So true - It was his best work and the height of 20th c. music. I admire ‘Evita’ and ‘Phantom,’ and of course anything by John Williams as music of my own time, but ‘West Side Story’ has the most difficult music still accessible to an audience. Unlistenable works may have some academic value, but I’d be hard pressed to call them music.
I performed as a student in a staging of Bernstein’s ‘Mass’ that was only somewhat successful, but not entirely because of the music itself. We had for our use not the local college theatre, but a wonderful, large Mid-Century Modern church for rehearsals and performances. The evenings went well enough for a non-professional group. However, the altar end of the church was extremely well-lit while the pews were dark, so it was very much as if it had been performed in a theatre. The matinee was performed in the late afternoon, when the sun flooded the space with warmth; the wood gleamed with a heavenly richness, while the stained glass sparkled with joy. An audience can detach itself from the stage in a theatre setting; in this glorious church, the sight of a priest collapsing in a crisis of faith and desecrating the Communion was deeply disturbing even to the Protestants attending.
I had to apologize to my mother for weeks afterward.
LOL