Perhaps it's just my luck: when I see an American musical in London, it
usually comes across as Kevin Kline's Hamlet.  The words are there, but...

Until today, in a rather sloppy way, I used to generalize that "they just
don't have that swing in England" when it comes to musicals from across the
pond.

Today, however, I realized that there is, there can be a superbly idiomatic
musical performance -- in England, if not in London.  You have to go all
the way to Birmingham, and get Simon Rattle record Bernstein's troubled,
fragmented, but frequently terrific "Wonderful Town."

This upcoming EMI CD is a treasure.  Kim Criswell (Ruth), Audra McDonald
(Eileen), Thomas Hampson (Robert), and Brent Barrett (Wreck) constitute a
dream cast, but the amazing thing is Rattle's flawless, perfect, "American"
direction: more MTT than MTV, and forget British restraint:  he ain't got
none.

Rattle's range is astonishing.  I've been listening non-stop to his recent
Berlin and Vienna Mahler performances and clearly, he is establishing a new
standard, a new "sound" for Mahler (even as the "Wonderful Town" composer
himself did in this country a half a century ago).  Rattle's live and
recorded concerts seem to span the ages and categories of music: besides
classical, romantic and modern works, he continues his pioneering work with
contemporary composers (another new EMI CD is Rattle's performance of
Thomas Ades' "Asyla"), and it's all fabulously done.

The orchestra for "Wonderful Town" is not Rattle's Birmingham Symphony;
it's the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and my!  do they tear into
the music with all of Bernstein's wild, jazzy, overblown, and heartfelt
abandon.

This is not one of the great Bernstein scores, to be sure.  Large segments
are "carried" by the Comden-Green lyrics: "Conquering New York," "One
Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man" (establishing Criswell as THE singer
for "that kind of song"), "Pass the Football" (oy!), some of the others
are awfully thin, musically.  Of course, on the other hand, there is
"Christopher Street," "Ohio" (a perfect blend of good music and devilishly
clever lyrics), "It's Love," etc.

But, good or bad, rich or thin, throughout the music, there is Rattle's
light, perfect touch, his appreciation for the work radiates through the
performance.

Whatever your "standard" recording is for "Wonderful Town" (and there
aren't many!), you'll want to add Rattle's version, a Bernsteinesque
performance if I ever heard one (and, in some ways [ducking], *better*).

Janos Gereben/SF
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