Episode Details

Leonard Bernstein composed West Side Story, conducted the New York Philharmonic, taught millions about music on television, and spent his private life torn between his marriage to Felicia Montealegre and his relationships with men. He was the most publicly celebrated musician in American history and one of the most privately conflicted.

This episode traces Bernstein from his Boston childhood through his overnight fame as a substitute conductor, West Side Story, his Young People's Concerts, and the double life that defined him.

• He became famous overnight at twenty-five when he substituted for an ailing Bruno Walter at Carnegie Hall with no rehearsal
• West Side Story, composed with Stephen Sondheim, became one of the most celebrated musicals in theater history
• His Young People's Concerts on CBS introduced classical music to millions of American children
• He conducted the Berlin Philharmonic in a performance of Beethoven's Ninth to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall