By Ryan Burr
OUTscene Staff
It’s easy to see why composer Leonard Bernstein’s Candide is a cult favorite: it’s a bit jumbled in the story line, but novel for many reasons, like the sexual parlance uncommon to the 1950s when it opened, and a genuinely original cast recording. That recording has never gone out of print.
This week, The Fifth Avenue Theatre showed Candide as part of its tribute to Bernstein. Last month, On The Town was performed. Candide is engrossing and enjoyable more because of Bernstein’s score than a compelling story line.
Candide is considered on of the most daring ventures in musical theater, mainly because of the demands on its cast, orchestra, designers and artistic and technical staff. It is a highly intellectual and satirical—French satire to be exact—operetta. Plus, it has important historical roots. It was written in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. It parodies many adventure and romance clichés. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers through allegory; most conspicuously, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism.
Another point of history: Immediately after its secretive publication, Voltaire’s book of Candide was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté. However, with its sharp wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition, the novel has since inspired many later authors and artists to mimic and adapt it; most notably, Bernstein.
Bernstein was creating the score for West Side Story at the same time as Candide. They are polar opposites, but two melodies originally intended for Candide wound up in West Side Story: “One Hand, One Heart” and “Gee, Officer Krupke!”
The original 1956 libretto of Candide, written by Lillian Hellman, was an intensely bitter and somewhat loose adaptation of Voltaire, but Hugh Wheeler's new libretto, first produced in 1974, was a far more faithful adaptation of the novella, and the one which is still in use today.
Candide runs through Sunday, June 13. Go to The 5th Avenue Theatre’s Web site for tickets and show times, http://www.5thavenue.org/.
This week, The Fifth Avenue Theatre showed Candide as part of its tribute to Bernstein. Last month, On The Town was performed. Candide is engrossing and enjoyable more because of Bernstein’s score than a compelling story line.
Candide is considered on of the most daring ventures in musical theater, mainly because of the demands on its cast, orchestra, designers and artistic and technical staff. It is a highly intellectual and satirical—French satire to be exact—operetta. Plus, it has important historical roots. It was written in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. It parodies many adventure and romance clichés. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers through allegory; most conspicuously, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism.
Another point of history: Immediately after its secretive publication, Voltaire’s book of Candide was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté. However, with its sharp wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition, the novel has since inspired many later authors and artists to mimic and adapt it; most notably, Bernstein.
Bernstein was creating the score for West Side Story at the same time as Candide. They are polar opposites, but two melodies originally intended for Candide wound up in West Side Story: “One Hand, One Heart” and “Gee, Officer Krupke!”
The original 1956 libretto of Candide, written by Lillian Hellman, was an intensely bitter and somewhat loose adaptation of Voltaire, but Hugh Wheeler's new libretto, first produced in 1974, was a far more faithful adaptation of the novella, and the one which is still in use today.
Candide runs through Sunday, June 13. Go to The 5th Avenue Theatre’s Web site for tickets and show times, http://www.5thavenue.org/.
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