Walter And Lenny

Minerva Theatre, Oaklands Park, Chichester, Wednesday, November 11, to Saturday, November 14

“HE was very tenacious – he pursued things relentlessly and wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

It’s this quality which Peter McEnery attributes to former Dean Of Chichester Cathedral Walter Hussey which led to him commissioning a piece of choral music from one of the greatest composers of the 20th century: Leonard Bernstein.

Using material from the pair’s correspondence, McEnery has devised a one-man play to mark the 50th anniversary of the Chichester Psalms composition by the creator of West Side Story and former conductor of the New York Philharmonic.

And appropriately enough it is making its world premiere in the city where the Psalms received their UK debut in 1965 – having been performed in New York’s Philharmonic Hall two weeks before.

“Walter says in his letters light-heartedly that he would be very sad if they received their premiere elsewhere,” reveals McEnery – perhaps pointing to one of the few moments of dissent in a very warm relationship.

“Hussey gave Bernstein his head – I don’t think he heard any of the music out of context until the final rehearsal.

“He did say early on that they would be delighted if there was a hint of West Side Story in the music.”

Bernstein acceded to the cheeky request – incorporating a piece of music he had originally composed for his Broadway smash but had later cut and kept aside for ten years.

“I think there’s a US term for what Walter had – he was full of moxie,” says McEnery, who became a Bernstein fan as a teenager when he got last-minute tickets for the London premiere of West Side Story.

“He was a friend of Benjamin Britten and encouraged him to write a cantata [for Hussey's former church in Northampton in 1943]. He amassed quite a collection for Chichester.”

Indeed Hussey’s powers of persuasion saw him approach many contemporary artists during his tenure between 1955 and 1977.

Among those to contribute to the cathedral were Marc Chagall who created a stained glass window based on Psalm 150, John Piper who made him a high altar tapestry and the painting Noli me Tangere by Graham Sutherland.

He commissioned Bernstein in 1963, ahead of the 1965 Three Choirs Festival, which would see the choirs of Chichester, Winchester and Salisbury come together in a performance.

The UK premiere of the 18-minute work, which took inspiration from six psalms, featured up to 75 voices, including a solo for a counter tenor or boy soprano.

“It would be wonderful if the original choirboy were to turn up,” says McEnery, who is using a recording of the music to accompany his performance.

“These were two men of different cultural backgrounds who came together and formed a close friendship which is quite obvious from the letters.

"They met for the first time when Bernstein came to Chichester three days before the performance and stayed at the Deanery.

“Their differences are reflected in the way they write their letters – Hussey has a slightly old fashioned way of writing, while Bernstein uses the vernacular.”

McEnery, who was a founder member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, first came across the story in Nigel Simeone’s collection The Leonard Bernstein Letters.

The original letters are kept in the Chichester records office and Washington’s Library Of Congress. McEnery got the blessing of the Bernstein estate for the show, which is being directed by Julia St John.

Following the premiere he hopes to be able to take it further afield - possibly across the water to the city Bernstein called home.

Hussey died in 1985, and Bernstein in 1990 – but McEnery, who lived in Brighton as a teenager, did meet his hero once in the last year of his life.

“I was acting in A Little Night Music in the West End and read that Bernstein was doing a book signing in Harrods,” he says.

“I remember him coming into this crowded book department smoking, and starting to talk to people as soon as he sat down behind the desk. He died that October – this must have been January or February.

“The more I learn about his music and the more I research about him I find him even more engaging and fascinating.”

Starts 2.45pm Wed and Sat, 7.45pm Thurs to Sat, tickets £15. Call 01243 781312.