When the Broadway musical On the Town was made into a film in 1949, the producers replaced most of Leonard Bernstein’s songs, saying that they were too difficult for average Americans to understand. This seems hard to believe now, as we look back on the jazz- and opera-inflected numbers co-written with Betty Comden and Adolph Green and see a theatrical triumph that Bernstein wouldn’t surpass until he created West Side Story.
Stolen Shakespeare Guild opens its new production of this show this week, so you can savor this for yourself. The story of three sailors on shore leave in New York for 24 hours contains comic numbers like “Carried Away” and “Let’s Go to My Place,” but the romp is tinged with melancholy because the sailors know they must go back, so it’s the sad songs like “Lonely Town” and “Some Other Time” that will seize your heart. For sure you’ll walk out of this show knowing where the Bronx and the Battery are.
On the Town runs Jul 7-23 at Fort Worth Community Arts Center, 1300 Gendy St, FW. Tickets are $16-22. Call 866-811-4111.
