Photo by Mark Frohna
Skylight Music Theatre ‘Candide’
Skylight Music Theatre's ‘Candide’
When the subject of Candide came up in meetings at the Leonard Bernstein Office in New York during my music publishing career, there were almost always winces and audible groans. After its Broadway 1956 premiere, there have been at least five other official versions of the operetta, with changes in characters, story, librettists, lyrics, and even music.
After composer Leonard Bernstein’s death in 1990, the Royal National Theatre created yet another version in 1999, with a new libretto by John Caird, adapting Hugh Wheeler’s previously existing book. Skylight Music Theatre chose this version for its production, which opened last weekend and runs through October 29.
The operetta, based on Voltaire’s novella of the same name, is almost abstract in its ponderance of Dr. Pangloss’s teaching of “best of all possible worlds,” and the subsequent disillusionment with that outlook. The bastard Candide, initially an idealistic optimist in love with Cunegonde, lives through war, torture, displacement, and beyond. For her part, “material girl” Cunegonde becomes the jeweled concubine of more than one man. The story travels from Europe to South America and back.
The Skylight production is set in the quasi-1950s (never mind the more-than-mention of the Spanish Inquisition). Director/Designer James Ortiz creates imaginative scenarios and stagings, helped by costume designer Shima Orans, choreographer Ryan Cappleman, lighting designer Moaz Ahmed, and projection designer Taylor Verrett. There is never a dull moment, even with a stationary set. I particularly admired the pace of the direction. Ortiz’s wild concepts for puppet designs certainly drew the laughs deserved.
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Casting for this version quite rightly reflects more of a musical theatre vocal approach than for the opera house versions. As Candide, Sam Simahk’s clear voice seemingly has effortless diction. He captures the character’s naïvité, which crumbles as life’s turns beat him down. Susie Robinson’s bright, self-absorbed attitude serves the character of Cunegonde. I admit that after decades of hearing it done, I’ve grown tired of a broadly exaggerated rendering of “Glitter and Be Gay.” (I know opera professionals who refuse to hear it in auditions.) But she sang it well enough and pulled it off.
The rest of the cast adds to the production, without a weak link: Doug Clemons (Maxmillian), Ben George (Martin), Shawn Holmes (Cacambo), Nathan Marinan (Vanderdender), Samantha Sosterich (Paquette), Sara Stern (Old Woman), Andrew Varela (Pangloss), and ensemble members Lydia Rose Eiche, and Molly Wiley. Beyond Candide and Cunegonde, all others played various roles, creating a seamless, almost unnoticeable flow to the proceedings.
There is so much philosophy and eventual cynicism in Candide that, even in its ever-present cleverness, it can become a bit wearisome. The inspirational finale, “Make Our Garden Grow,” brings in welcome, sincere emotion. No one but Bernstein could have written any of the score but this number especially captures his spirit best.
If I have a complaint, it’s the orchestral sound. The actual playing is not the problem, conducted by Jeffrey Saver. It’s the distraction of having too much false amplification coming from speakers high above the stage, nowhere near the players. I wanted the speakers to be turned off almost immediately when the overture began. I felt I could never hear the orchestra for what it really was. Maybe that kind of amplified sound is OK for something like Mamma Mia!, but not for Candide.
