Much of the original cast reunited in a production at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in July 1972.
The European première of Mass was performed in July 1973 at Vienna's Konzerthaus with a cast consisting of students from Yale University, a choir from Vienna, and the Yale Symphony Orchestra, all conducted by John Mauceri. Mauceri, a protégé of the composer who studied at Tanglewood, was then a faculty member at Yale, and director of the student orchestra. He conducted the piece at Yale in the fall of 1972, at which time the composer elected to take the cast and orchestra abroad. Bernstein's Amberson Enterprises sponsored the production, which used amateur performers because of union restrictions on taking the Kennedy Center cast abroad. Michael Hume, the son of The Washington Post music critic Paul Hume, sang the role of the Celebrant. Ted Libby, later a music critic for The New York Times and The Washington Post, was a member of the Street Chorus, as was the television actor Robert Picardo.
The Yale/Vienna production was filmed for television by ORF, the Austrian broadcasting system, under the direction of Brian Large, a producer of live music films. To date, this production has not been released on video, though it was broadcast several times in the United States by PBS, in its "Theatre in America" series. The producers of the PBS biography, Leonard Bernstein: Reaching for the Note, used clips from the film because no other high quality footage could be found. The design, direction and flavor of the production are redolent of the 1960s and 1970s, when Godspell, Hair, and Jesus Christ Superstar used similar anarchical styles to present counter-culture themes on stage.
On March 11 and 12, 1974, a fully staged performance of Mass was presented at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. Under the direction of Richard Wright, this Florida premiere performance featured Robert Terry Whidden portraying the Celebrant, with choreography by Sharon Brooks.
The first British performance was staged at Coventry Theatre on May 16, 1976, by the University of Warwick with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, University of Warwick Chamber Choir and Chorus, Southend Boys' Choir, The London Chorale, Cycles Dance Company, Cameron (a pop group), conductor Roy Wales, Robert Carpenter Turner as the Celebrant, and producer Clive Barker. Roy Wales received permission directly from Leonard Bernstein in November 1974 to stage this British premiere, following a visit that Bernstein made to the University of Warwick in October 1974 when Roy Wales conducted a performance of Chichester Psalms in his presence. Wales had conducted the first London performance of Chichester Psalms on June 10, 1966, in the Duke's Hall at the Royal Academy of Music. The Coventry performance of Mass was followed the next night by the first London performance, at the Royal Albert Hall, on May 17, 1976, and this was reviewed in the Financial Times by Paul Griffiths and by William Mann in The Times, both May 18, 1976. Most reviews of the Royal Albert Hall premiere were mixed, but the performance was widely praised. In the Financial Times, Griffiths wrote, "Given such poor material, this performance was almost a miracle of transubstantiation. The playing of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra was full, bold and vigorous, and so too was the singing of the University of Warwick Chorus, joined by the excellent Southend Boys' Choir. Roy Wales had clearly trained his forces exceptionally well."
In 1981, the Kennedy Center mounted a tenth anniversary production, directed by Tom O'Horgan and conducted by John Mauceri, that was broadcast on September 19, 1981 ("Live from the Kennedy Center"). Donal Henahan described the work as even shallower than he remembered it from 1972 at the Metropolitan Opera.
In 1982, a production was mounted in Berlin's Deutschlandhalle conducted by Bernstein protégé David Charles Abell, directed by Wolfgang Weber, and choreographed by William Milié.
Ten years after staging the British premiere, Roy Wales conducted the Australian premiere on April 11, 1986, in the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Performed by The Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra, Brisbane Chorale, Queensland Conservatorium singers and with Jonathon Welch as the Celebrant, staged by Giuseppe Sorbello, and choreography by dance designer Ruth Gabriel, the performances were critically acclaimed.
In 2000, Mass was staged and performed at the Vatican as part of the Jubilee 2000 celebrations of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II attended that special event. The Celebrant was portrayed by Douglas Webster and the boy soprano role was split by identical twins Pascal Le Boeuf and Remy Le Boeuf.
On November 19, 2002, with the Collegiate Chorale and the Orchestra of St. Luke's staged a production in New York City with Robert Bass conducting. The Celebrant was portrayed by Douglas Webster and the boy soprano was sung by James Burnett Danner. Soloists included Geoffrey Blaisdell, Peter Buchi, Charis Fliermans, D. Michael Heath, Jan Horvath, Andre McCormick, Warren Moore, Anika Noni Rose, Liz Queler, and Lori Rivera. Writing in The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini wrote: "In retrospect it's hard to understand the hostility the work provoked. Admittedly the text is glibly anti-establishment and often mawkish. But after 9/11, a line like 'Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer' no longer seems such pap." He praised some moments but faulted others for sounding like "a rush job". He praised the performance and concluded: "In many ways Mass is an earnest mess, but it got to this baby boomer. Here is Uncle Lenny trying to make sense of it all. You have to love the guy."
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign presented a gala production of Mass at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, with student performers from the theater and dance departments and School of Music, in October 2006 in honor of the College of Fine and Applied Arts' 75th anniversary. Ricardo Herrera sang the part of the Celebrant; the performance was directed by James Zager, choreographed by John Dayger, and conducted by Eduardo Diazmuñoz. Chester Alwes and Fred Stoltzfus prepared the chorus.
