Thirty-five years after Leonard Bernstein\u2019s death, the critics are still arguing over the meaning and impact of his legacy.\u00a0 What is clear, however, is that the world rarely enjoys the genius of someone who excels supremely in so many artistic endeavors.\u00a0 Pianist, conductor, television personality, teacher, mentor, social gadfly, and composer of both popular musical theatre and \u201cserious works,\u201d Bernstein wore all hats with avidity.\u00a0\u00a0 And he enjoyed stunning success in most of his endeavors.\u00a0 He had a passion about everything that he essayed, whether conducting the Mahler that he loved so well, or helping audiences \u201cpeel\u201d apart the mysteries of music in his many teaching r\u00f4les.\u00a0 He knew so much, and could do so much, that he genuinely thought that he could do it all.\u00a0 His leadership of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and other orchestras is legendary, but everyone knows there were some concerts that, frankly, got away from him in his self-indulgence.\u00a0 He worked assiduously as a composer of \u201cserious\u201d music, but those works\u2014from youthful successes to his late efforts\u2013have enjoyed mixed success.\u00a0 But, all that simply says is only that he was human.\u00a0 Other than his epochal conducting, there is one field in which he garnered almost universal acclaim, and that is musical theatre.\u00a0\u00a0 When all is said and done, he possessed a talent and a facility for the stage that was as deep as it was prolific.\u00a0 He simply understood the genre and its demands.<\/p>\n
He plunged in early, writing for student productions at Harvard, and working with a cabaret group (that included Judy Holiday) while a student at the Curtis Institute.\u00a0\u00a0 At the age of twenty-six his ballet\u00a0Fancy Free<\/em>\u00a0was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera and\u00a0On the Town<\/em>\u00a0opened on Broadway.\u00a0\u00a0Wonderful Town<\/em>,\u00a0Peter Pan<\/em>,\u00a0Facsimile<\/em>, and\u00a0Candide\u00a0<\/em>soon followed, as it seemed that everything he touched became gold.<\/p>\n Based upon Voltaire\u2019s well-known novella,\u00a0Candide<\/em>, the original Broadway musical, opened on the 1st of December in 1957.\u00a0 It was not a smashing success early on, but over the years\u2014and through many versions, and a changing cast of writers and contributors\u2014it has achieved an enduring place in the musical theatre repertoire.\u00a0 Its innate wit, sparkle, and general \u201ccheekiness\u201d was natural fodder for Bernstein\u2019s own musical personality, and his songs for the production have come to personify the whole rollicking enterprise.<\/p>\n The overture is crafted from a buoyant m\u00e9lange of some of the most memorable tunes from the show, and has become one of the most-performed works by an American composer on symphony concerts.\u00a0 The \u201ccatchy\u201d tunes are cleverly cast into asymmetrical rhythmic patterns (a typical Bernstein trait) that keep the bouncy drive going as this brief work careens to the end.\u00a0 After all these years, it may seem that all of the tunes are vaguely familiar, so enduring is the work.\u00a0\u00a0 The overture to\u00a0Candide<\/em>\u00a0has taken its place along with much of\u00a0West Side Story<\/em>\u00a0as representative of one of America\u2019s most multi-talented and influential musicians, and is a perfect curtain opener that is thoroughly American.<\/p>\n –Wm. E. Runyan<\/p>\n \u00a9 2026 William E. Runyan<\/p>\n