Imagine a Robeson-like bass voice arching poignantly through the octaves in I Feel Like I’m Not Out of Bed Yet, the opening of On the Town. That was how this evening of Leonard Bernstein’s stage and screen music, given by John Wilson and his orchestra, was launched. The singer was the Jamaican-born Robert Winslade-Anderson; that he’s actually a member of the Maida Vale Singers tells you something about the quality of Wilson’s hand-picked forces.
With the inclusion of the modernist-flavoured symphonic suite from On the Waterfront, it was a judicious selection of familiar and less familiar. Bernstein’s soaring melodies and bittersweet harmonies were delivered by a strong cast under Wilson’s taut direction.
Louise Dearman dispatched I Can Cook Too and A Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man (Wonderful Town) in suitably sassy style, while Julian Ovenden was the impassioned romantic lead in Maria (West Side Story) and Lonely Town (On the Town). Most arresting of all was Scarlett Strallen, who donned a sparkly close-fitting number for Glitter and be Gay (Candide), in which her coloratura was no less stunning than her stage presence. She duly brought the house down. This should be worth catching in the BBC4 broadcast on Friday.
The BBC Proms (bbc.co.uk/proms) continue until September 12
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