Candide :: EDGE New York City

Candide
by Steve Weinstein
EDGE Editor-In-Chief
Friday Apr 11, 2008

Judy Blazer stops the show as the Old Lady with one buttock and stories to tell.

For any serious Broadway show queen, Candide stands high in the pantheon of their most-cherished treasures. The fact that the show was a resounding flop in its premier only makes it all the more valued as one of those in-the-know shows that separates the truly dedicated aficionado from the amateur. City Opera’s production does this delightful proud.

If the show was a dud in the 1950s, it had more to do with the problematic book than Leonard Bernstein’s score, which everyone now recognizes as one of those landmark events that marked the maturation of the Broadway musical. (It’s worth remembering that Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess was also a bomb in its Broadway premier).

The problem lies in trying to bring Voltaire’s satire to life. Voltaire wrote Candide as a book-long fictional diatribe against the philosophy of Gottfried Liebniz. In the show, Voltaire’s narrator alternates with Dr. Pangloss, the writer’s stand-in for Liebniz. As hilariously detailed in the song "The Best of All Possible Worlds," Pangloss/Liebniz posited that everything that, if the world was created by a universally knowing and good Good, everything that happens must happen for the best.

Voltaire’s stick figures undergo a litany of woes that would make Job wince. They finally settle down in the Turkish Empire, where they remark on how foolish their philosophy was and promise to till their garden quietly--detailed in one of the most ethereally beautiful songs ever written, "Make Our Garden Grow."

This production, conceived and originally directed by no less than Harold Prince, emphasizes the cartoonish aspect of the characters and situations, which is all to the good. The plot really is pretty silly, and the circus theme fits the music.

The cast is a dream. Daniel Reichard in the title role has a gorgeous tenor and boyish good looks. He also looks great getting flogged in the auto-da-fe sequence. As his love interest Cunegonde, Loren Worsham is physically gorgeous and has the pipes to navigate her way through the famously treacherous shoals of the coloratura scales in "Glitter and Be Gay." Jessica Wright was equally pretty and scintillating as the sluttish servant girl Paquette.

Judith Blazer stops the show as the Old Lady, and almost--almost--made me forget Andrea Martin the last time I saw Candide. Of special note is the City Opera orchestra under the baton of George Manahan. There’s a lot of additional music in this Candide, and the sound was clear as a bell, including the famous overture.

My only caveat is with the artwork in the ads and poster, which is just about the worst I’ve ever seen for a show. Ignore it and rush full speed to the New York State Theater, because this Candide will only be here for a few more days, and if you miss it, you’ll think you’re living in the worst of all possible worlds.

EDGE Editor-in-Chief Steve Weinstein has been a regular correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, the Advocate, the Village Voice and Out. He has been covering the AIDS crisis since the early ’80s, when he began his career. He is the author of "The Q Guide to Fire Island" (Alyson, 2007).