West Side Story: Film with Live Orchestra by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

FILM WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA 27â&#x20AC;&#x201C;28 JULY 2018

CONCERT PROGRAM

MIRISCH PICTURES Presents “WEST SIDE STORY” A ROBERT WISE Production Starring NATALIE WOOD RICHARD BEYMER RUSS TAMBLYN RITA MORENO GEORGE CHAKIRIS Directed by ROBERT WISE & JEROME ROBBINS Screenplay by ERNEST LEHMAN Associate Producer SAUL CHAPLIN Choreography by JEROME ROBBINS Music by LEONARD BERNSTEIN Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM Based upon the Stage Play Produced by ROBERT E. GRIFFITH AND HAROLD S. PRINCE Book by ARTHUR LAURENTS Play Conceived, Directed and Choreographed by JEROME ROBBINS Film Production Designed by BORIS LEVEN Music Conducted by JOHNNY GREEN Presented by MIRISCH PICTURES, INC. In Association with SEVEN ARTS PRODUCTIONS INC. Filmed by PANAVISION® TECHNICOLOR® FILM SCREENING OF WEST SIDE STORY COURTESY OF METRO GOLDWYN MAYER STUDIOS INC. WEST SIDE STORY © 1961 METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIOS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. WEST SIDE STORY IS AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY, DVD AND ALL DIGITAL PLATFORMS.

PRODUCTION CREDITS Producer: Paul H. Epstein for The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc. Associate Producer: Eleonor M. Sandresky for The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc. Production Supervisor: Meera Vijayendra Technical Director: Mike Runice Sound Engineer: Martin Bierman Music Supervision: Garth Edwin Sunderland Original Orchestrations: Leonard Bernstein, Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal Additional orchestrations: Garth Edwin Sunderland & Peter West Music Preparation: Peter West

Original manuscript reconstruction: Eleonor M. Sandresky Technical Consultant: Laura Gibson Soundtrack Adaptation: Chace Audio by Deluxe: Robert Heiber, Chris Reynolds, Andrew Starbin, Alice Taylor Sound Separation Technology provided by Audionamix Click Tracks and Streamers created by: Kristopher Carter and Mako Sujishi With special thanks to: Arthur Laurents and his Estate, Stephen Sondheim, The Robbins Rights Trust, The Johnny Green Collection at Harvard University, The Sid

Ramin Collection at Columbia University, The Robert Wise Collection at the University of Southern California, Lawrence A. Mirisch, David Newman, Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios, Ken Hahn and Sync Sound

West Side Story is a registered trademark of The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc. in the US and other countries.

Running time: Two hours and 40 minutes, including a 20-minute interval In consideration of your fellow patrons, the MSO thanks you for silencing and dimming the light on your phone. The MSO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which it is performing. MSO pays its respects to their Elders, past and present, and the Elders from other communities who may be in attendance.

mso.com.au

(03) 9929 9600

MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

BENJAMIN NORTHEY CONDUCTOR

Established in 1906, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an arts leader and Australia’s oldest professional orchestra. Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis has been at the helm of MSO since 2013. Engaging more than 4 million people each year, the MSO reaches diverse audiences through live performances, recordings, TV and radio broadcasts and live streaming. Its international audiences include China, where MSO has performed in 2012, 2016 and most recently in May 2018, Europe (2014) and Indonesia, where in 2017 it performed at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Prambanan Temple.

Benjamin Northey is Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and Associate Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

The MSO performs a variety of concerts ranging from symphonic performances at its home, Hamer Hall at Arts Centre Melbourne, to its annual free concerts at Melbourne’s largest outdoor venue, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. The MSO also delivers innovative and engaging programs and digital tools to audiences of all ages through its Education and Outreach initiatives.

Benjamin appears regularly as guest conductor with all major Australian symphony orchestras, Opera Australia (Turandot, L’elisir d’amore, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Carmen), New Zealand Opera (Sweeney Todd) and State Opera South Australia (La sonnambula, Les contes d’Hoffmann). His international appearances include concerts with London Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg. With a progressive and diverse approach to repertoire, he has collaborated with a broad range of artists including Maxim Vengerov and Slava Grigoryan, as well as popular artists Tim Minchin, Barry Humphries and James Morrison. An Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, his awards include the prestigious 2010 Melbourne Prize Outstanding Musician’s Award as well as multiple awards for his numerous recordings with ABC Classics.

