0:00:02 > 0:00:04Broadway, New York.
0:00:04 > 0:00:08Home of the modern musical, with its seamless blend of story and song.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14A form that was safely established by the 1950s.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16Too safely, perhaps.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20Post-war Broadway was still dominated by composers like
0:00:20 > 0:00:23Rodgers and Hammerstein and Irving Berlin.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28The pioneers of musical theatre were now its elder statesman.
0:00:29 > 0:00:35It was time for an injection of fresh blood and fresh ideas.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37# I like to be in America
0:00:37 > 0:00:40# OK by me in America... #
0:00:40 > 0:00:43In this programme, I'll see how a new generation brought about
0:00:43 > 0:00:45a Golden Age of musical theatre.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51Pop genius Lionel Bart writes a British blockbuster
0:00:51 > 0:00:54and gives us one of the musical's all-time great characters.
0:00:56 > 0:01:01# I'm reviewing the situation
0:01:01 > 0:01:04# I'm a bad 'un and a bad 'un I will stay. #
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Broadway's Jewish writers turn their own troubled history...
0:01:09 > 0:01:13- # Tradition! # - ..into a show stopping hit.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16# I wouldn't have to work hard
0:01:16 > 0:01:18# Daidle deedle daidle Daidle daidle deedle... #
0:01:18 > 0:01:21And composer Stephen Sondheim takes songs to a new level
0:01:21 > 0:01:25inviting audiences to engage with sophisticated adult emotions.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28# Where are the clowns?
0:01:29 > 0:01:32# Send in the clowns... #
0:01:33 > 0:01:36This is the story of how musical theatre grew up...
0:01:36 > 0:01:39# Every single step he takes... #
0:01:39 > 0:01:43..became more relevant, bringing us shows,
0:01:43 > 0:01:48subjects and crucially songs that reflected the modern world.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51Shows that dug deeper than ever before into the idea of what
0:01:51 > 0:01:57was universal - our hopes, our dreams, our joys, our fears.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Shows that spoke to all of us.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04# Do I really have to mention
0:02:04 > 0:02:08# She's
0:02:08 > 0:02:15# The one! #
0:02:18 > 0:02:23The seeds of the musical revolution weren't sown on Broadway,
0:02:23 > 0:02:25but just a couple of blocks away on the back streets
0:02:25 > 0:02:27of New York's Upper West Side.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34In the 1950s, the city's newest immigrant community,
0:02:34 > 0:02:38Hispanics, rubbed shoulders with Jews, Italians and Irish.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45This heady mix of cultures moved to its own beats,
0:02:45 > 0:02:49stoked by the recent arrival of rock and roll.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52The result was something completely new,
0:02:52 > 0:02:54a cacophony unique to this city.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00SIREN WAILS IN BACKGROUND
0:03:00 > 0:03:03But this dynamic cultural melting pot was riven by ethnic
0:03:03 > 0:03:06tensions and growing gang violence.
0:03:07 > 0:03:13Juvenile delinquents, the music of the street, bloodshed and racism.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17Not obvious source material for a Broadway musical.
0:03:17 > 0:03:18Or not until now.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24Jerome Robbins was a director and choreographer who'd created
0:03:24 > 0:03:28dance sequences for Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Irving Berlin.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33He'd long wanted to do a modern musical version of Romeo And Juliet.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39And in 1955 he realised he'd found the perfect way to update it.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44But it wouldn't be called Romeo And Juliet.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48This show was going to be set on the mean streets of New York.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50Its name would be West Side Story.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56The problem of intolerance and the price one has to pay for
0:03:56 > 0:04:02having it in one's culture is an enormous one and a tragic one.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04And that is the subject of West Side Story.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Robbins' reimagined star-crossed lovers are
0:04:10 > 0:04:13called Tony and Maria.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Young kids from different ethnic backgrounds,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18thwarted in love by two warring gangs.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25In West side Story's famous prologue, the two gangs,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29the Sharks and the Jets, are street punks, they're teenagers.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Not something seen before in musical theatre.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35They're moving through the meaner streets of New York to some
0:04:35 > 0:04:37very cool sounds, not heard before.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41FINGERS CLICK IN TIME TO MUSIC
0:04:41 > 0:04:45And then, all of a sudden, these street punks are ballet dancers.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54All very innovative and very risky.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57Robbins was a talented choreographer
0:04:57 > 0:04:59but he wasn't a writer or a composer.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04He needed a gang of his own.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07He recruited composer Leonard Bernstein...
0:05:09 > 0:05:11..and playwright Arthur Laurents.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14With the addition of lyricist Stephen Sondheim,
0:05:14 > 0:05:16another Hammerstein protege,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19and producer Hal Prince, the team was in place.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23Prince quickly realised that his slightly anxious colleagues
0:05:23 > 0:05:24were onto something.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26WHISTLE BLOWS SHRILLY
0:05:26 > 0:05:31We arrived at Lenny's apartment and Lenny played the piano.
0:05:31 > 0:05:36And Steve turned the pages and sang some of the lyrics,
0:05:36 > 0:05:40and Lenny played.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43And he was very nervous, so he played very loudly.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47From the get-go, once we were in it,
0:05:47 > 0:05:51I thought this is one of the most exciting experiences of my life.
0:05:51 > 0:05:52I could feel it.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58Best known as a conductor,
0:05:58 > 0:06:00Bernstein was building his reputation as
0:06:00 > 0:06:06a composer whose repertoire ranged from classical to popular music.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09His gift for creating character and mood could be heard in
0:06:09 > 0:06:11a song in which Tony, the hero,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15has a premonition that his life's about to change.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18# Could be!
0:06:18 > 0:06:22# Who knows?
0:06:22 > 0:06:26# There's something due any day I will know right away
0:06:26 > 0:06:29# Soon as it shows
0:06:29 > 0:06:32# It may come cannonballing down through the sky
0:06:32 > 0:06:37# Gleam in its eye bright as a rose! #
0:06:37 > 0:06:41For me, the whole feel of West Side Story is very much set
0:06:41 > 0:06:45by this third number, Something's Coming, sung by Tony.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47It's an edgy song.
0:06:47 > 0:06:48Edgy rhythmically.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51You've got this strange three-beat...
0:06:51 > 0:06:53# Oom, pah, pah. Oom, pah, pah, oom pah, pah... #
0:06:55 > 0:06:57And that melody is very spiky.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05This character is going somewhere,
0:07:05 > 0:07:07he doesn't know where he's going to go.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09And the song, too, is making us uncertain
0:07:09 > 0:07:12because of the way it's leading us through.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23Much more recognisable kind of rhythm, there.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27# Yah-ba-da-ba-dah, dag-gah-da-dun Dub-ba-da-dun, dub-ba-da-bam... #
0:07:27 > 0:07:29It feels really sparky, full of energy.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31You can feel muscle power.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34# I've got a feeling there's a miracle due, gonna come true
0:07:34 > 0:07:38# Coming to me...! #
0:07:40 > 0:07:42But then when it goes to the next section,
0:07:42 > 0:07:45which is the proper excitement,
0:07:45 > 0:07:46it does this...
0:07:46 > 0:07:48PLAYS RHYTHM ON PIANO
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Now that is a rhythm we know.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57It's like a chase, and I think it's Tony's heart.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00I think he is pounding with excitement now.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02# Could it be?
