TIME MAGAZINE
February 4, 1957

The cover story of this issue is entitled "Wunderkind" and it is an unabashed valentine to the multi-talented and prolific boy wonder. An affectionate and comprehensive history, both personal and professional, unfolds in a few well-compiled adulating pages. The article appears on a celebratory occasion: the appointment of Mr. Bernstein ("-stine" not "-steen," as a stern footnote reminds us) to the post of co-conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and is ostensibily a timely announcement of that happy event. But as was typical of the composer's rather frantic work and life, this important transition was sandwiched in between two other crucial career landmarks that same season: his poorly-received Broadway musical Candide was about to tank just as his gestating musical about Manhattan gang warfare was about to emerge. Even at this apparent zenith of his career--the youthful and exuberant outpouring to the worlds of ballet, opera, symphony and theater, (as well as to the student and the man on the street)--the maestro who refused to be pigeonholed appears to be aware that he is spreading himself too thin over his various demanding responsibilities as conductor, composer, pianist, lecturer and, as he is candidly if arrogantly aware, celebrity. A rich and undeniably awe-inspiring portrait of the genius in our midst is thus preserved in this excellent piece.

This magazine’s reference to the imminent debut of the musical, "tentatively titled West Side Story," gives the reader the impression that breaking news was being reported. However in Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story, Professor Nigel Simeone assures us that the press was at it practically before the collaborators shook hands, beginning with Louis Calta in the January 27 1949 edition of the New York Times, optimistically reporting the likelihood of the musical’s premiere the following season.*