In 1955, a conducting engagement at the Hollywood Bowl brought 36-yearold composer Leonard Bernstein to Los Angeles. That August, a chance meeting at the Beverly Hills Hotel with playwright Arthur Laurents reignited the two artists’ stalled plan to collaborate on a musical. Seven years earlier, choreographer/ director Jerome Robbins had approached Bernstein with what the composer called in his diary “a noble idea: a modern version of Romeo and Juliet set in slums at the coincidence of Easter-Passover celebrations. Feelings run high between Jews and Catholics… Street brawls, double death – it all fits.” The idea lay dormant until a chance meeting in 1955 reignited the two artists’ stalled plan to collaborate on a musical, when an L.A. newspaper headline about Latino gang problems inspired an exciting new path. With the hiring of 25-year-old composer Stephen Sondheim, who reluctantly signed on to provide lyrics only, the final pieces fell into place. After two years of rewriting and struggles to raise financing, West Side Story’s 1957 Broadway opening elicited reactions that ranged from passionate raves to stunned walk-outs. The latter were sparked by the musical’s depiction of gang warfare and prejudice, and its near unprecedented body count for a musical on the Great White Way. The show was largely snubbed at the Tony Awards in favour of a more accessible rival, The Music Man. Nevertheless, audiences in New York and London (where the show was an instant smash) quickly caught up with the innovations of Robbins’ explosive,

character-driven choreography, Laurents’ ingenious transposition of Shakespeare, and the thrilling Bernstein score, with lyrics by Sondheim that included “Tonight” and “Maria.” When Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise joined forces to co-direct the 1961 screen version for United Artists, starring box office favourite Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer (The Diary of Anne Frank), the result was one of the decade’s greatest commercial and critical triumphs. The film’s co-stars, George Chakiris (Bernardo) and Rita Moreno (Anita), took home Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor and Actress. Their victories were echoed by Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Costume Design, Color (winner Irene Sharaff also worked on the Broadway original); Best Film Editing; Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture; Best Sound; Best Director (for both Robbins and Wise, the first time this award was shared); and Best Picture. Jerome Robbins also received an honorary Academy Award “for his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography on film.” Half a century after its original release, West Side Story the motion picture will be presented tonight in a format that brings its own innovations. MGM has created a restored, high-definition print of the film that reveals details unseen since 1961. Sound technology developed by Paris-based Audionamix was utilised to remove orchestral elements on the soundtrack while retaining vocals, dialogue, and effects. This allows tonight’s conductor, Benjamin Northey,

to accompany the vocals with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, in a live performance of the complete Bernstein score. Although the original musical materials for the movie arrangements were lost, 14 months of research by Eleonor M. Sandresky of The Leonard Bernstein Office brought to light a trove of important finds in private collections and library archives around the country. From materials discovered in the papers of orchestrator Sid Ramin, as well as in the archives of conductor/music supervisor Johnny Green, director Robert Wise, and producer Walter

Mirisch, she was able to assemble a mock-up short score of the complete film. Garth Edwin Sunderland, Senior Music Editor for the Bernstein Office, restored and adapted the orchestration for live performance. At the same time, Sunderland oversaw the creation of a brand new engraving of the entire film score, right down to last-minute modifications made on the scoring stage in 1961. The final result is a presentation of West Side Story unlike any in the history of this screen musical. Steven Smith is an Emmy-nominated documentary producer, journalist, and author of the biography “A Heart at Fire’s Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann”

Honouring Mrs Jeanne Pratt AC, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Life Member ‘I’m an ordinary woman who has led an extraordinary life’ Extraordinary barely does justice to the remarkable circumstances of Jeanne Pratt’s life. Born in Poland, her Jewish family fled to Australia in 1939, narrowly escaping Nazi persecution. Growing up in Sydney, Jeanne attended Sydney Girls’ High, and later, the University of Sydney. Working as a journalist, she was on an assignment in Melbourne when she met Richard Pratt, the handsome son of Polish parents who had also emigrated to Australia. Three days later, they were engaged. The rest, as they say, is history – taking over Richard’s father’s business, Visy, Jeanne and Richard transformed it into an international empire. Today, at 82 years of age, Jeanne remains co-chair of Visy. However, it is Jeanne’s philanthropic generosity and the extraordinary difference she has made to so many – both in Australia and abroad – for which she is best known. In 1978, Richard and Jeanne established The Pratt Foundation, to support charitable enterprises and to ‘enrich the lives of our communities.’ The Foundation is now one of the largest private sources of philanthropy in Australia, donating more than $14 million annually. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is delighted to be awarding Mrs Jeanne Pratt AC with a Life Membership. Through the Pratt Foundation, Jeanne has given generously to the MSO for many years and supported a diverse range of causes and projects. Recent examples include the Orchestra’s 2014 Tour to the UK and Europe with Sir Andrew Davis, and three years’ seed funding to establish MSO’s MUSO program (designed to help younger audiences attend MSO concerts). Last year, Jeanne generously opened the doors of her private family residence, Raheen, to host a fundraising dinner in aid of MSO’s future international touring activities. Thank you, Jeanne, for your tireless promotion and advocacy of the Australian arts sector and for your unwavering support of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra – ‘extraordinary’ doesn’t begin to cover it!