0:08:02 > 0:08:03# Yes, it could
0:08:03 > 0:08:06# Something's come here Something good
0:08:06 > 0:08:08# If I can wait!
0:08:08 > 0:08:11# Something's coming I don't know what it is
0:08:11 > 0:08:16# But it is gonna be great... #
0:08:21 > 0:08:23Now it's almost as if the next section could have been
0:08:23 > 0:08:26written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.
0:08:26 > 0:08:27It is so lyrical.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32# Around the corner
0:08:33 > 0:08:38# Or whistling down the river
0:08:38 > 0:08:43# Come on, deliver
0:08:43 > 0:08:48# To me...! #
0:08:50 > 0:08:54And for a street boy in New York to get lyrical like that,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56he has had an epiphany.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59And that's what makes this song.
0:08:59 > 0:09:00There's the peak.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04And then we go back into the song again
0:09:04 > 0:09:05as we've already heard it.
0:09:05 > 0:09:06And it's like, for a moment,
0:09:06 > 0:09:11a flower has opened up in the middle of this man's life.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13It's quite a tough number to play, I have to say.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16Is it a tough number to sing?
0:09:16 > 0:09:17Yes and no.
0:09:17 > 0:09:22I think that the genius of Bernstein's writing is that
0:09:22 > 0:09:25emotionally it gives you everything.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29So you don't necessarily have to sort of over emote, or create
0:09:29 > 0:09:31sort of how he's feeling at this point
0:09:31 > 0:09:34and how he's feeling at another point. It's all there.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38# It's only just out of reach
0:09:38 > 0:09:40# Down the block, on a beach
0:09:40 > 0:09:46# Maybe tonight... #
0:09:52 > 0:09:56West Side Story opened on Broadway in 1957.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00Followed by the hit film version where the widescreen shows
0:10:00 > 0:10:02off Robbins' dance sequences to stunning effect.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05# Better get rid of your accent
0:10:05 > 0:10:07# Life can be bright in America
0:10:07 > 0:10:09# If you can fight in America
0:10:09 > 0:10:12# Life is right in America
0:10:12 > 0:10:14# If you're all white in America... #
0:10:26 > 0:10:30Grover Dale appeared in the original stage cast as Snowboy -
0:10:30 > 0:10:33a member of the Jets gang.
0:10:33 > 0:10:34It looks real.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39The confrontation between these two gangs.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41It wasn't presentational.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45It was, there was some level of reality to it.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48That was our crash course in musical theatre.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52Jerome Robbins was known as quite a hard task master.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55How did you find him to work with?
0:10:55 > 0:10:57How did he extract out of you what he needed?
0:10:57 > 0:10:59Yes, he scared the shoot out of me!
0:11:00 > 0:11:03You know, I remember the moment,
0:11:03 > 0:11:05watching the clock when rehearsals would end.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07And out the door.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09And then in the morning waking up thinking,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11"Oh, my God, I've got to go back there."
0:11:11 > 0:11:16In the 1961 film version of the musical, it's easy to see how
0:11:16 > 0:11:21Robbins' choreography works with Bernstein's rhythms.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24# Shhh! #
0:11:24 > 0:11:26Cool it, A-rab. Cool it! Cool it!
0:11:26 > 0:11:29The dancers had to be versatile
0:11:29 > 0:11:32and this scene featuring the Cool dance shows just how tough
0:11:32 > 0:11:34the routines were.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37HE LAUGHS MANIACALLY
0:11:37 > 0:11:39- The Cool dance?- Yeah.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43We had to learn six different versions of that dance.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47We had to remember... He'd say, "Now go back to version four."
0:11:47 > 0:11:49And you had to be able to deliver that.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54By the time he did the movie,
0:11:54 > 0:11:59he's had two or three years of living with this project and this
0:11:59 > 0:12:02choreography is even better than what he did for Broadway.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04It's just astonishing.
0:12:08 > 0:12:13Jerry's choreography elevated the whole thing into some
0:12:13 > 0:12:16artistic plateau that was extraordinary.
0:12:16 > 0:12:21Lenny's music did similarly so the entire thing...
0:12:21 > 0:12:25It's almost like what Shakespeare did...
0:12:26 > 0:12:28..with Romeo And Juliet.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33These guys did that with words, music and dance.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35# Pah! #
0:12:37 > 0:12:40When West Side Story premiered in London in 1958,
0:12:40 > 0:12:42the effect was explosive.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51In the audience was a young composer, Leslie Bricusse,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54who would go on to become one of the most successful figures in
0:12:54 > 0:12:56British musical theatre.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59West Side definitely was a game changer
0:12:59 > 0:13:01for the musical.
0:13:01 > 0:13:02Did it feel...?
0:13:02 > 0:13:04It was unlike any other show.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07I mean, there's never been another show like West Side Story.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12You know, it's a sort of semi-symphonic in a way,
0:13:12 > 0:13:14semi-operatic.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18But I can't think of another show that had the impact that that did.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24West Side Story's exhilarating mix of the symphonic and the
0:13:24 > 0:13:29streetwise was in sharp contrast to the escapist musicals filling
0:13:29 > 0:13:31many British theatres at the time.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35Productions like The Boy Friend and Salad Days with their rather
0:13:35 > 0:13:39well-to-do characters and whimsical situations.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43Back in the day, I was musical director
0:13:43 > 0:13:46for a national tour of Salad Days.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51One particular lyric is burnt onto my memory - "Aren't I clever?
0:13:51 > 0:13:53"No-one ever saw such a saucy saucer."
0:13:54 > 0:13:57When Jerome Robbins was shown some of the lyrics from the show,
0:13:57 > 0:13:59his response was short and sweet.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01"You're kidding?!"
0:14:03 > 0:14:06These shows seemed out of step as Britain entered an age in
0:14:06 > 0:14:10which the dominant cultural figures were increasingly young and
0:14:10 > 0:14:11working class.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13# Shake with the caveman... #
0:14:14 > 0:14:18A key player on this new scene was Lionel Bart,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21already enjoying success as a songwriter for acts like
0:14:21 > 0:14:23Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28# Fings ain't wot they used t'be... #
0:14:28 > 0:14:31But Bart wasn't just a three-minute wonder.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33He'd already tried his hand at musical theatre,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36providing songs for Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'be -
0:14:36 > 0:14:39a comedy about cockney lowlife characters.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46Proud of his own working-class East End roots, Bart grew up
0:14:46 > 0:14:49fascinated by rowdy music halls,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52street entertainers and Yiddish theatre.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59In 1959, Bart began work on his masterpiece -
0:14:59 > 0:15:02a musical based on Dickens' Oliver Twist.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06This would be a tale of street gangs, murder, poverty,
0:15:06 > 0:15:07prostitution.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13As tough as anything in West Side Story.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16# ..the drinks are on the house
0:15:16 > 0:15:19# Consider yourself our mate... #
0:15:19 > 0:15:22But Bart would turn this dark material into
0:15:22 > 0:15:25a musical that had everyone joining in.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28# ..after some consideration we can state
0:15:28 > 0:15:32# Consider yourself one of us... #
0:15:34 > 0:15:38It's well-nigh impossible to listen to this immortal song
0:15:38 > 0:15:41without breaking into a little bit of a cockney swagger.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44It's music hall, but it's also pop.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49And it is so inclusive, it welcomes in you and me.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51This is Lionel Bart's version of London.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55# ..be lah-di-dah and uppity
0:15:55 > 0:15:58# There's a cup-o'-tea for all... #
0:16:01 > 0:16:03"Nobody tries to be lah-di-dah or uppity,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05"there's a cup-o'-tea for all."
