A dance & opera double bill

Trouble in Tahiti

Music Leonard Bernstein
Libretto Leonard Bernstein
First performance Waltham, Massachusetts, 1952

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. 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.

Important Information

Under 14s must be accompanied by an adult aged 18+
Sung in English with English titles