Search - Leonard Bernstein, Mark Baker, Maureen Brennan :: Candide (1974 Broadway Revival Cast)

The Definitive Candide?

E. Chris Caggiano | Boston, MA USA | 09/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Every composer seems to have his "show that will not die." Jerry Herman has Mack and Mabel. Stephen Sondheim has Merrily We Roll Along. And Leonard Bernstein had Candide. And they all have one thing in common: they have terrific scores, but troublesome books, at least in their original incarnations.



That is, until director Hal Prince and librettist Hugh Wheeler took a crack at Candide in 1974 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The production jettisoned the ponderous and pretentious original book for a fast-and-loose interpretation that was far more true to the spirit of the original Voltaire classic. The BAM version caught on, and moved to Broadway, where it played for two years, and many thought this version to be the definitive Candide.



But that hasn't stopped people from trying to improve the show. Before he died, Bernstein himself oversaw numerous additional attempts to "perfect" the show, including a recording in 1989 that he labeled the "final" version. A few years back, the folks at the Boston Conservatory performed the latest version of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, one concocted by director John (Les Miserables) Caird.



Here's the main problem with all these new versions: they try to do the whole damn score, every little number ever written, no matter how tangential or tedious, and it slows the production down to a snail's crawl. The BoCo production was admirable and swell to look at, but it felt like it lasted a friggin' week. The Caird version adds characters, scenes, and plot-lines in addition to every damn song imaginable, and the result is overwrought and downright soporific.



The Hal Prince version, however, is zippy and punchy, and tons of fun. The performances are spot-on, particularly those by Mark Baker (Candide), Maureen Brennan (Cunegonde), and Lewis J. Stadlen (Dr. Pangloss). There's very little dead weight in this show, which is performed in its entirety on the new 2-CD set. Each musical number has a purpose, and performs it admirably, and the true purpose of Voltaire's satiric piece comes through in a way that none of the other versions even approximates."

THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS

Robert F. Powers | Quincy, Ma USA | 08/31/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"OK it doesn't have the incandescent Barbara Cook who's rendition of "Glitter and Be Gay" is legendary but what it does have is the most complete version of the brilliant Leonard Bernstein score with a few added songs by Stephen Sondheim and a talented cast of young performers who do quite well with this challenging almost operatic music. The production was unique and they tore up the Broadway theatre so they could perform the show on small stages located throughout the theatre and even the balconys. Even the orchestra was in sections here, there and everywhere. And so now the main floor was referred to as the valleys and the balcony were the hills. Some of the audience sat in conventional theatre seats, other audience members sat on stools, others sat at the edge of the "hills" with their feet dangling over the heads of the people in the "valleys". And a few lucky audience members actually had seats located on the main stage.



It may have been a gimmick but it worked splendidly and it gave the audience a sort of communal feel with the actors and sometimes the actors even inter-played with the audience.



But on CD the music is what's important and this is a must have for any serious devotee of the theatre and maybe some can quibble here and there about the quality of the young performers voices not being of operatic timbre but they do quite well and oft times really really well and Lewis J Stadlin as Voltaire and Doctor Pangloss and a few other characters was brilliant and hilarious. So..to sum up, is this recording The Best of All Possible Worlds?....if not it's close enough."

FINALLY it's here!!!!!!

David Rigano | NY, NY | 11/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just about every recording of CANDIDE available (save the original 1956 recording) is based in some way on this production. It only makes sense that this should be available, as it's the one that really got the ball rolling. The original (produced in 1956 with lyrics by Richard Wilbur and John LaTouche and a klunky book by Lillian Hellman) did not soar, though many of the songs from the score were revered (especially the glorious Overture). In 1974 Hal Prince hired Hugh Wheeler to rewrite the book and Stephen Sondheim to fill in lyrics where needed and staged it in an environmental setting which finally brought the story and characters to full life. The result was an incredibly successful off-Broadway run that quickly transferred to Broadway as the first successful professional production of CANDIDE. Why we have had to wait so long for it to be available on CD I cannot even begin to fathom.



I don't yet have the CD (though I'm buying it as soon as I finish typing this) so I can't comment on the quality or how it's been remastered, but I do have this version on vinyl and I can comment on the performances. It is hardly the most well-sung CANDIDE out there. If you want that, grab the Scottish Opera version or the '99 National Theatre recording. This 1974 production is, however, the most jubilant of all the recordings out there (and I've heard all of them). The energy level in the music (with a pit that was reduced from its original operatic proportions to a 9-piece band) is higher than any CANDIDE I've heard, and the performers seem to be having enormous fun with the wonderful material. The acting can be corny at times and some of the new lines that were added to explain physical jokes are often pretty groan-worthy. But this is a full recording of a breakthrough production with practically the full libretto. A definite must-have for any CANDIDE fan."