0:16:05 > 0:16:08And I think if this song was being broadcast everywhere,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11across this market, anywhere you like to think of,
0:16:11 > 0:16:13everybody would probably join in.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26But as Bart worked on the story of Oliver, the Artful Dodger and
0:16:26 > 0:16:30thief master Fagin, the weight was all on his shoulders.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36Unlike the West Side Story team, he was writing the music,
0:16:36 > 0:16:40lyrics and book, or script, entirely by himself.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46This rather anonymous building in West London is the home of
0:16:46 > 0:16:50the Lionel Bart Foundation and the Lionel Bart archive,
0:16:50 > 0:16:53which, I have to say is a treasure trove.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04In developing even a single number like Consider Yourself,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07Bart went through multiple titles.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10And it's his notebooks and musical scores which give us
0:17:10 > 0:17:13a unique insight into this evolving process.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18You hardly ever get a chance to see a great composer thinking.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22These are Lionel Bart's original notes for Oliver.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25Now, what he's done is he's gone through the story and found the
0:17:25 > 0:17:27sort of hot spots, found the points
0:17:27 > 0:17:28where he knows songs are going to go.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32So there's a couple here we know already - Oliver - obviously,
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Boy For Sale. A number to begin with called Gruel.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38Which, of course he's actually crossed it out and written
0:17:38 > 0:17:41Food, Glorious Food.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45So, from first ideas, to this.
0:17:45 > 0:17:46A much more fleshed out document.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49And you can really see that he's got a handle on where he's going
0:17:49 > 0:17:52now with how the songs are working with the characters.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55And there's a number that Oliver sings called
0:17:55 > 0:17:57I'm Going To Seek My Fortune.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01Now we come to the next document which is the actual dialogue
0:18:01 > 0:18:03being fleshed out, going into songs.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05This is where it gets really interesting,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08because no we're into proper musical theatre territory.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11And we're heading down towards the number.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14Dodger finishes off his line saying, "Come on, me old pork sausage.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16"We're going where the going is good."
0:18:16 > 0:18:18So we're no longer off to seek our fortune,
0:18:18 > 0:18:19we're going where the going's good.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Except, we're not, are we?
0:18:24 > 0:18:29We're going to this final draft and the new version in which this
0:18:29 > 0:18:32has become Consider Yourself.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35It is his hymn to the working class.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38London embracing Oliver.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41This is where Oliver has got to end up, the place where in Bart's
0:18:41 > 0:18:45mind it's the best place in the world to be.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48Consider yourself one of US.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52# Consider yourself our mate
0:18:52 > 0:18:56# We don't want to have no fuss... #
0:18:56 > 0:18:59# For after some consideration we can state
0:18:59 > 0:19:06- # Consider yourself - Consider yourself
0:19:06 > 0:19:10# One of us! #
0:19:13 > 0:19:17When Oliver premiered in the West End in 1960,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20it took curtain call after curtain call.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Well we went to the first night of Oliver because we were
0:19:24 > 0:19:26friends of Lionel's.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29And I knew he had a good one.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34And Lionel had the ability to write a commercial song in a score...
0:19:35 > 0:19:36..which very few people have.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41But it wasn't Oliver himself who stole the show.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44Or even the Artful Dodger.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47It was a character who shared Bart's own Jewish background -
0:19:47 > 0:19:51Fagin, the veteran thief.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57Dickens' Fagin is violent and manipulative.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00After all, the grasses up Nancy to Bill Sykes knowing perfectly
0:20:00 > 0:20:03well what the outcome's likely to be.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06Bart's Fagin is much more sympathetic.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09But that doesn't mean that he's made him softer or more sentimental.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11If anything, he's enriched him,
0:20:11 > 0:20:15creating one of the great characters of musical theatre.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18And it's the songs that do a lot of that work.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Robert Lindsay has played Fagin on the West End stage
0:20:21 > 0:20:24and he's going to help me recreate
0:20:24 > 0:20:26one of the character's great musical moments.
0:20:31 > 0:20:37# I'm reviewing the situation
0:20:37 > 0:20:40# Can a fella be a villain all his life?
0:20:41 > 0:20:45# All my trials and tribulations
0:20:45 > 0:20:48# Better settle down and get myself a wife
0:20:50 > 0:20:53# And a wife will cook and sew for me
0:20:53 > 0:20:55# And come for me and go for me
0:20:55 > 0:20:56# And go for me and nag at me
0:20:56 > 0:20:59# The finger she will wag at me
0:20:59 > 0:21:01# The money she will take from me
0:21:01 > 0:21:03# A misery she'll make of me!
0:21:06 > 0:21:08# I think I'd better think it out again. #
0:21:10 > 0:21:14If you don't love Fagin before he's sung Reviewing The Situation,
0:21:14 > 0:21:16you sure will afterwards.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18It's a beautiful song because it's full of
0:21:18 > 0:21:21so many different musical genres.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23There's Jewish klezmer music, which is that wonderful kind of
0:21:23 > 0:21:26keening sound, with the clarinet and the violin.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28But it's also a music hall song.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Just like Consider Yourself, it's a crowd-pleaser.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33And every time he reviews the situation,
0:21:33 > 0:21:35the music picks him up and whips him off
0:21:35 > 0:21:37to a worse case scenario, every time.
0:21:41 > 0:21:47# I'm reviewing this situation
0:21:47 > 0:21:51# I must quickly look up ev'ryone I know
0:21:51 > 0:21:53# Titled people
0:21:53 > 0:21:54# With a station
0:21:54 > 0:21:58# And then help me make a real impressive show!
0:21:59 > 0:22:04# I will own a suite at Claridges and run a fleet of carriages
0:22:04 > 0:22:05# And wave at all the duchesses
0:22:05 > 0:22:07# With friendliness as much as is
0:22:07 > 0:22:09# Befitting of my new estate
0:22:09 > 0:22:12# "Good morrow to you, magistrate...!" #
0:22:12 > 0:22:14HE LAUGHS
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Oh, God.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20# I think I better think it out again. #
0:22:21 > 0:22:24OK, so it's been a laugh up until now.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29And now the song is going to twist us round and show us some reality.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33The only time in the show that Fagin ever opens up about the
0:22:33 > 0:22:36realities of growing old and dying alone.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40He doesn't do it to any other character - he does to us.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42And he does it in this song.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45And he does it in a moment in the song which is beautiful in
0:22:45 > 0:22:50and of itself, it's a point at which his voice goes really high.
0:22:50 > 0:22:55And it sounds rabbinical, it sounds like an ancient Jewish cry.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59And then he's going to come back into reviewing the situation and
0:22:59 > 0:23:02the old rogue will come smiling through
0:23:02 > 0:23:04and we know that no matter how dark
0:23:04 > 0:23:07the rest of the story is going to get,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10Fagin will probably be all right.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17# What happens when I'm 70?
0:23:19 > 0:23:23# Must come a time...70
0:23:23 > 0:23:25# When you're old and it's cold
0:23:25 > 0:23:29# And no-one cares if you live or you die
0:23:32 > 0:23:35# Your one consolation's the money
0:23:35 > 0:23:38# You may have put by
0:23:41 > 0:23:46# I'm reviewing the situation
0:23:46 > 0:23:50# I'm a bad 'un and a bad 'un I will stay.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53# You'll be seeing no transformation
0:23:54 > 0:23:56# But it's wrong to be a rogue in ev'ry way... #
0:23:59 > 0:24:03So, Robert, how did you play Fagin? Is Fagin in the music?
