Last night New York City came to Holland Park in Quick Fantastic’s production of Leonard Bernstein’s Wonderful Town.
QF was formed in 2019 and I will be looking out for future productions. In August 2020 QF put on a memorable production of A Little Night Music at Holland Park with Janie Dee. It paid tribute to the company’s name: a quote from The Millers’ Son in ALNM.
Sondheim and Bernstein are Burgundy and Claret; distinctive but may be confused. Wonderful Town is early Bernstein (Broadway1953) as a composer although he already had Trouble in Tahiti under his belt. What is remarkable is Bernstein’s virtuosity. In 1953 he was the first American to conduct at La Scala. It was no run-of-the mill opera: Cherubini’s Medea had Maria Callas in the lead and was directed by Luchino Visconti. The whole opera is on YouTube but here’s a taster.
Wonderful Town was a hit, a veritable hit. “ It won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Actress, and spawned three New York City Center productions between 1958 and 1966, 1955 and 1986 West End productions and a 2003 Broadway revival.” (Wikipedia)
And last night? A small cast taking on many roles; very good. The lead singers were on top form and there was some great dance and ensemble singing. It’s a hectic production and it’s hard to say if that’s how Bernstein envisaged it or if QF wanted to live up to its name; if so it succeeded. This is one of the show’s most beguiling numbers.
I really like Wonderful Town and wish I’d known about this production. I last saw it at Watford with Maureen Lipman. And I like the film version, My Sister Eileen, too.