Trouble in Tahiti (2001)

Leonard Bernstein was on his honeymoon in 1951 when he began composing his oneact opera Trouble in Tahiti a candid portrait of the troubled marriage of a young suburban couple Written between his biggest Broadway successes On the Town in 1944 and Candide and West Side Story in 1956 and 1957 respectively Trouble in Tahiti draws upon popular songs styles to deliver an uncompromising critique of postwar American materialism Beneath the couples marital discord is a profound longing for love and intimacy Their spiritual emptiness in contrast to a veneer of happy consumerism creates the heart of the drama and is emphasized by sudden stylistic shifts in the music