На Город (Na Gorod)

1945 musical by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green

On the Town is a musical with music by Leonard Bernstein and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, based on Jerome Robbins' idea for his 1944 ballet Fancy Free, which he had set to Bernstein's music. The musical introduced several popular and classic songs, among them "New York, New York", "Lonely Town", "I Can Cook, Too" (for which Bernstein also wrote the lyric), and "Some Other Time". The story concerns three American sailors on a 24 hour shore leave in New York City during World War II, 1944. Each of the three sailors meets and quickly connects with a woman. On the Town was first produced on Broadway in 1944 and was made into a film in 1949, although the film replaced all but four of the original Broadway numbers with Hollywood written substitutes. The show has enjoyed several major revivals. The musical integrates dance into its storytelling: Robbins made several ballets and extended dance sequences for the show, including the "Imaginary Coney Island" ballet.

The Jerome Robbins ballet Fancy Free (1944), with music by Leonard Bernstein, was a hit for the American Ballet Theatre, and Oliver Smith, who designed the sets; his business partner, Paul Feigay, thought that the ballet could be turned into a Broadway musical. They convinced Robbins and Bernstein, who in turn wanted their friends Comden and Green to write the book and lyrics. When the director George Abbott was added to the project, funding was secured, including funding from the movie studio MGM in return for the film rights. During the nightclub sequence in Act II, a conga vamp is prominently played. Bernstein later lifted this vamp directly and used it as the basis of "Conga!" in his score to Wonderful Town.

The MGM film opened on December 8, 1949. It starred Gene Kelly as Gabey (who also co directed with Stanley Donen), Frank Sinatra as Chip, and Jules Munshin as Ozzie, as well as Ann Miller (Claire), Vera Ellen (Ivy) and Betty Garrett (Hildy). The film dispensed with many of the Bernstein songs, keeping four, including "New York, New York," and replaced the others with new songs with music by Roger Edens and lyrics by Comden and Green.

Character Original Broadway cast(1944) Original London cast(1963) First Broadway revival<br/ >(1971) Second Broadway revival(1998) Third Broadway revival(2014) Gabey John Battles Don McKay Ron Husmann Perry Laylon Ojeda Tony Yazbeck Ivy Sono Osato Andrea Jaffe Donna McKechnie Tai Jimenez Megan Fairchild Ozzie Adolph Green Elliott Gould Remak Ramsay Robert Montano Clyde Alves Claire Betty Comden Gillian Lewis Phyllis Newman Sarah Knowlton Elizabeth Stanley Chip Cris Alexander Franklin Kiser Jess Richards Jesse Tyler Ferguson Jay Armstrong Johnson Hildy Nancy Walker Carol Arthur Bernadette Peters Lea DeLaria Alysha Umphress Maude P. Dilly Susan Steell Elspeth March Fran Stevens Mary Testa Jackie Hoffman Pitkin Robert Chisholm John Humphrey Tom Avera Jonathan Freeman Michael Rupert