Review: CBT/KSO’s ‘Candide’ – The Best of Dazzling Possibilities

 

For the last year or so, productions of Leonard Bernstein’s comic operetta Candide have been popping up all over the globe, from Europe to South America, thanks in large part to the encouragement and celebration surrounding the composer’s 100th anniversary. In the United States alone, LA Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Washington National Opera have joined a host of regional and college theatres in staging full versions. Inevitably, though, the Candide elephant in the room has always been the work’s difficult production history that has seen its book re-written, revised, trimmed, truncated, expanded, and contorted around the brilliant Bernstein score in an effort to make musical theatre sense out of Voltaire’s charmingly satiric novella. Clearly, the list of notable writers who have contributed narrative and lyrics to Candide versions over the years speaks volumes about these difficulties: Hugh Wheeler, Richard Wilbur, Stephen Sondheim, John La Touche, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, as well as Bernstein himself.

In the season opener for both organizations, the Clarence Brown Theatre and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra have thrown their hat into the Candide ring with a joint production that feels like the best of all possible solutions to the work’s narrative challenges. Their concept has the 37-member orchestra and conductor onstage with the singer/actors in staging that seems to tumble out into the audience, thereby creating a fascinating blend of theatre-music and music-theatre that is sonically superb and visually satisfying—a production that deliciously shatters the theatrical “fourth wall.”

While CBT has tackled narratives before that unfold as theatrical travelogues, Candide operates on a different plane. Directed by CBT’s Calvin MacLean (along with co-director James Marvel and choreographer Casey Sams) on the theatrical side, and by KSO music director/conductor, Aram Demirjian, on the music side, the production is a feast of vitality, instrumental crispness, vocal charm, marvelous ensemble-ness, and some dazzle, from a cast of surprising depth, top to bottom.

The narrative surrounds the twists, turns, and misadventures of the romantic pair, Candide and Cunegonde, who, tutored in the philosophy of blind optimism, learn the hard way that the real universe loves to wallow in irony, oblivious to any difference between benevolence and malevolence. Tenor James Onstad, appropriately heroic, and soprano Cecilia Iole, appropriately mock-ingénue, were perfectly cast as the attractive pair, each with the vocal timbre and likability—and certainly, range—to match.

Of course, Ms. Iole’s Cunegonde has the Act I show-stopping number, “Glitter and Be Gay”—and stop the show she did. Giving the aria a mix of coloratura acrobatics, delightful comic juxtaposition, and brash, belt-it-out vocal delivery, Iole wowed the opening night audience, who responded with extended applause.

David Kortemeier, seen in a number of CBT productions including Violet and Sweeney Todd, took the dual roles of the quasi-narrator Voltaire and the philosopher Pangloss, offering them up as lively and picturesque dramatic glue.

Although the character of the Old Lady does not appear until later in Act I, it can be a great vehicle for the right singing-actress. Chicago-based Heidi Kettenring seized on the opportunity, bringing a wealth of comic detail, earthy vocal prowess, and physical vivacity to the role. Her “I am Easily Assimilated,” was brilliantly delivered, a veritable anthem to the notion of making the best with what you’ve got.

 

Notable, too, was Jonathan Christopher singing the role of Maximillan, Cunegonde’s brother, who can never seem to let go of fundamental biases.

A familiar CBT face was Charlotte Munson in the role of the tart-ish maid Paquette, who like others in the cast took multiple roles. In this case, her comically uncanny appearance as a statue of the Virgin Mary possibly completed the gamut of portrayals from this versatile actress.

A notable feature of the production was the unusual wealth of vocal and dramatic talent in secondary roles (Tracey Copeland Halter, Perry Ward, Jeff Parker, David Crawford, Jade Arnold, Cody Boling, Roderick Peeples, and Pedro Tomás) and in the excellent vocal ensemble—certainly a fact that sets this CBT/KSO production apart from others.

Michael Ganio’s intriguing set gave the orchestra a prominent, though upstage, position, with conductor Demirjian on a raised knob of sorts, allowing him to be a dramatic/comic participant on occasion. The acoustic balance of orchestra against mic-ed singers was flawless (sound design by Curtis Craig), at least from my vantage point. Joe Payne’s elaborate projection provided a visual narration of the globe-hopping action, drawing the audience into the geography of the moment. The lighting was rich, yet gorgeously subtle and layered, a product of one of the American theatre’s great lighting designers, Jennifer Tipton. Bill Black’s costumes painted a depth of rich details that were beautifully supportive of the portrayals and comic ironies.

While much has been written about Candide’s narrative challenges, this CBT/KSO production succeeds because it has embraced and addressed them from a multitude of angles—a brilliant score handled by the integration of the orchestra onto the physical stage, energetic and vibrant staging, and oh-so entertaining performances. Perhaps most importantly, though, this Candide has perhaps found that final puzzle-piece because it has not shied away from the obvious connections of Voltaire’s satire of blind optimism to our own contemporary socio-political predicaments.

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