UCJ makes real capital of the fact that this “50th Anniversary Recording” of perhaps the greatest score ever written for the Broadway stage was made with full authorisation from the Bernstein Foundation in New York. If that is supposed to represent some kind of endorsement then, of course, I’m wondering if they did so before or after hearing it.

Casting is once again driven by commercial considerations – who’s in and who’s not. I really don’t understand the Hayley Westenra thing. She is not and could never be Maria (no, not that Maria – more on her anon). The voice is so pallid, so “white”, and she sings like a little girl, without phrasing, without intensity. In a desperate attempt to beef up her sound and give it some kind of “presence” the engineers have surrounded her – only her – with a halo of reverberation. You can imagine how absurd that sounds when she’s not singing alone. Her Tony is another rising crossover tenor, Vittorio Grigolo, and he can sing, rather well. But he’s Italian and the accent (if not grotesquely off-kilter like José Carreras) is still intrusive. Tony is American, Tony is also a Broadway role and the delivery (with even a pop tenor like Grigolo) is different. One really wants a young John Barrowman for the role.

The support cast are fine if a little studio-bound. Melanie Marshall could be a little bigger and feistier as Anita (Westenra is shocking in “I have a love”) and Connie Fisher sings “Somewhere” sweetly if anonymously. “Gee, Officer Krupke” comes closest in energy and in-show context to what one might have hoped for from this album. The RLPO are recorded close and tight but don’t have the flexibility and sheer abandon of a seasoned pit-band. Lend a comparative ear to the Original Broadway Cast (Sony) and hear the difference. That’s still the version to have. And you don’t get cues just trailing off for lack of a concert ending.