pacific and the bustle of New York were projected on to shapes that were a mix of projectiles and skyscrapers at the rear of the stage

The orchestra under Michael Tilson Thomas was in the middle of the stage with the actors and dancers promenading around them. Also with the orchestra were two narrators (Amanda Green and David Garrison) who narrated the general outline of the story with Green also doubling as one of the characters.

The three sailors, Ozzie (Clyde Alves), Chip (Jay Armstrong Johnso0 and Gabey (Tony Yazbeck) were impressive, with superb timing as actors as well as having unlimited energy, racing around the stage an engaging in some energetic dancing. The audience would have felt exhausted after just 10 minutes of seeing the frenetic activity of the three of them.

The women are all great New York stereotypes – Ivy (Megan Fairchild) the aspiring dancer sung with a delightfully plaintive voice, Hildy (Alysha Umphress) the earthy cab driver with a well-honed strident voice and Claire (Isobel Leonard) the anthropologist with a brilliant operatic voice.

There were some clever individual performances including Shukler Hensley’s much put upon Judge Pitkin and the devious Maude Dilly played extravagantly by Sheri Greenawald.

Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas was the master of the event ensuring chorus and orchestra aided the dancers and principals, with music providing the right level of emotional ambiance as well as a sense of the panorama and scale of New York

The show was a magnificent example of the melding of music, conductor, orchestra, principals, dancers, chorus and images. Each had their own distinctive input resulting in a satisfying performance

Among the orchestra's many concerts in the 2016 / 17 season are a number of soloists including

Yuja Wang
Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1,  Sep 28-Oct 1
Chopin's Piano Concert No. 2,  Nov 2-4

Jean-Yves Thibaudet
Ravel's Piano Concerto in G,  Jan 26-28

Yefim Bronfman
Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4,  Feb 9-12

Gil Shaham
Barber's Violin Concerto,  Mar 16-18

Emanuel Ax
Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 22,  May 10-13

Joshua Bell 
Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole,  Jun 16-18

The orchestra also has a Film Series bringing the scores of major Hollywood films to the concert hall: 2001: A Space Odyssey, October 14-15; On the Waterfront, January 7-8; Raiders of the Lost Ark, April 14-15; and Casablanca, June 2-3.

Tune into NBR Radio’s Sunday Business with Andrew Patterson on Sunday morning, for analysis and feature-length interviews.