0:24:03 > 0:24:06Yeah, but you can hear the Jewishness in it as well and
0:24:06 > 0:24:11the lyricism of it. And you can hear the violins, you know. It's...
0:24:11 > 0:24:12And that's when...
0:24:12 > 0:24:16I played it with a London accent when I started it.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19And then but slowly it started coming into something else.
0:24:19 > 0:24:20And then blending.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23You couldn't help it. It just happened.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26I mean, I literally one night, I was Jewish.
0:24:26 > 0:24:31So, in Dickens, Fagin is heading off to prison and the gallows.
0:24:31 > 0:24:36In Bart's Oliver, Fagin's reviewing the situation, he's got options.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39He's taken the Dickens thing and just, it's the people he knows.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41It's the world he knows.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44And of course that's what the show does.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47I mean, it lets you into characters that you think,
0:24:47 > 0:24:50"I don't think I really should be liking this person."
0:24:50 > 0:24:52I mean you certainly don't like Bill Sykes...
0:24:52 > 0:24:55and Nancy, we adore.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58And Fagin, we like him and then we don't like him
0:24:58 > 0:25:01and then when you get to Reviewing,
0:25:01 > 0:25:05we think, "Oh, poor little thing," you know? That's...
0:25:05 > 0:25:07So it's a real rollercoaster ride.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18The Broadway production of Oliver opened in 1963.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21American audiences responded enthusiastically to Bart's score -
0:25:21 > 0:25:23which won a Tony award -
0:25:23 > 0:25:26to his inclusive depiction of Dickens's London,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29and to his sympathetic Fagin.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32It was an unprecedented hit for a modern British show.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40But Broadway's Jewish community, which had more or less invented
0:25:40 > 0:25:44the art from of the musical, was about to unveil its own masterwork.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49From Jerome Kern to Richard Rodgers
0:25:49 > 0:25:52and West Side Story's own Jerome Robbins,
0:25:52 > 0:25:57many of the most prominent creators of musicals were of Jewish descent.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01But until now, they'd kept their own culture out of the spotlight.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12The pressure on immigrants to be American meant that the one story
0:26:12 > 0:26:15that Broadway's Jews hadn't told was their own.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19# To life, to life, l'chaim... #
0:26:19 > 0:26:22But the Second World War had marked a watershed.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25The Holocaust had been followed by the creation of the state of
0:26:25 > 0:26:29Israel and Jewish Americans had become more assertive about
0:26:29 > 0:26:30their identity and ancestry.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33- Drinks for everybody. - What's the occasion?
0:26:33 > 0:26:36Reflecting this change, composer Jerry Bock,
0:26:36 > 0:26:38lyricist Sheldon Harnick and writer
0:26:38 > 0:26:43Joseph Stein optioned a series of stories about a Jewish dairy
0:26:43 > 0:26:47farmer eking out a living in late 19th-century rural Russia.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53Bock and Harnick had worked together since 1956, scoring
0:26:53 > 0:26:58a hit 1959 with a political musical, called Fiorello!
0:26:58 > 0:27:01They hoped Tevye, the dairy farmer,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04would be the source material for another success.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07But to give it their best shot they joined forces with the
0:27:07 > 0:27:10hottest director on Broadway, Jerome Robbins.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17We went to him and told him what we wanted to do.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21And we were thrilled by his response because he told us when
0:27:21 > 0:27:23he was six years old
0:27:23 > 0:27:28his parents took him to Poland where their forefathers came from.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31And then in World War II,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34when he learned that the Nazis were exterminating these little villages
0:27:34 > 0:27:38such as he had visited, and here we were giving him the chance to
0:27:38 > 0:27:43put that culture back on the stage, to revive it, give it life again,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46that he became a man obsessed with doing that.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51The show became titled Fiddler On The Roof...
0:27:54 > 0:27:57..and it reunited Jerome Robbins
0:27:57 > 0:27:59with another West Side Story alumnus -
0:27:59 > 0:28:01producer Hal Prince.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06During the course of our meeting,
0:28:06 > 0:28:14Jerry, Sheldon, Jerry Bock, Joe Stein and I, in a room,
0:28:14 > 0:28:17night after night after night.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20Jerry Robbins who was not a very articulate man.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23He would say, "What's the show about?"
0:28:23 > 0:28:25And we would all talk.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28"Well, it's about Tevye and his five daughters and how do you
0:28:28 > 0:28:30"marry them off, and yes, it's a pogrom."
0:28:30 > 0:28:33And then the next night, the same question, the same answers,
0:28:33 > 0:28:40same... Until finally Sheldon Harnick got pissed off and said,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43"Oh, for God's sake, Jerry. It's about tradition."
0:28:43 > 0:28:45And Jerry said, "That's the answer."
0:28:45 > 0:28:47Now, mind you, he didn't know the answer or
0:28:47 > 0:28:51he would have saved us many days of conversation.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54But the minute he heard the word tradition, he knew the answer.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57And tradition became the opening.
0:28:57 > 0:28:58Tradition!
0:28:59 > 0:29:02# Tradition
0:29:02 > 0:29:03# Tradition
0:29:04 > 0:29:06# Tradition
0:29:06 > 0:29:08# Tradition
0:29:08 > 0:29:09# Tradition!
0:29:10 > 0:29:12# Tradition! #
0:29:12 > 0:29:16It made the show as important to Japanese people,
0:29:16 > 0:29:21to Hungarians, to French people, to Israelis,
0:29:21 > 0:29:28to any place where there is a family unit and tradition.
0:29:28 > 0:29:32# ..master of the house to have the final word at home?
0:29:32 > 0:29:36# The papa, the papa...! #
0:29:36 > 0:29:40Jerome Robbins did a huge amount of fieldwork while researching
0:29:40 > 0:29:42the choreography for Fiddler On The Roof.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44# Tradition...! #
0:29:44 > 0:29:47Including attending numerous Jewish weddings.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51# ..the way to make a proper home, a quiet home, a kosher home... #
0:29:51 > 0:29:56He wanted to tap into the essence of Jewish ritual and the bonds
0:29:56 > 0:29:59that tied communities together.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03# The mama, the mama!
0:30:03 > 0:30:05# Tradition!
0:30:05 > 0:30:08# The mama, the mama!
0:30:09 > 0:30:11# Tradition!
0:30:14 > 0:30:17# At three I started Hebrew school
0:30:17 > 0:30:19# At ten I learned a trade... #
0:30:19 > 0:30:22Fiddler On The Roof's opening number shows the value
0:30:22 > 0:30:24of Robbins' persistence.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26# ..she's pretty
0:30:26 > 0:30:29# The son, the son!
0:30:29 > 0:30:31# Tradition! #
0:30:31 > 0:30:35By the end of Tradition, the audience don't just see
0:30:35 > 0:30:38what's at stake for these people, they identify with them.
0:30:39 > 0:30:45Tradition. Without our traditions,
0:30:45 > 0:30:47our lives would be as shaky as...
0:30:50 > 0:30:52..as a fiddler on the roof.
