Previews: 'West Side Story' with The Cleveland Orchestra

Brett Mitchell leads The Cleveland Orchestra in Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story at Severance Hall in June 2017. Mr. Mitchell returns to Cleveland lead the project again on March 17, 18, and 19. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)

CLEVELAND — In anticipation of Brett Mitchell’s performances of Leonard Bernstein’s score for West Side Story with The Cleveland Orchestra this weekend, several media outlets have published preview articles.

From Axios: Cleveland Orchestra takes on West Side Story

It was good enough for Steven Spielberg, so why not the Cleveland Orchestra?

Driving the news: Guest conductor Brett Mitchell will lead the Cleveland Orchestra through "West Side Story in Concert," this weekend at Severance Hall.

• Video from the 1961 Oscar-winning film will play on a screen behind the orchestra.

Zoom out: "West Side Story" has experienced a national resurgence in recent years, starting with a Broadway revival in 2020 and Spielberg's film remake in 2021.

Zoom in: Mitchell, who is an adjunct professor of music at the University of Denver, has led the Cleveland Orchestra in multiple performances of "West Side Story," most recently in 2017 when he was associate director of the orchestra.

What they're saying: Mitchell tells Axios that Leonard Bernstein's music in "West Side Story" is "universal" and "quintessentially American."

• "This project premiered in the 1950s. The film premiered in 1961," Mitchell says. "Here we are more than 60 years later still experiencing this piece. It's a total masterpiece."

The big picture: Orchestral performances of mainstream movies have become all the rage.

• "It's one of the greatest things that has happened to orchestras in the last century," Mitchell says. "I grew up listening to all these amazing soundtracks, and now I get to bring them to life for thousands of people."

From The News-Herald: Cleveland Orchestra, guest conductor revisiting classic West Side Story movie score

It wasn’t too long ago the notion of The Cleveland Orchestra performing live during a movie screening would have been considered taboo for a world-class symphony.

Those days are long gone, with the renowned orchestra entertaining fans and merging worlds through numerous film experiences, including during its popular Blossom Season.

Next up for The Cleveland Orchestra is a return to the classic “West Side Story,” with guest conductor Brett Mitchell, taking place March 17 through 19 at Severance Music Center.

This is familiar ground for Mitchell, who nearly six years conducted The Cleveland Orchestra through composer Leonard Bernstein’s legendary score.

“The last project that I did with The Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall before I left was ‘West Side Story,’” Mitchell said. “It was hugely meaningful to me and an enormous thrill.

“Back then, the orchestra had started doing movies with live accompaniment — I believe it was the first time the orchestra had ever done one of these movie projects on their classical subscription series. Here we are again. It says a lot about these movie projects and how they have become such an integral part of what we do at orchestras now.”

With Mitchell conducting, The Cleveland Orchestra will perform Bernstein’s electrifying score — “Something’s Coming,” “Tonight,” “America,” “I Feel Pretty” and “Somewhere” — while the remastered film is shown on a high-definition screen with the original vocals and dialog.

“I’m watching a special version of the film with lines that run across the picture,” Mitchell said. “Those lines are how we kind of synchronize the live music to the picture. Normally when I’m conducting a piece, I’ve got two things going on: the orchestra in front of me and the score.

“I’m always navigating back and forth. With a project like this, you have the orchestra, you have the score and the video monitor. It’s just one more wrench in the works that can throw you for a loop.”

Naturally, the loop for a project like this comes down to synchronization and timing. The latter is where working with a world-class orchestra makes Mitchell’s job easier. It turns out there’s a certain element of flexibility afforded a conductor when working with The Cleveland Orchestra.

“They’re the greatest musicians in the world,” Mitchell said. “Part of what makes them the greatest in the world is that they’re also the best-prepared musicians in the world. If I need to speed the tempo up ever so slightly, they make it so easy to be able to do that.

“If I need to slow it down ever so slightly, they make it incredibly easy to do that, as well. These film projects can be the most stressful things you do as a conductor because of all the demands of synchronization but when you have The Cleveland Orchestra it really takes all of the stress off you. You just get to focus on making this great music.”

When it comes to the upcoming “West Side Story” affair, the irony — and heresy to some — is this time around some Cleveland Orchestra audience members may be just discovering the original 1961 film.

That’s due to Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-winning 2021 remake that attracted younger viewers.

“I love it — I think it’s great,” Mitchell said. “So if people have come to ‘West Side Story’ through Steven’s remake of it, which I thought was completely brilliant, I’m thrilled.

“It’s a project that is absolutely worth discovering in every single iteration. They’re both fantastic pieces of art in their own right.”