A House Undivided

Bernstein’s flop returns rejuvenated as A White House Cantata.

Before 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue made its world premiere at Philadelphia’s Forrest Theater in February 1976, producer Roger Stevens called it "the musical of the decade," to which composer Leonard Bernstein giddily replied, "Why not the century?" Following a four-hour opening night — during which a disgruntled patron kicked in a Forrest plate-glass door — and venomous reviews, the musical was overhauled, with a new production team locking Bernstein and librettist/lyricist Alan Jay Lerner out of rehearsals. 1600 finally opened on Broadway that May to unanimous pans and closed after seven performances. Lerner thereafter referred to the show as "the Titanic," and a heartbroken Bernstein refused to allow a cast recording. His heirs spent the 1990s sifting through his many revisions of the score; now with an operatic cast, the London Symphony Orchestra under Kent Nagano, and a new title, they’ve authorized this disc (coinciding with the 10th anniversary of Bernstein’s death).

A White House Cantata (Deutsche Grammophon) focuses on the first decades of the White House from the points of view of its Presidents (all of whom are played by Thomas Hampson), First Ladies (June Anderson) and black servants (Barbara Hendricks and Kenneth Tarvet). The plot is frequently arch (part of the story is told as a minstrel show) and shallow (getting cheap laughs, for example, by presenting bachelor President James Buchanan as a mincing homosexual). Unlike Bernstein’s West Side Story or Lerner’s My Fair Lady, there’s nobody for the audience to empathize with or root for.

Yet while the story is weak, the music is sophisticated and passionate, whether martial (the catchy "President Jefferson Sunday Luncheon Party March"), reverential ("Take Care of This House") or comic ("The Grand Old Party"). Complete with outstanding choral arrangements and orchestrations, Bernstein’s work here is superior to his score for the often-performed Mass (1971). Lerner’s lyrics range from awkward to brilliant; check out the clever "Duet for One," where Anderson plays outgoing First Lady Julia Grant and the incoming Lucy Hayes. The vocal work here is fine, in particular Victor Acquah as the child servant.

So we’re left with a great score tied to a mediocre story. Bernstein and Lerner (whose Camelot remains the quintessential White House metaphor) clearly wanted to offer profound ideas on race and politics on Broadway for the Bicentennial, but weren’t up to it. Neither the masterpiece it looked like on paper, nor the embarrassment it was on stage, A White House Cantata is, finally on disc, simply an intriguing near-miss.