0:30:55 > 0:30:57PERFORMERS CHATTER
0:30:59 > 0:31:02Composer Jerry Bock faced the challenge of creating
0:31:02 > 0:31:06a musical landscape which would bring to life the fictional village
0:31:06 > 0:31:10of Anatevka, and its central character Tevye.
0:31:10 > 0:31:15He achieved this by harnessing Jewish traditional rhythms.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18# If I were a biddy-biddy-rich
0:31:18 > 0:31:21# Daidle, deedle-daidle, daidle man. #
0:31:23 > 0:31:26We've already met the world of Fiddler On The Roof with Tradition,
0:31:26 > 0:31:30now we're going to meet our narrator properly.
0:31:30 > 0:31:32We may think we've already met him,
0:31:32 > 0:31:36but we don't know the multi-faceted character who actually lurks beneath
0:31:36 > 0:31:42that milkman's exterior, until he sings a classic "I want" song.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48HE HUMS "IF I WERE A RICH MAN"
0:31:50 > 0:31:52# All day long I'd biddy-biddy-bum
0:31:52 > 0:31:56# If I were a wealthy man
0:31:56 > 0:31:59# Wouldn't have to work hard
0:31:59 > 0:32:02# Di-di, dai-dai, di-di-dai-dai, dya-dya-dum
0:32:03 > 0:32:07# If I were a biddy-biddy rich
0:32:07 > 0:32:11# Daidle, deedle-daidle, daidle man. #
0:32:11 > 0:32:16I love that, "Yo-do-dee-dee-da", it's like scat singing,
0:32:16 > 0:32:18but of course, it's klezmer music,
0:32:18 > 0:32:22it's from deep in the East European heart of Jewish tradition.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25But because there's a slightly smoky feel to it,
0:32:25 > 0:32:27I think this is like New York clubland as well,
0:32:27 > 0:32:29which reflects where the writers come from.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31These are modern New York lads.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35So Tevye is conversational in the way he's telling us
0:32:35 > 0:32:39what he wants, but now his ambitions are going to grow.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42# I'll build a...
0:32:42 > 0:32:45# Big, tall house with rooms by the dozen
0:32:45 > 0:32:48# Right in the middle of the town!
0:32:48 > 0:32:53# A fine tin roof and real wooden floors below
0:32:53 > 0:32:58# And there'd be one long staircase just going up
0:32:58 > 0:33:00# And one even longer coming down!
0:33:00 > 0:33:05# And one more leading nowhere, just for show
0:33:07 > 0:33:10# I'd fill my yard...
0:33:10 > 0:33:14# With chicks and turkeys and geese and ducks
0:33:14 > 0:33:17# For the town to see and hear
0:33:17 > 0:33:21# Squawking just as noisily as they can
0:33:21 > 0:33:25# And each loud "bwark" and "quack" and "honk" and "honk"
0:33:25 > 0:33:28# Will land like a trumpet on the ear
0:33:28 > 0:33:33# As if to say, "Here lives a wealthy man"... #
0:33:39 > 0:33:43But there's still more to find out about Tevye.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46He's not just this avaricious dreamer.
0:33:46 > 0:33:51Deep beneath that milkman exterior is a philosopher
0:33:51 > 0:33:54and a deeply holy man.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57And this is one of the things that makes Tevye so wonderful
0:33:57 > 0:33:59as a character.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02If he had the money, he wouldn't just sit around doing nothing.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06He would study the holy books for seven hours a day.
0:34:06 > 0:34:07Where would he study them?
0:34:07 > 0:34:10Well, have a listen out, you'll hear this...
0:34:10 > 0:34:11HE PLAYS SHORT PIANO MOTIF
0:34:11 > 0:34:14When he talks about getting a seat by the wall.
0:34:14 > 0:34:15He wants to go to Jerusalem.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19He wants to go to the Holy Land, he wants to go to THEIR land.
0:34:20 > 0:34:25# If I were rich
0:34:25 > 0:34:28# I'd have the time that I lack
0:34:28 > 0:34:31# To sit in the synagogue and pray
0:34:31 > 0:34:36# And maybe get a seat by the Eastern Wall
0:34:38 > 0:34:43# And I'd discuss the holy books with the learned men
0:34:43 > 0:34:45# Seven hours every day
0:34:48 > 0:34:55# That may be the sweetest thing of all... #
0:34:58 > 0:35:00The music is stretching behind him like elastic.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02Sometimes it's conversational,
0:35:02 > 0:35:06it's just allowing him to make the progress himself,
0:35:06 > 0:35:09other times it's driving him, behind him,
0:35:09 > 0:35:13into this wonderful celebration which will eventually erupt
0:35:13 > 0:35:16into the end of the song and lift the whole audience with it.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21# If I were a rich man
0:35:21 > 0:35:26# Di-di, dai-dai, di-di-dai-dai, dya-dya-dum
0:35:26 > 0:35:29# All day long I'd biddy-biddy-bum
0:35:29 > 0:35:32# If I were a wealthy man
0:35:32 > 0:35:35# I wouldn't have to work hard
0:35:35 > 0:35:38# Di-di, dai-dai, di-di-dai-dai, dya-dya-dum
0:35:38 > 0:35:42# Lord who made the lion and the lamb
0:35:42 > 0:35:45# You decreed I should be what I am
0:35:45 > 0:35:51# Would it spoil some vast, eternal plan
0:35:51 > 0:35:59# If I were a wealthy man? #
0:36:00 > 0:36:03Lyricist Sheldon Harnick's inspiration for
0:36:03 > 0:36:07this classic song came from an evening of research in New York.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11Jerry Bock and I learned that there was to be
0:36:11 > 0:36:17a gala that the Hebrew Actors' Union was giving.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19And we went to it looking for performers
0:36:19 > 0:36:21who might be right for our show.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27As part of the programme, a mother and a daughter came out and they
0:36:27 > 0:36:31did a Hasidic song with no actual words, just Hasidic syllables.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33Jerry Bock was enthralled by it.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37And he went home and he worked all night long,
0:36:37 > 0:36:40and he called me early the next morning, and he said,
0:36:40 > 0:36:43"Shel, meet me at our publishers, I want to play you something."
0:36:43 > 0:36:47So I met him at the publishers, and he sat down at the piano
0:36:47 > 0:36:53and played me this "Ya-ba-da-ba, dum-dum, de-ba-de-ba, da-da-dum."
0:36:53 > 0:36:56And it was wonderful, and I said,
0:36:56 > 0:37:00"That's terrific, I can't wait to start working on a lyric for it.
0:37:00 > 0:37:05"And in several of the Tevye's Daughters stories, Tevye says,
0:37:05 > 0:37:09" 'If I were a Rothschild', and that fits your music."
0:37:09 > 0:37:12I said, "We'll make it probably a little more general -
0:37:12 > 0:37:16" 'If I were a rich man', not 'If I were a Rothschild', but that fits."
0:37:16 > 0:37:19So I couldn't wait to get started on it, and Jerry said,
0:37:19 > 0:37:25"When you write the lyric, leave a little of this Hasidic scat singing.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27"Ya-ba-de-ba-da..." So I did.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30I didn't know how to spell, "Ya-ba-de-ba-da", so...
0:37:30 > 0:37:31NEIL LAUGHS
0:37:31 > 0:37:35So I wrote, "Daidle-deedle, diga-diga, daidle-dum."
