Three Dance Episodes from On the Town

Leonard Bernstein writes, “The story of On the Town is concerned with three sailors on 24-hour leave in New York, and their adventures with the monstrous city which its inhabitants take so for granted.” The first episode is 'Dance of the Great Lover,' in which the romantic sailor Gabey falls asleep on the subway and dreams of sweeping Miss Turnstiles off her feet. In the second episode, “Pas de Deux,” Gabey watches a scene, “both tender and sinister, in which a sensitive high-school girl in Central Park is lured and then cast off by a worldly sailor.” The finale, “Times Square,” is described by Bernstein as “a more panoramic sequence in which all the sailors congregate in Times Square for their night of fun.” (Source: Boosey and Hawkes, Inc.)