image description
Photo by Hilary Scott 'On the Town,' which premiered in 1944 during World War II, had a unique performance in front of the Boston Pops Orchestra at Tanglewood on July 7.

Review: Bernstein Goes to 'Town' at Tanglewood

By Nancy SalziBerkshires columnist
Print Story | Email Story

What a rare and delicious treat – a large Boston Pops Orchestra playing Leonard Bernstein's musical "On the Town" behind a stellar Broadway cast dancing and singing to perfection. The performance took place at Tanglewood on the evening of July 7 before a huge, enthusiastic audience. It was part of this summer's Bernstein 100 birthday celebration. Even the weather was in the cool, comfortable 60s.

The musical, Bernstein's first, is based on Jerome Robbins's ballet idea, "Fancy Free." With book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, "On the Town" premiered in 1944 during World War II. Between the movie and the four major Broadway revivals – not to forget one stellar production at Barrington Stage in 2013 that moved to Broadway – it's a bet you know the story.

As the show begins, it is just before 6 a.m. at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on the dock where a ship is berthed. Three-time Tony Award nominee Marc Kudisch, playing a dock worker, operatically sings the aria-like "I Feel like I'm Not Out of Bed Yet."

At 6 a.m., the three lead sailors Gabey (Brandon Victor Dixon), Ozzie (Andy Karl) and John "Chip" Offenblock (Christian Dante White) bound onto the stage and burst into "New York, New York." The three horny sailors then head for the subway to see New York, "a helluva town," and meet girls. During a subway ride, Gabey falls in love with a poster of Miss Turnstiles/June. His two friends agree to help him find her, and they all split up to follow clues from the poster bio.

Chip wants to sightsee instead of searching but gets seduced by his taxi driver, Hildy, aka Brunhilde Esterhazy. (Megan Lawrence) Ozzie, thinking he's at the Museum of Modern Art, finds himself in front of a dinosaur at the Museum of Natural History instead, where he encounters an uptight paleontologist, Claire De Loone (Laura Osnes), and they soon leave for her apartment where they are surprised by her always "understanding," older fiancé, Judge Pitkin W. Bridgework (Marc Kudisch in a second role).

Gabey heads off to Carnegie Hall and discovers the woman he is searching for, Ivy Smith, Miss Turnstiles/June  (Georgina Pazcoguin) taking a singing lesson with her inebriated teacher, Madame Maude P. Dilly (Andrea Martin). Ivy and Gabey fall for each other immediately and agree to meet at a Times Square Nedick's at 11 p.m. When Ivy doesn’t show up, Hildy arranges a date for stood-up Gabey with her headcold-challenged roommate, Lucy Schmeeler (Megan Sikora) Eventually after a night-club bar hop Gabey meets up with Ivy, who is earning money for her singing lessons by working as a Coney Island hootchy-dancer.

As Gabey, Brandon Victor Dixon, got to sing two of the most beautiful songs Bernstein ever wrote: "Lonely Town" and "Lucky to Be Me." He did them proud. Christian Dante White's Chip was charming, funny and nimble in his pratfalls. But Olivier Award winner Andy Karl, as Ozzie, attracted all the attention when he was on the stage in any capacity. He's a quadruple threat – singer, dancer, actor and comedian.


Andrea Martin was gloriously inebriated the whole time she was on stage and stole all her scenes. Megan Sikora as Lucy Schmeeler sneezed with great aplomb! Only Megan Lawrence as Hildy disappointed. She wasn't quite able to belt her character's famous songs, "I Can Cook Too" and "Come Up to My Place." For some reason she was made up to look far older than her 46 years. Her love scenes with Christian Dante White were embarrassing. The reliable Laura Osnes hilariously and beautiful sang "Carried Away."

"On the Town," usually a big dancing show, had to cut back on the dancing because of the small space in front of the orchestra. That didn't stop Kathleen Marshall, director and choreographer, from inventing appealing, original dance steps rehearsed and performed beautifully. Even New York City Ballet soloist, Georgina Pazcoguin, got to show us her moves as Ivy.

Of course, a very special part of the evening was Bernstein's sublime dance orchestrations played by the Pops alone. We heard the beginnings of his unique harmonies and could even hear future Bernstein compositions in them. The Comden and Green book and lyrics were often hilarious. And those names!

