Catholic University of America

CUA to Stage Bernstein’s Rarely Performed On the Town

For the first time in a decade, Leonard Bernstein’s On the Town will be performed in the Washington, D.C., area with a full symphony orchestra. Catholic University’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music will stage the production Friday, Oct. 28, through Sunday, Oct. 30, in Hartke Theatre.

“The show is not performed often because it needs exceptional comedic singer-actors, a large orchestra, and skilled dancers to handle the eight dance episodes,” says N. Thomas Pedersen, head of musical theatre and musical director of the production. “We are expecting our music students to not only sing and act, but to grow as dancers as they learn this historic piece. Many music schools do not offer the level of dance training needed to mount this production.”

Quoting Humphrey Burton’s biography Leonard Bernstein, Pedersen says, “The show was written by young people to be performed by young people.”

On the Town was the brainchild of Oliver Smith who was impressed with American choreographer Jerome Robbins’ 1944 ballet Fancy Free. He encouraged Bernstein and Robbins to expand it. The musical introduced several popular and classic songs, among them “New York, New York,” “Lonely Town,” “I Can Cook, Too,” and “Some Other Time.” The story follows three American sailors on a 24-hour shore leave in New York City during wartime 1944. Each of the three sailors becomes enamored of a particular woman — and of the city itself.

When it opened in the 1940s, The New York Times praised the show as “the freshest and most-engaging musical show to come this way since the golden days of Oklahoma.”

“This production of On the Town will demonstrate the high level of both our musical theatre students and our programs in classical music,” says Grayson Wagstaff, dean of the music school. “The work is not only one of the most complex dance features in the history of Broadway, it is also a great score for our orchestra. The music reveals how Bernstein borrowed sounds of jazz as well as influences from many of the great composers of classical music in the 20th century.”

Catholic University’s production will be directed and choreographed by Pauline Grossman, with assistant choreographer Maurice Johnson — dance teachers who have been recruited for the school’s music theatre program.

In conjunction with the production, Mark Horowitz, CUA musical theatre lecturer and archivist of the Bernstein Collection at the Library of Congress, will deliver a Studio X lecture on Monday, Oct. 24, at 4 p.m. on “The Secret History of On the Town,” in Ward Hall’s John Paul Hall. The presentation will include live excerpts of the CUA performance. A widely published author, Horowitz is a leading authority on research in musical theatre.

He will also deliver the talk, “Some Surprises About Bernstein’s On the Town as Discovered in the Leonard Bernstein and Peggy Clark Collections of the Library of Congress,” on Oct. 27, at 12:35 p.m., in Ward Hall, Room 211.

DETAILS: Performances will take place Friday, Oct. 28, through Sunday, Oct. 30, in Hartke Theatre. Shows will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 for seniors, students, and CUA alumni, faculty, and staff. For information, directions, and to charge tickets call 202-319-5416. Individuals requesting accommodations for disabilities should contact cua-access@cua.edu

MEDIA: Reviewers wishing to cover the musical should contact Katie Lee or Mary McCarthy in the Office of Public Affairs at 202-319-5600.

Catholic University of America Hartke Theatre