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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 prot茅g茅 of Bernstein and is a noted Sondheim interpreter.

Nicky and his husband, the pianist Dylan Perez, also perform musical excerpts from Mozart's Cos矛 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 麻豆社 Audio.

59 minutes

Last on

Sun 12 Apr 2026 15:00
麻豆社 Radio 3

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From operetta to Oklahoma!Curtain 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: Members of the Cast.
    • Masterworks Broadway.

  • Alexander Borodin

    Polovtsian Dances (Prince Igor) - excerpt

    Choir: Bavarian Radio Symphony Choir. Conductor: Esa鈥怭ekka Salonen.
    • Philips.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Un'aura amorosa (Cos矛 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 Side Story)

    Singer: Jimmy Bryant.
    • 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鈥怌asado.
    • 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.
    • Hall茅 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鈥怉nthony 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

  • Sun 12 Apr 2026 15:00
    麻豆社 Radio 3

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Podcast

  • Music Matters

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