On the Town

Published Thursday 31 March 2005 at 14:45 by David Blewitt

Leonard Bernstein’s exuberant yet touching 1944 classic, about three sailors on a 24-hour furlough in New York before setting sail for the front, dates only mildly. Young soldiers are still being rushed to dangerous trouble spots.

Betty Comden’s and Adolph Green’s straightforward narrative accommodates both short, pithy scenes and mini-ballets that distil the spirit of New York: all girders, fire-escapes and steam in Robert Jones’ evocative settings. A pity Mark Henderson’s rather Stygian lighting fails to mirror the sunrise to sunset trajectory of Gaby’s troubled search for Miss Turnstiles.

Bernstein’s explosive score, a fusion of classical and jazz forms, positively exudes pizzazz yet is insightful about loneliness in Lonely Town, and experiential loss in Some Other Time - surely two of the most perfect songs ever penned. Conductor Simon Lee deftly delivers the score’s heady delights.

Jude Kelly directs with admirable simplicity, organising the crowd/chorus effectively to reflect the Big Apple’s restless energy. I wish she had pruned the Carnegie Hall Pavane and Pitkin’s song, I Understand - neither sequence is memorable. Stephen Mear’s choreography, though fluent, only digs deep in the Lonely Town sequence.

The sole opera singer with a lead role is Lucy Schaufer, the volatile, sensationally sung Claire de Loone, which hardly makes a successful fusion of opera and music theatre performers. Chorus and dancers meld well though. Caroline O’Connor is a winningly predatory Hildy, Sylvia Sims a hilariously bibulous Madame Dilly.

Of the three sailors, Adam Garcia’s Chip is rather ordinary, Aaron Lazar’s Gaby likeable but only Tim Howar’s cute Ozzie is a total success.