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Tenor Nicky Spence explores the deep and often-overlooked connections between classical music and the world of musical theatre.

Tenor Nicky Spence explores the deep and often-overlooked connections between classical music and the world of musical theatre.

In episode 2, Nicky highlights mid-century composers who drew from both the classical and musical theatre worlds, most notably Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. He reveals the homages to classical composers in musicals such as Kismet, Carmen Jones, West Side Story and Sweeney Todd.

Nicky speaks to the conductor David Charles Abell, who was a protégé of Bernstein and is a noted Sondheim interpreter.

Nicky and his husband, the pianist Dylan Perez, also perform musical excerpts from Mozart's Così fan tutte and Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific, drawing out hidden connections.

Archive clip of Stephen Sondheim courtesy of Music Theatre International.

Produced by Rachel Gill for BBC Audio.

29 days left to listen

59 minutes

Last on

Yesterday15:00
BBC Radio 3

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From operetta to Oklahoma!Curtain Up: Classical Stories of Musical Theatre

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Contemporary crossoversCurtain Up: Classical Stories of Musical Theatre

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Music Played

  • Cole Porter

    Another Op'nin', Another Show (Kiss Me Kate)

    Ensemble: 2000 New Broadway Cast.
    • DRG.

  • Georges Bizet

    Dat's Love (Carmen Jones)

    Composer: Oscar Hammerstein II. Composer: Robert Russell Bennett. Singer: Wilhelmenia Fernandez. Ensemble: 1991 London Revival Cast & Orchestra. Conductor: Henry Lewis.
    • EMI.

  • Alexander Borodin

    Stranger in Paradise (Kismet)

    Composer: George Forrest. Composer: Robert Wright. Ensemble: Original Broadway Cast.
    • Masterworks Broadway.

  • Alexander Borodin

    Polovtsian Dances (Prince Igor) - excerpt

    Choir: Bavarian Radio Symphony Choir. Conductor: Esa‐Pekka Salonen.
    • Philips.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Un'aura amorosa (Così fan tutte) - excerpt

    Performer: Dylan Perez. Singer: Nicky Spence.

  • Richard Rodgers

    Younger than springtime (South Pacific)

    Composer: Oscar Hammerstein II. Performer: Dylan Perez. Singer: Nicky Spence.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    Candide: Overture

    Orchestra: Los Angeles Philharmonic. Conductor: Zubin Mehta.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    I Have a Love (West Side Story)

    Composer: Stephen Sondheim. Singer: Kiri Te Kanawa. Singer: Tatiana Troyanos. Ensemble: Leonard Bernstein Orchestra.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    Somewhere (West Sid Story)

    Singer: Jimmy Bryant. Ensemble: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.
    • Sony Masterworks.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Concerto No 5 in E flat major, Op 73, 'Emperor' (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Kristian Bezuidenhout. Ensemble: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Conductor: Pablo Heras‐Casado.
    • Harmonia Mundi.

  • Marvin Hamlisch

    What I Did For Love (A Chorus Line)

    Composer: Edward Kleban. Singer: Priscilla Lopez. Ensemble: A Chorus Line Ensemble. Conductor: Don Pippin.
    • Masterworks Broadway.

  • Anon.

    Dies Irae

    Ensemble: Benedictine Nuns of Notre Dame.
    • DECCA.

  • Stephen Sondheim

    The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)

    Ensemble: Original Broadway Cast.
    • Masterworks Broadway.

  • Richard Wagner

    "Endlich Loge!" (Das Rheingold, Scene 2)

    Singer: Iain Paterson. Orchestra: The Halle. Conductor: Sir Mark Elder.
    • Hallé Concerts Society.

  • Stephen Sondheim

    No One is Alone (Into the Woods)

    Performer: Original Broadway Orchestra of Into the Woods. Singer: Kim Crosby. Singer: Danielle Ferland. Singer: Chip Zien. Singer: Ben Wright. Conductor: Paul Gemignani.
    • RCA Victor.

  • Stephen Sondheim

    Pretty Women (Sweeney Todd)

    Performer: Anthony de Mare. Music Arranger: Mark‐Anthony Turnage.
    • ECM.

  • Micki Grant

    I Gotta Keep Movin' (Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope)

    Singer: Alex Bradford. Ensemble: Original Broadway Production. Director: Danny Holgate.
    • Polydor.

Broadcast

  • Yesterday15:00
    BBC Radio 3

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Podcast

  • Music Matters

    The stories that matter, the people that matter, the music that matters