We’re continuing with our celebration of Leonard Bernstein on this week’s Dress Circle (8/26 7:00 p.m.) by looking at two of his scores. One is the “Mass” that he wrote with Stephen Schwartz that opened The Kennedy Center in Washington in 1971 with selections from the original 1971recording as well as the 2004 recording. Confusing to many, this wonderful celebration is less an actual mass than it is a lesson about finding sanity out of chaos which is so desperately needed today.
The other is the ill-fated Broadway production of “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” which ran for only seven performances after opening in May of 1976 thanks to the confusing book and heavy-handed producing of Alan Jay Lerner. Bernstein’s score, however, was superb, and we’ll be turning to a variety of recordings including “The Whitehouse Cantata” to piece together some of the glorious music penned by Bernstein since, sadly, there wasn’t an original cast recording. The Dress Circle is now at the halfway point of our 35th year, and we can’t thank you enough for your continued support that allows us to do something we love each week.
