Bernstein - Wonderful Town / Audra McDonald, Kim Criswell, Thomas Hampson, Wayne Marshall, Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Audra McDonald, Brent Barrett, Kim Criswell, Simon Rattle, Thomas HampsonBrand: Naxos OF America INC
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Classical, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 76 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-07-19
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Euroarts
Movie Reviews of Bernstein - Wonderful Town / Audra McDonald, Kim Criswell, Thomas Hampson, Wayne Marshall, Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic
Movie Review: Excellent Concert Presentation Of Wonderful Town
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
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Summary of Bernstein - Wonderful Town / Audra McDonald, Kim Criswell, Thomas Hampson, Wayne Marshall, Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic
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