There really was no scenery and none was needed – just a few abstract projections that were misguided. (They didn’t add anything to the production and were easy to ignore.) The appropriate costumes were by Michael Krass.

It was a great evening at Tanglewood. Just four words to the Boston Symphony orchestra about this heavenly "On the Town" performance: Thank you!  More please!

Music by Leonard Bernstein; Book and Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green based on an idea by Jerome Robbins. Concert Narration by Betty Comden and Adolph Green; Direction and Choreography by Kathleen Marshall; Music Direction by David Chase; Costumes by Michael Krass; Sound Design by Steve Colby; Lighting Design by Pamela Smith. The Boston Pops Orchestra Conducted by Keith Lockhart
Starring Brandon Victor Dixon, Andy Karl, Megan Lawrence, Laura Osnes, Georgina Pazcoguin, Christina Dante White, Megan Sikora with Marc Kudisch and Andrea Martin.


Tags: musical,   Tanglewood,   theater,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

A Boutique Hotel is Bringing Guests a Luxury Stay in Lenox

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

LENOX, Mass. — A new Inn is bringing a boutique-style stay for visitors and locals to enjoy.

Owners, Sullivan Capital LLC, purchased the property, located on 135 Main Street, in 2024. After a year or renovations, Garden Gables Inn is open for business. 

"Garden Gables started off as one of the many Berkshire cottages, 1790 was the date on that, and it's always operated as an inn," said Hospitality Manager Yvonne Walton. "It's just a great gathering place and relaxation spot for people to come and get the feel of Lenox, and just slow down and enjoy the nature and the surrounding area...get culture and art and see some great concerts. I think it'll be a wonderful place, definitely does more of the upper-scale hospitality." 

Owners Niko Giallouis and Eric Sullivan bought the property from the former owner. Sullivan had his eye on Lenox since attending a wedding almost 10 years ago.

"I came to a wedding in Lenox, probably six or seven years ago. Personally, just kind of fell in love with the area, and I guess that's kind of how it got on my radar. So you know from that perspective, as we got into the hotel business out towards an area, it was a place I was kind of monitoring and waiting for the right property to show up."

After purchasing the two underwent a full renovation, a project that cost around $1.5 million. The building, first built in 1780, required some TLC. Sullivan's wife, Jessica, who owns Jessica Sullivan Design, designed the inn.

Sullivan said they installed a new roof, repainted everything, renovated the bathrooms, installed new floors, a new HVAC system, and new plumbing.

"We really touched everything from the outside...I mean, all the aesthetics and layouts changed a bit," he said. "As I said, put about a million and a half into it. All new furniture, fixtures, everything. The design's completely different. It wasn't a full gut, but it was a heavy, heavy renovation."

The two like to collaborate with local businesses, and they make a point to direct visitors to local restaurants, businesses, and attractions.

"If guests are asking for recommendations, our customer service team, our guest services team, will relay that kind of information. Even if we can call and make a reservation for somebody, happy to do it," he said. "We aren't doing breakfast, but what we do is we have partnerships with a lot of the breakfast places downtown. We actually purchase a gift certificates for each person each day, so that they can use that to go downtown."

Sullivan hopes that guests don't see their inn as just a place to sleep and dump their bags, but make it an experience for anyone who stays.

"We really focus on kind of the experience side of things, so again, we want to give you the best experience you can have here...and we want that not just to be the place you put your bag and go do things. It's important to think of everything," he said.

Sullivan said partnerships are important to their business and are a way to connect with locals.

"The local partnerships, I can't stress that enough, because no matter how much and how great the room is, people are still going to want to go do other things," he said. "So, I think it just benefits everybody if we're all working together and so forth, and supporting the community, being neighborly too, because we are surrounded by residential homes...But we really try to put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, a lot of love into the building, all the details, really care about the senses," Sullivan said.

The Inn's check-in and reservations are completely online. When guests arrive, all they have to do is check in online and receive their code that they will use to enter their room. Sullivan hopes this helps create less stress for guests and gets them to their room as fast as possible, especially after a long trip.

View Full Story

More Lenox Stories