Dreams of a better life

American composer Leonard Bernstein was a major influence on the Broadway musical stage and this double bill brings together two of his pieces in a thrilling evening of music, dance and drama.

The curtain goes up on Sam and Dinah living a charmed life in their little white house in 1950s suburbia. But look more closely and you’ll see the cracks starting to appear in this couple’s American Dream… The satirical Trouble in Tahiti brings the sounds of jazz, musical theatre and the movies together, with a moment of full Hollywood pizzazz in Dinah’s showpiece number ‘Island Magic’.

West Side Story is a landmark of musical theatre and Bernstein’s stand-alone Symphonic Dances extracted from the show are packed with mambos, waltzes and cha-chas. Inspired by the events of his native South Africa, Phoenix Dance Theatre’s Dane Hurst creates an entirely new dance work which responds to these rhythms as dancers navigate the rough edges and walls of city life, exploring conflict and the need to connect.

The double bill will be complemented by a short, spoken word performance, Halfway and Beyond, a poetic dialogue between nature and consciousness, the concept of identity and the notion of belonging. Writer/performer Khadijah Ibrahiim.

“…offers a compelling emotional crescendo… flamingly impassioned”
★★★★ — The Times

“an emotionally powerful, lucid production… plenty of zip and pizzazz…”
★★★★ — The Arts Desk

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