AMAZING Leonard Bernstein bio special on tonight (9/6) at 9PM on PBS (WNET)

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 9/6/06 at 9:07pm

I have no clue why the other thread I made about this is blank. Sorry.

Anyway, I just watched this special at the Museum of TV and Radio a couple of days ago, so it's so random that it's on tonight.

So this is a 2-hour special, part of PBS' American Masters series.

It of course highlights some his best compositions, going in-depth about West Side Story and has interviews with Sondheim, Laurents, and other of his peers.

But this man really led, in my opinion, an incredible life, and this special helped me to learn about it. He held a freedom concert in Berlin--one night the concert was on one side of the Berlin wall, the next night it was on the other. When he conducted the Vienna philharmonic, he introduced them and had them play the work of Mahler, who was of their heritage, but also Jewish, and Bernstein got his music played in a nation still recovering from Nazi influence.

It also highlights his inner turmoil of wanting to do too much--conduct, compose--classical or popular, etc. There was just so much he did.

If you can't tell, I worship him

So if you have *any* interest in Bernstein, watch!

Updated On: 9/6/06 at 09:07 PM

[JamesMacon]

Posted: 9/6/06 at 11:21pm

Thank you so much for posting this. I caught then end and really enjoyed it.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 9/6/06 at 11:26pm

Yay!

Anyone else catch a bit? Comments? Remarks? Bernstein gushing?

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 9/6/06 at 11:32pm

Bernstein is the greatest composer of theater music (and that includes his concert work) that America has yet produced.







Ruth Sherwood
Greenwich Village, NY

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 9/6/06 at 11:34pm

I whole-heartedly agree TheEnchantedHunter.

Not a phrase I pictured myself saying...

[Jon]

Posted: 9/6/06 at 11:38pm

it was great to see film footage from the original productions of ON THE TOWN and CANDIDE.