Bernstein : Wonderful Town

Bernstein : Wonderful Town

For the first time on DVD & Blu-ray in scenic version, and to celebrate Leonard Bernstein’s centennial, the delightful Wonderful Town filmed during its French premiere at the Opéra de Toulon!

With a keen sensitivity to the demands and specificities of the American “musical”, and after the triumph of Sondheim’s Follies in 2015, the Opéra de Toulon once again embarked on a Broadway adventure with the French premiere of Bernstein’s Wonderful Town, and brought back for the occasion stage director Olivier Bénézech, a major connoisseur of the genre.

A true declaration of love to the city of New-York, Wonderful Town tells the tale, with a boisterous rhythm and vast amounts of jazzy tunes, of two sisters from Ohio looking for success and glory in the big city. Lighter in tone than later works like West Side Story or Candide, its smart combination of the different musical traditions one could hear when wandering in the streets of New-York, its accomplished orchestral writing and colouring, and its vivid sense of comedy earned it no less than five Tony awards when it premiered in 1953.

A story of love and swing with a touch of social satire, it is here revived with all the energy and the sparkle one could hope for : from the highly effective scenography by Luc Londiveau and Gilles Papain to the authenticity and thoughtfulness of Bénézech’s precise and vigorous direction of the cast. American conductor Larry Blank, well-known by the Broadway scene and therefore no stranger to the traps this falsely naive score can set, works wonders with the in-house orchestra, filling the hearts of the audience with a contagious cheerfulness that will not be easy to forget…

An American musical by Leonard Bernstein (1918 – 1990)
Created at Broadway, Winter Garden Theatre, 25 Février 1953
After the play My Sister Eileen by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov, and short stories by Ruth McKenney

Book : Joseph Fields & Jerome Chodorov
Lyrics : Betty Comden & Adolph Green
Music : Leonard Bernstein

Orchestre et Chœurs de l’Opéra de Toulon
Conducted by Larry Blank

Ruth Sherwood Jasmine Roy
Eileen Sherwood Rafaëlle Cohen
Helen Dalia Constantin
Violet Lauren Van Kempen
Mrs Wade Alyssa Landry
Robert Baker Maxime De Toledo
Wreck Thomas Boutilier
Lonigan Franck Lopez

Dancers : Audjyan, Mômô Bellance, Ophélie De Cesare, Alizée Duvernois, Sabrina Giordano, Utku Bal, Thomas Bimai, Loïc Faquet, Grégory Garell, Jonathan Gimbord, Lionel Kapamba, Hakim Ouhibi

Stage direction : Olivier Bénézech

Choreography : Johan Nus
Scenography : Luc Londiveau
Costumes : Frédéric Olivier
Lighting design : Marc-Antoine Vellutini
Video : Gilles Papain