Wonderful Town: First Complete Recording (1998 Studio Cast)

by Various Artists

Recorded in 1998, this two-CD set is a complete document of 1953's Wonderful Town. Rebecca Luker and Karen Mason play Eileen and Ruth Sherwood, the two Ohio transplants trying to make it in New York. Mayhem ensues--and so does love, of course. It must burn many contemporary songwriters that Leonard Bernstein and his lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green came up with the entire score in five weeks. Five weeks! The lengthy opening number, "Christopher Street," completely captures the city's raucous energy, and then there's over a dozen others that are just as thrilling, such as "100 Easy Ways," "A Little Bit in Love," "Conga!" and "Swing!" Comden and Green are at their most bitingly funny, and Bernstein's music is a marvel of jazzy syncopation and bursts of brassy energy. The whole thing's a barrel of fun. --Elisabeth Vincentelli