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Candide
By Michael Van Duzer
“Oh, poor Candide” warbles the Governor as he sends Candide out in a leaky skiff after bilking him of most of his treasure. Those sentiments might be used to describe the complex history of Leonard Bernstein’s musical version of Voltaire’s famous novella. Originally produced in the mid-Fifties on Broadway, Candide was a legendary flop. Done in by Lillian Hellman’s too-heavy book, its use of political satire in the Age of McCarthy and the score’s operatic scope, it survived in the minds of theatre-lovers because of an outstanding original cast recording that captured the best part of the show—Bernstein’s dazzling music. In the mid-seventies, Hal Prince directed an environmental production Off-Broadway that featured a hilariously peripatetic new book by Hugh Wheeler and some additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The show was a success, and finally the Candide-cult (count me among them) was vindicated…except that the performers were more actors than singers and the all-important score suffered slightly. Also, a few choice numbers had been sacrificed to the new storyline. In the early eighties, New York City Opera commissioned an opera- house version of the piece that found ingenious ways to restore much of the music cut in the seventies as well as adding some trunk songs that never made it into the original production. Not content with this, the Scottish Opera made more changes in the eighties, while another Broadway production that seemed to have everything going for it, failed several seasons ago.
Even with a workable book, Candide is an extremely tricky production to tackle. It requires a visionary director with a consistent sense of style to make the quicksilver jumps from absurdity to pathos appear natural, plus an incredible cast of performers who can navigate the difficult score, bite out the trenchant lyrics, and keep their air of blissful wonderment through the myriad disasters they encounter. The results in Opera Pacific’s valiant attempt were decidedly mixed. Looking like it needed a few more days of rehearsal, the production lurched through a mixed bag of sublime moments and missed opportunities.
The sublime moments were, not surprisingly, mostly musical. Laura Claycomb (so impressive as the Bellini Giulietta in Los Angeles a few seasons ago) was a beautifully sung Cunegonde. If her comedy lines seemed a bit tentative, she certainly threw herself into the physical part of the role with complete abandon. Her “Glitter and Be Gay” rang out with the kind of wit and style the show demands but was undercut by the mincing chorus boys added to her solo. This kind of overkill signified much of what was wrong with the tone of the production. Richard Troxell’s Candide suffered far less from this as his character is basically the straight man. He sang with ardor and verve, bringing a welcome clarity to the lyrics. Judith Christin’s Old Lady remained funny through her dialog but suffered from foggy diction in sure-fire musical moments like “I Am Easily Assimilated.” (Although supertitles were supplied, one shouldn’t have to resort to them for this show.) Frank Hernandez had great fun as Maximillian and, if one could have wished for more subtlety, he was in keeping with the thrust of the production. William Parcher’s relatively subdued Voltaire/Pangloss suffered the most from the unfriendly miking of the dialog with the result that much of the initial set-up for the show was garbled. He did fine work with Pangloss’ restored patter song and came to extraordinary life in the Second Act when portraying the minor role of Cacambo. Matthew Lord was a wonderfully witty Governor.
Director Jeffrey Lentz takes a ham-fisted approach to the humor in Candide when a more subtle touch might garner more true laughs. Where this production should bubble and fizz, too often it tends to deflate, despite the hardworking cast. Jerome Sirlin’s projected sets are a handy solution for a show that changes location as often as it does, but there was an unpolished feel to the scene changes, not at all helped by Howell Binkley’s slapdash lighting design--typified by errant spots that had trouble finding the performers. That being said, although this may not be the best of all possible productions, performances of Candide are rare and this one has its rewards.
Opera Pacific Orange County Performing Arts Center; March 2- March 7, 2004
1 800 34 OPERA www.operapacific.org
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