0:37:35 > 0:37:39And some people sing that, but people who come out of the tradition
0:37:39 > 0:37:42sing something that sounds much more authentic,
0:37:42 > 0:37:45and they invent their own sounds.
0:37:50 > 0:37:55Fiddler On The Roof opened on Broadway in September 1964
0:37:55 > 0:37:57and went on to break all records.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01Since then, it has become one of musical theatre's best-loved shows.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08Given that it ends with a pogrom and a family in exile,
0:38:08 > 0:38:11Fiddler On The Roof was another landmark in the evolution of
0:38:11 > 0:38:14the musical, proof that the form could combine the harshest
0:38:14 > 0:38:19of subjects with show-stopping songs to create a deeper experience.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21WHISTLING AND CHEERING
0:38:27 > 0:38:29# Money makes the world go around
0:38:29 > 0:38:31# The world go around The world go around
0:38:31 > 0:38:33# Money makes the world... #
0:38:33 > 0:38:36Fiddler On The Roof's success showed that audiences were ready
0:38:36 > 0:38:39to engage with more challenging material.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42Two years later, Hal Prince himself directed Cabaret,
0:38:42 > 0:38:46with songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49Its story of doomed love was set amongst the rise of fascism
0:38:49 > 0:38:55in 1930s Berlin, but this didn't stop the show being a huge hit.
0:38:55 > 0:39:00Broadway even flirted with the counterculture, with Hair in 1968.
0:39:00 > 0:39:05# This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
0:39:05 > 0:39:08# The age of Aquarius... #
0:39:08 > 0:39:12Now drugs, resistance to war and even nudity were deemed
0:39:12 > 0:39:15acceptable fare for the musical.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18Meanwhile, Hair's rock-influenced score
0:39:18 > 0:39:19gave a taste of things to come.
0:39:20 > 0:39:25# Aquarius... #
0:39:25 > 0:39:27But despite their bolder themes,
0:39:27 > 0:39:30these shows still offered primarily escapist entertainment.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34Designed to give the audience a good night out and send them home
0:39:34 > 0:39:35humming the big songs.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40Then, in 1970, producer Hal Prince emerged again to take
0:39:40 > 0:39:42the musical in a fresh direction,
0:39:42 > 0:39:44and once more, he partnered up
0:39:44 > 0:39:46with a West Side Story colleague,
0:39:46 > 0:39:48this time its lyricist, Stephen Sondheim.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53Since West Side Story, Sondheim had written the lyrics
0:39:53 > 0:39:55for the huge hit Gypsy,
0:39:55 > 0:39:58then fulfilled his ambition to compose AND write lyrics with
0:39:58 > 0:40:021962's Roman comedy A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06Prince and Sondheim shared an enthusiasm for new challenges.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10I hate to repeat myself,
0:40:10 > 0:40:12simply because I get bored doing anything I've done before.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16Well, I did traditional Rogers & Hammerstein musicals.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18Gypsy, for example, is a traditional,
0:40:18 > 0:40:22tell the story in chronological order,
0:40:22 > 0:40:24West Side Story, in that sense, though it was innovative
0:40:24 > 0:40:25in terms of stage techniques
0:40:25 > 0:40:28and in terms of the blending of various elements,
0:40:28 > 0:40:30was tell the story in chronological order.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32Well, after you've done a couple of those,
0:40:32 > 0:40:34- you start - or- I- started - getting restless.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38And I was lucky enough to meet another man who feels exactly
0:40:38 > 0:40:41the same way as I do, Harold Prince, and we formed this partnership.
0:40:41 > 0:40:46And because we both enjoy exploring new territory, we do so.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50Prince and Sondheim now created the very opposite
0:40:50 > 0:40:52of a traditional escapist musical.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54They held a mirror up to the lives of the audience -
0:40:54 > 0:40:56modern New Yorkers.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58LAUGHTER
0:40:58 > 0:41:02Jenny, you're terrific. You're the girl I should have married.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06Well, listen, I know a darling girl in this building you'll just love.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09- What?- When are you going to get married?- What?
0:41:09 > 0:41:15We developed a show about a young man who was single,
0:41:15 > 0:41:18and his married friends,
0:41:18 > 0:41:25and what is the behaviour of married people with their single friend?
0:41:25 > 0:41:28He's complete enough. You're better off the way you are.
0:41:28 > 0:41:29Yeah, that's what I hear.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33Sometimes we do it humorously. Often we get competitive.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38We're a married couple using the third person to get
0:41:38 > 0:41:42some things said, and the third person, who's observing it, thinks,
0:41:42 > 0:41:44"Oh, thank God I'm not married,
0:41:44 > 0:41:48"cos these people have got a lot of trouble on their plate."
0:41:48 > 0:41:50And that's what the show is about.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52Now, listen, Bobby, you get yourself married.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54See the ideas you're giving Dave?
0:41:56 > 0:41:59Based on a series of one-act plays by the writer George Furth,
0:41:59 > 0:42:02Company daringly rejected
0:42:02 > 0:42:06a traditional narrative in favour of a series of vignettes.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09It was a pioneering example of what's become known
0:42:09 > 0:42:10as the concept musical.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19The concept musical is one in which the emphasis is placed on
0:42:19 > 0:42:23style and theme over plot.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27In Company, scenes kind of melt into each other
0:42:27 > 0:42:29and normal chronology is entirely abandoned.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32This is because Sondheim and George Furth were after
0:42:32 > 0:42:36something different - a slice of contemporary life.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40Successful New Yorkers plagued by doubts.
0:42:40 > 0:42:45And the theme of the show is the nature, value, and crucially,
0:42:45 > 0:42:49the ambivalence of relationships.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52Oh, Dave! Do you mean that?
0:42:52 > 0:42:55Company's central character is Bobby,
0:42:55 > 0:42:57an unmarried commitment-phobe observing the world
0:42:57 > 0:43:00of his married friends, in a series of scenes
0:43:00 > 0:43:03which may very well be happening only in his mind.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08- That's not even funny. - It has nothing to do with you.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12Sondheim captured this psychological approach in music
0:43:12 > 0:43:17full of angular sounds and less predictable melodies.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21Bobby's songs subtly unveil the angst underlying
0:43:21 > 0:43:23his apparent happiness.
0:43:24 > 0:43:29# Someone to need you too much
0:43:29 > 0:43:31# Someone to know you too well
0:43:33 > 0:43:36# Someone to pull you up short
0:43:36 > 0:43:39# And put you through hell... #
0:43:40 > 0:43:42These are very modern feelings.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45After all, traditionally, and particularly in the world of
0:43:45 > 0:43:49the musical, marriage is looked upon as a positive outcome.
0:43:49 > 0:43:53A happy ending. But not necessarily in real life.
0:43:53 > 0:43:59And Sondheim's particular genius is to articulate that ambivalence
0:43:59 > 0:44:02in stunning show tunes.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04# Someone to crowd you with love
0:44:06 > 0:44:09# Someone to force you to care
0:44:11 > 0:44:13# Someone to let you come through
0:44:13 > 0:44:16# Who'll always be there
0:44:16 > 0:44:18# As frightened as you
0:44:18 > 0:44:22# Of being alive
0:44:22 > 0:44:25# Being alive
0:44:26 > 0:44:29# Being alive
0:44:31 > 0:44:35# Being alive. #
0:44:37 > 0:44:41Company was the right musical at the right time.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44It was garlanded with multiple Tony awards and established Sondheim
0:44:44 > 0:44:47as the darling of high-brow theatre-goers.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50But it was another three years before he wrote a song which would
0:44:50 > 0:44:55reach out beyond the theatre, and which remains his best-known work.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58It came in 1973's A Little Night Music.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02The story's central character, originally played by Glynis Johns,
0:45:02 > 0:45:05is Desiree Armfeldt, a glamorous actress
0:45:05 > 0:45:08whose best days are behind her.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10Desiree has realised late in the life that
0:45:10 > 0:45:13a former lover is the man she should have married,
0:45:13 > 0:45:15but now he's turned her down.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19Joining me to perform Sondheim's lament for lost opportunity
0:45:19 > 0:45:22is Frances Ruffelle.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29# Isn't it rich?
