Ready for a return visit to the turf of the Sharks and Jets? The San Francisco Symphony is betting that you are, with a new live recording of the first-ever concert performances of Leonard Bernstein's complete score to West Side Story.
This recording, made on the Symphony's own label, SFS Media, is available now for an exclusive early download from iTunes.com/SFSymphony. The 2-CD set, including cast photos, interviews and historic images, will be released on June 10.
Of course, recordings of the entire score do exist, including Bernstein's famous 1985 recording with Kiri Te Kanawa and José Carreras. But this is the first live recording made at a concert performance of the entire musical score.
Michael Tilson Thomas and the SF Symphony have secured top Broadway performers for this recording, including Cheyenne Jackson as Tony and Alexandra Silber as Maria.
Jackson has starred in Finian's Rainbow, Xanadu, All Shook Up, and many other Broadway musicals, and is also well-known for his television roles on Glee and 30 Rock. Silber made her debut in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman in White on London's West End and has starred in Master Class on Broadway.
They are joined by Jessica Vosk as Anita, Kevin Vortmann as Riff, Julia Bullock as A Girl, and members of the SF Symphony Chorus who portray the Jets and Sharks.
The CD set is currently available for pre-order at the Symphony's online store. It includes a 100-page booklet featuring an interview with Tilson Thomas, notes from Rita Moreno and Jamie Bernstein, as well as complete lyrics, historic photographs and rehearsal and performance photos.
Somehow, the cover art of this CD set doesn't do justice to the treasures contained within. The image of a ratty-looking basketball court with "West Side Story" printed in bold white letters doesn't do anything for me; surely there are more interesting ways to picture urban decay. Let's hope that the music inside is far superior:
Tilson Thomas first met Bernstein several years after the West Side Story premiere in 1957, and he has championed Bernstein's music throughout his career.
Of the new recording, Tilson Thomas says, "This is a new and rare opportunity to hear Bernstein's complete score sung by a sensational young cast and a knock-your-socks-off orchestra. The San Francisco Symphony totally understands and feels this music. We show the Broadway roots of the piece and how its universal qualities translate into the way we think about it today."
On the experience of performing West Side Story with Tilson Thomas and the SF Symphony, Jackson has said: "I think this is the best musical of all time. Period. I'm a Broadway Baby, and I've done many, many shows. And there are a couple that come close, but when it comes to book, music, lyrics, West Side Story is absolutely timeless... Even after knowing the score all these years, I'm still uncovering things about the score I never heard before. So, to have the opportunity to perform it, under the great Michael Tilson Thomas, and also with this Symphony, how could I not?"
Here's an excerpt of Jackson singing "Something's Coming" with the SF Symphony:
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