About the work
On the Town is Leonard Bernstein's first Broadway musical, premiered in 1944, with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It grew out of the ballet "Fancy Free", which Bernstein had created with the choreographer Jerome Robbins, who also staged the dances here. With its blend of symphonic sweep, jazz, extended ballet sequences and exuberant comedy, it is regarded as a landmark in the integration of dance into the American musical.
Plot
Three young sailors – Gabey, Chip and Ozzie – have 24 hours of shore leave in New York City and throw themselves into the pulsing life of the metropolis. Gabey falls in love with a poster: "Miss Turnstiles", the subway beauty of the month, and sets off to find her across the city. While Chip is swept up by a determined cab driver and Ozzie by a passionate anthropologist, the three friends and their dates roam museums, nightclubs and landmarks. Amid falling in love, losing and finding one another, their brief freedom flies by before the sailors must return to ship at dawn.
Cultural significance
On the Town captured the optimistic, restless spirit of wartime New York and produced, in the rousing "New York, New York", one of the most famous anthems to the city. Bernstein's ambitious score and Robbins's choreography raised the role of dance in the musical to a new level and paved the way for works such as West Side Story. The 1949 film version starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra made the show world-famous. It marks the dazzling start of Bernstein's Broadway career.