Editorial
April, 2018
March, 2018
February, 2018
January, 2018
December, 2017
November, 2017
October, 2017
September, 2017
- Cunning Sociopolitical Tale Premieres at Crowded Fire
- Why Citizenship? YBCA Invites Artists to Ponder the Question
- Margaret Jenkins Dance Opens 43rd Season
- One-Woman Play Captures Yearning for Home
- Poignant Ballet Examines Homelessness
- Edvard Munch: Between the Clock and the Bed
- Degas: A Tip of the Hat to Milliners
August, 2017
July, 2017
June, 2017
May, 2017
April, 2017
March, 2017
February, 2017
- “The Blues Project”: A Performance for Our Time
- Faith-Based Play Explores Compassion, Belief, Community
- Photo Exhibit Captures a Lost Generation of Syrians
- Noche Flamenca Brings Passion, Soul to “Antigona”
- The Tale of Two Afghan Women at Heart of New A.C.T. Play
- Feb Film Fests: Eclectic, Compelling
- Cal Performances: A Home Away From Home For The Trocks
January, 2017
December, 2016
November, 2016
October, 2016
September, 2016
August, 2016
July, 2016
June, 2016
May, 2016
- Beethoven Pops Up All Over Town
- The San Francisco Symphony Brings Bernstein Classic to the Stage
- Activism Takes Center Stage at SF International Arts Festival
- Ojai at Berkeley Celebrates Josephine Baker, Simone Weil
- SFDanceworks Debuts Inaugural Season
- Bringing the Blues Forward
- CJM Hosts Bill Graham Retrospective
April, 2016
March, 2016
February, 2016
January, 2016
December, 2015
November, 2015
October, 2015
September, 2015
August, 2015
July, 2015
June, 2015
May, 2015
April, 2015
March, 2015
February, 2015
January, 2015
December, 2014
November, 2014
October, 2014
September, 2014
August, 2014
July, 2014
June, 2014
May, 2014
April, 2014
March, 2014
February, 2014
January, 2014
December, 2013
November, 2013
October, 2013
September, 2013
August, 2013

The SFS brings Broadways stars to Davies Hall to perform Leonard Bernstein’s 1944 wartime musical “On the Town.”
In 1992, Michael Tilson Thomas conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in a semi-staged concert version of “On the Town,” the innovative 1944 wartime musical composed by Leonard Bernstein with choreographer Jerome Robbins and lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The star-filled cast mixed Broadway talents like Tyne Daly and opera luminaries such as Frederica von Stade and Samuel Ramey.
Veteran Broadway and TV actor David Garrison played the girl-crazy sailor Ozzie. Best known for his role as Al Bundy’s neighbor Steve on the sitcom “Married…with Children,” Garrison stood under the Barbican stage during the concert’s “Imaginary Coney Island” ballet interlude, enraptured by the orchestral richness and power of Bernstein’s music.

Tyne Daly
With no dancers onstage to draw your attention, “you focus on the music and hear it in a different way. It’s extraordinary,” says Garrison, who can’t wait to hear that music again when he joins Thomas, the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus and another sterling cast when they revisit “On the Town” at Davies Symphony Hall this month.

David Garrison
Garrison and Daly will appear in this partially staged show as the narrators—played in the 1992 London performances by Comden and Green, who wrote the narration—and sing in some comic scenes. The cast features stars from the hit 2014 Broadway revival of the musical, including Clyde Alves, Jay Armstrong Johnson and Tony Yazbeck as the young sailors set loose in the Big Apple for 24 hours before shipping out to war, and Alysha Umphress as Hildy the cabbie. “New York Times” critic Ben Brantley called her “a red hot mama” who sings the double-entendres in “Come Up to My Place” with “a prurience-proof bebop gusto.”
Operatic soprano Isabel Leonard appears as the trilling anthropologist Claire de Loone (played by von Stade in ’92) who gets “Carried Away” by the caveman-like Ozzie; bass-baritone Shuler Hensley plays her dull husband, Pitkin.

Alysha Umphress
The basic story for the musical, which among other things was noteworthy at the time for its multi-race cast, came from Robbins’ hit 1944 ballet “Fancy Free,” for which Bernstein wrote the music. The new score Bernstein composed for “On the Town”—which produced such classic songs as the brassy “New York, New York,” the wistful ballad “Some Other Time” and the joyous “Lucky to Be Me”—covers a wide musical spectrum. You hear some of the jazz and Cuban elements Bernstein drew on in later works like “West Side Story,” shades of Gershwin and Stravinsky, operatic parodies.
“The fact that it grew out of that ballet gives it a heart and soul that’s different than musicals of the time,” says Garrison, whose Broadway credits include “A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine,” “Wicked” and “Torch Song Trilogy.”
“It was ahead of the curve. It had a musical structure and a musical sophistication, with symphonic roots, that, with all due respect to Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hart, Broadway shows didn’t have before.”
This one has a dizzying, cartoon-like quality, but just under the surface is the sobering awareness that “you have three young testosterone-filled guys who may possibly be going off to their deaths.”
That’s something that John Rando, who directed the 2014 Broadway revival, hammered home with his cast.
“He constantly reminded us that although the show is built around madcap comic moments, these three boys are trying to find something to hold onto before they’re shipped off to war,” says Jay Armstrong Johnson, who plays the sailor Chip, the hayseed portrayed by Frank Sinatra in the 1949 film version, which used only three of the original songs.
“Chip is a real follower, the youngest of the group,” says Johnson, 28, who has a recurring part as an FBI agent on the NBC drama “Quantico.” “It’s his first time in New York and he’s excited about fulfilling the [sightseeing] dreams of his dad. He doesn’t expect to be thrown off by this sexy Hildy.”
Because of limited space on the Davies stage, there won’t be a lot of dancing in this production, but what there is will be choreographed by Paloma Garcia-Lee, who worked with choreographer Joshua Bergasse on the Broadway production.
Johnson doesn’t mind. His favorite moment comes toward the end of the show, when the quartet sings “Some Other Time.”
“I don’t have to dance around and be goofy,” he says. “I get to [just] stand and sing.”
“On the Town”
Davies Symphony Hall
May 25-29
(415) 864-6000