westsidestory

Composer David Newman On Why Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ Is Definitive

Simon Thompson

“I know lots of these recordings, and I think this is a definitive performance of West Side Story,” enthused David Newman, the composer given the job of arranging the score for director Steven Spielberg’s vision of the classic. “We did stuff that I think helped it, things you can’t do in a theater production.”

The job was a very personal one.
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Jeanine Tesori’s Gift: Conjuring the Storytelling Potency of Music
In shows like “Caroline, or Change” and “Kimberly Akimbo,” the composer excels at translating her astute insights about characters into music.

By Rob Weinert-Kendt

Jeanine Tesori can take apart music and put it back together as well as any composer who’s put note to paper. She can write a recitative worthy of Janacek, or a pop tune that could have charted on 1970s AM radio. She can conjure a gospel number, a tap soft-shoe, or a folk-rock confessional like a seasoned pro.
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A Sondheim Surge: Interest in His Work Soars After His Death
Fans have been streaming his music, buying his books, and trying to get in to see his shows, with a new revival of “Company” opening this week on Broadway.

By Michael Paulson

Streams of Stephen Sondheim’s music are up more than 500 percent. New York’s Drama Book Shop sold out the first volume of his collected lyrics. And close to 5,000 people have been entering a lottery to win tickets to weekend performances for a sold-out run of “Assassins.”

In the days since the unexpected death of one of the most important writers in the history of musical theater, interest in his work has surged.
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Stephen Sondheim, the Man Who Felt Too Much Why did it take so long for the composer to be unambivalently embraced? Maybe because ambivalence is what he’s embraced most of all. By Ben Brantley How do you feel? That’s a simple question, right? And unless you’re talking to a doctor, you probably have a simple answer. And if that’s the case, the odds are that you’re lying. ( Read more... )

Usher Hall
West Side Story

Kirsty McGrory

A powerful performance that drives home the unique genius of Bernstein’s score

John Eliot Gardiner has waited six decades to conduct West Side Story. His deep and abiding affinity with Leonard Bernstein’s score can be traced back to his student days in Paris in the sixties. Meeting Bernstein at a soiree held by his teacher, Nadia Boulanger, was a landmark occasion for Gardiner, as he was able to quiz his idol about his work – in particular, West Side Story. Gardiner’s keen appreciation for the complexities of the score impressed Bernstein and led to a bond between the two men.
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Gustavo Dudamel to Conduct Score for Steven Spielberg’s 'West Side Story'

by Mia Galuppo

The music director of the L.A. Philharmonic will helm the recording of Leonard Bernstein’s iconic score.

Steven Spielberg has assembled an award-winning group of music veterans to revive Leonard Bernstein's iconic score for his adaptation of West Side Story.
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