0:45:30 > 0:45:32# Are we a pair?
0:45:34 > 0:45:38# Me here at last on the ground
0:45:38 > 0:45:40# You in mid-air
0:45:41 > 0:45:44# Send in the clowns
0:45:49 > 0:45:51# Isn't it bliss?
0:45:53 > 0:45:55# Don't you approve?
0:45:57 > 0:46:00# One who keeps tearing around
0:46:00 > 0:46:03# One who can't move
0:46:05 > 0:46:07# Where are the clowns?
0:46:09 > 0:46:12# Send in the clowns... #
0:46:16 > 0:46:19Send In The Clowns, the quintessential Sondheim number -
0:46:19 > 0:46:25ambivalent, ironic, wry, bitter, humorous.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28Full of insight and self-revelation.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31Of course it was written for the great Glynis Johns,
0:46:31 > 0:46:35who had what Sondheim described as "a nice little voice", but he didn't
0:46:35 > 0:46:37want to give her anything that would mean she had to
0:46:37 > 0:46:40hold notes on, so everything was very short,
0:46:40 > 0:46:43and also quite sharp, bright vowel sounds.
0:46:43 > 0:46:47"Isn't it RICH? Are we a PAIR?"
0:46:47 > 0:46:51It played up to her strengths both as a singer, but more importantly,
0:46:51 > 0:46:52I think, as an actress.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58# Just when I'd stopped
0:46:58 > 0:47:02# Opening doors
0:47:02 > 0:47:08# Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours
0:47:09 > 0:47:13# Making my entrance again with my usual flair
0:47:16 > 0:47:18# Sure of my lines
0:47:20 > 0:47:26# No-one is there
0:47:30 > 0:47:33# Don't you love farce?
0:47:34 > 0:47:37# My fault, I fear
0:47:37 > 0:47:43# I thought that you'd want what I want
0:47:43 > 0:47:46# Sorry, my dear
0:47:48 > 0:47:50# But where are the clowns?
0:47:51 > 0:47:56# Quick, send in the clowns
0:47:56 > 0:48:00# Don't bother, they're here. #
0:48:04 > 0:48:07All the songs in Little Night Music are in three time,
0:48:07 > 0:48:08or waltz time as we think of it.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10You wouldn't automatically think this one is,
0:48:10 > 0:48:12but it is - except for the moments
0:48:12 > 0:48:15where Sondheim breaks his own rhythm.
0:48:15 > 0:48:17You'll see there's a moment...
0:48:17 > 0:48:20"Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours."
0:48:20 > 0:48:23That actually goes to a fourth beat.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26"Ya-da-da-dee-da-da, YA..."
0:48:26 > 0:48:27And then on from there.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29This is a technique he said he learnt from Leonard Bernstein
0:48:29 > 0:48:32when he was working with him on West Side Story.
0:48:32 > 0:48:37And it's a way of drawing attention to a song's key lines.
0:48:37 > 0:48:43Then look at how complex this emotion is, it's beautiful,
0:48:43 > 0:48:46and the song is poignant and lovely,
0:48:46 > 0:48:50even though it's a bitter moment for this character.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54Here we have what Sondheim has created out of musical theatre,
0:48:54 > 0:48:57the ability to take more than one emotion, in fact,
0:48:57 > 0:49:01a mix of emotions, and in a very sophisticated way,
0:49:01 > 0:49:04give it to us as an audience in a way we really understand.
0:49:08 > 0:49:10# Isn't it rich?
0:49:13 > 0:49:15# Isn't it queer?
0:49:17 > 0:49:22# Losing my timing this late in my career
0:49:24 > 0:49:26# And where are the clowns?
0:49:28 > 0:49:32# There ought to be clowns
0:49:33 > 0:49:37# Well, maybe
0:49:37 > 0:49:42# Next...year. #
0:49:55 > 0:49:59While Sondheim and Prince's ventures into experimental musicals
0:49:59 > 0:50:01were critically acclaimed,
0:50:01 > 0:50:05their impact on a mainstream audience was comparatively limited.
0:50:06 > 0:50:11But just two years later a protege of theirs would take the
0:50:11 > 0:50:15idea of the concept musical and turn it into a record-breaking success.
0:50:17 > 0:50:23Around midnight on a freezing night in 1974, a group of gypsies,
0:50:23 > 0:50:27that's dancers who went from show to show, chorus line to chorus line,
0:50:27 > 0:50:30assembled in a room on East 23rd Street.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33Still sweating from the work they'd done earlier in the evening,
0:50:33 > 0:50:37they had absolutely no idea what to expect.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41They'd been summoned by a small team headed by choreographer
0:50:41 > 0:50:42Michael Bennett.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46After a quick workout, Bennett produced a tape recorder.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48For the next 12 hours, they talked
0:50:48 > 0:50:50and talked about their lives,
0:50:50 > 0:50:53their hopes, their formative experiences,
0:50:53 > 0:50:57and all night long the tape rolled.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01As they spilled out, bleary-eyed onto the streets the following day,
0:51:01 > 0:51:05the seeds of a Broadway sensation had been sown.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08Michael Bennett had studied dance in his teens before dropping out
0:51:08 > 0:51:11of high school to play the role of Baby John in the American and
0:51:11 > 0:51:13European tours of West Side Story.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17A career on Broadway followed, where Bennett experienced
0:51:17 > 0:51:21first-hand the tough life of a chorus-line gypsy.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23Five, six, seven, eight.
0:51:23 > 0:51:24One, change.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26Walk, walk.
0:51:26 > 0:51:28Point, point, point.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31- Flick-step.- Baayork Lee was an old friend who Bennett recruited
0:51:31 > 0:51:36to help plan an unflinching take on the reality behind musical theatre.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39No hat, hat. No hat, hat.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42Hat, hat, hat. Hold.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45And your particular story became one of the songs
0:51:45 > 0:51:46in the show specifically.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48Can you tell us about that?
0:51:48 > 0:51:51Well, Michael came to me and he said,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54"I want to use your story in the show."
0:51:54 > 0:51:56And I said, "Well, nobody wants to know about
0:51:56 > 0:51:59"a short Asian that wants to be a ballerina."
0:51:59 > 0:52:01And he said, "You never know."
0:52:01 > 0:52:04We were going through group therapy
0:52:04 > 0:52:06now that I think about it.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10We would sit around, you know, and discuss what you did at four and
0:52:10 > 0:52:12five and six and seven and eight,
0:52:12 > 0:52:15and a lot of tears came, you know.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19- I bet.- Yes, because things happened at those ages.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22We went all the way up until we got to New York
0:52:22 > 0:52:25and that is the concept of the show.
