Will this ‘Mass’ play in L.A.?

The Los Angeles Philharmonic hasn’t picked a director yet for its staged performance of Leonard Bernstein’s 1971 “Mass” on Aug. 19 at the Hollywood Bowl, but it might want to take a cue from the Boston Conservatory. Neil Donohoe, director of the production that played Thursday through Saturday at the conservatory, put gay marriage at the center of the work, according to the Boston Herald.

Donohoe reworked the scenario in which the lead character, called the Celebrant of the Mass, reconciles with the Roman Catholic Church after a crisis of faith. In Donohoe’s version, the role of the Celebrant was divided among four students, two women and two men.

“When the men and women arrive and introduce themselves to each other, the men hit it off and the women hit if off,” Donohoe told the Herald before the opening. After a series of trials, including the arrest of one of the men for an act of civil disobedience, “we end with a pastoral ceremony where the two men and the two women pledge love for each other and fidelity to each other.”

The Herald conjectured that “Bernstein -- whose extramarital personal life included affairs with men and at least one such long-term relationship -- would surely have approved.” The Bowl performance will be conducted by Marin Alsop.