STAGE

Jerome Kern’s 1924 Broadway musical “Sitting Pretty,” which has not been seen since its opening run 65 years ago, will return to New York in concert version for five performances at Carnegie Recital Hall beginning tonight. When Kern, who later wrote “Show Boat,” composed the music for “Sitting Pretty,” he issued an edict banning the songs from being recorded or played on the radio or performed in nightclubs and cabarets to discourage his work from being distorted by popular renditions. The complete score was unearthed in a Secaucus, N.J., warehouse seven year ago. John McGlinn, who is responsible for a recently released recording of “Show Boat,” will conduct the “Sitting Pretty” performances.