0:52:28 > 0:52:29# God, I hope I get it
0:52:29 > 0:52:31# I hope I get it
0:52:31 > 0:52:32# How many people does he need?
0:52:32 > 0:52:34# How many people does he need?
0:52:34 > 0:52:35# God, I hope I get it
0:52:35 > 0:52:37# I hope I get it
0:52:37 > 0:52:39# How many boys, how many girls?
0:52:39 > 0:52:40# How many boys, how many...?
0:52:40 > 0:52:42# Look at all the people!
0:52:42 > 0:52:43# At all the people... #
0:52:43 > 0:52:46Bennett had worked as a choreographer on Prince and
0:52:46 > 0:52:49Sondheim's Company and its follow-up, Follies,
0:52:49 > 0:52:52and he wanted his new work, christened A Chorus Line,
0:52:52 > 0:52:55to have a similar confessional quality,
0:52:55 > 0:52:58built around the revelation of a dancers' anxieties during
0:52:58 > 0:53:00an audition process.
0:53:00 > 0:53:02# God, I really blew it!
0:53:02 > 0:53:03# I really blew it!
0:53:03 > 0:53:05# How could I do a thing like that?
0:53:05 > 0:53:06# How could I do a thing like...
0:53:06 > 0:53:08# Now I'll never make it! #
0:53:08 > 0:53:12To write the music, Bennett brought in Marvin Hamlisch,
0:53:12 > 0:53:13an established film composer.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18Hamlisch worked closely with the cast in workshops,
0:53:18 > 0:53:22turning their stories into songs.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28Marvin came in and he likes to doodle on the piano
0:53:28 > 0:53:30and he said, "Well, just talk to me, Baayork."
0:53:30 > 0:53:32Just the way I'm talking to you.
0:53:32 > 0:53:37And he composed my personality.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39- HE GASPS - And that's what he did
0:53:39 > 0:53:42with everyone. He would compose our personality.
0:53:42 > 0:53:46So every time I spoke in the alternative scene or whatever,
0:53:46 > 0:53:48I always had my theme song.
0:53:48 > 0:53:50- Oh, that's fantastic.- Yeah.
0:53:50 > 0:53:51# Four foot ten
0:53:51 > 0:53:53# Four foot ten
0:53:53 > 0:53:55# That's the story of my life
0:53:55 > 0:53:59# I remember when everybody was my size. #
0:53:59 > 0:54:02Boy, was that great. But then everybody started moving up
0:54:02 > 0:54:04and there I was, stuck at...
0:54:04 > 0:54:06# Four foot ten
0:54:06 > 0:54:07# Four foot ten. #
0:54:07 > 0:54:10But I kept hoping and praying!
0:54:10 > 0:54:14Having crafted confessional songs for each of the main characters,
0:54:14 > 0:54:17Hamlisch saved his best for last,
0:54:17 > 0:54:20a piece that would become one of musical theatre's most
0:54:20 > 0:54:22unforgettable finales.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25# One singular sensation
0:54:25 > 0:54:28# Every little step she takes
0:54:28 > 0:54:31# One thrilling combination
0:54:31 > 0:54:35# Every move that she makes
0:54:35 > 0:54:41# One smile and suddenly nobody else will do
0:54:41 > 0:54:42# You know you'll never be lonely... #
0:54:42 > 0:54:45Baayork was up for a spontaneous performance...
0:54:46 > 0:54:49# One moment in her presence... #
0:54:49 > 0:54:52..even if I couldn't quite remember the right key.
0:54:52 > 0:54:59# For the girl is second best to none, son
0:54:59 > 0:55:00# Ooh! Sigh!
0:55:00 > 0:55:02# Give her your attention
0:55:02 > 0:55:10# Do I really have to mention she's the one? #
0:55:15 > 0:55:18How on earth does someone like Hamlisch manage to get
0:55:18 > 0:55:21so much down into so little?
0:55:21 > 0:55:24It's a beautiful riff, that, isn't it?
0:55:24 > 0:55:25Yes.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31That central riff is the key to One,
0:55:31 > 0:55:33its clockwork feel driving home
0:55:33 > 0:55:36how uniform and drilled the chorus line has to be.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41# One singular sensation
0:55:41 > 0:55:43# Every little step she takes... #
0:55:45 > 0:55:48Richard Attenborough's film version stays faithful to Bennett's
0:55:48 > 0:55:51staging using mirrors to stretch the line to infinity.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58The individual dancers we've come to know intimately
0:55:58 > 0:56:00now blend into an anonymous whole.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04For Bennett, this was an ironic comment on musicals,
0:56:04 > 0:56:08but for everyone else it was the ultimate show-stopping finale.
0:56:13 > 0:56:18One day there was a line of black cars
0:56:18 > 0:56:21and we went, "Oh, yeah, OK."
0:56:21 > 0:56:23And there was Jackie Onassis,
0:56:23 > 0:56:25there was Diana Ross,
0:56:25 > 0:56:27Groucho Marx,
0:56:27 > 0:56:29Lucille Ball.
0:56:29 > 0:56:31HE CHUCKLES
0:56:31 > 0:56:33The Chorus Line went on to become the longest-running
0:56:33 > 0:56:35Broadway show ever,
0:56:35 > 0:56:37a record it held for 14 years
0:56:37 > 0:56:40until it was finally overtaken by Cats,
0:56:40 > 0:56:43as the next generation of British musicals came to the fore.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49All very ironic given A Chorus Line's humble group-therapy
0:56:49 > 0:56:51workshop beginnings.
0:56:51 > 0:56:52# Ooh! Sigh!
0:56:52 > 0:56:54# Give her your attention
0:56:54 > 0:56:57# Do I really have to mention...? #
0:56:57 > 0:57:00Michael Bennett said, "I want people to walk out of the theatre
0:57:00 > 0:57:03"and say, 'Those kids shouldn't be in a chorus line.'
0:57:03 > 0:57:07"And I want people in the audience to go to other shows and really
0:57:07 > 0:57:09"think about what's made that chorus."
0:57:10 > 0:57:13It fades with them kicking.
0:57:13 > 0:57:15That's it. That's the end of the show.
0:57:15 > 0:57:19There are no bows. "I don't believe in bows."
0:57:19 > 0:57:20Just the fade-out.
0:57:21 > 0:57:23That's what a dancer's life is.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34Next time, the rise of the mega-musical...
0:57:34 > 0:57:39MUSIC: Look Down by Claude-Michel Schonberg
0:57:39 > 0:57:43..how those singing cats and Eva Peron...
0:57:43 > 0:57:47# Don't cry for me, Argentina... #
0:57:47 > 0:57:52..help Andrew Lloyd Webber conquer the West End and Broadway...
0:57:52 > 0:57:53# Sweet transvestite... #
0:57:53 > 0:57:56..cult classics from The Rocky Horror Show...
0:57:56 > 0:57:58# Transsexual
0:57:58 > 0:58:01# Transylvania. #
0:58:01 > 0:58:03# Got a fast connection so I don't have to wait... #
0:58:03 > 0:58:04..to puppets behaving badly...
0:58:04 > 0:58:06For porn!
0:58:06 > 0:58:10MUSIC: Circle Of Life by Elton John and Tim Rice
0:58:10 > 0:58:14..and why a songwriting renaissance and spectacular staging have
0:58:14 > 0:58:18turned the modern musical into the greatest show on earth.
0:58:21 > 0:58:26MUSIC: America by Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein