Should Candide be revived?

[Steel Pier Fan]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 3:19pm

I think it should be revived like the 1974 revival or the New York Philharmonic concert? Do you agree? If not why?

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 3:23pm

It wouldn't make any money, and I wouldn't go see it unless Cheno was involved.

[Steel Pier Fan]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 3:25pm

Why don't you think it would make money? If its done right it good be a critic's darling. People said Anything Goes wouldn't do good.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 3:27pm

Anything Goes is a solid show that has been a hit in it's numerous incarnations. Candide, however, hasn't really...

[Steel Pier Fan]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 3:29pm

Candide is a pretty solid show. Though it hasn't recouped they have only done it right once on Broadway. For that production they chose the wrong theater to do it in. Plus that production didn't have strong cast. I'm pretty sure Cheno would do it because Cunegonde is considered a hard part. If she did it right she could easily win a Tony Award.

[whatever2]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 3:34pm

your posts give the impression you're not open to divergent answers to your original question.

by no objective measure can candide be considered to have the broad audience appeal that anything goes has.

the likelihood of a revival succeeding is remote.

[Steel Pier Fan]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 3:37pm

No, I see the points and respect the opinion. I'm just stating my opinions and reactions on their responses. It doesn't bother me that their opinions are different. I was saying Cheno would most likely do it because some one said something about it and why I think it could make money.

[HistoryBoy2]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 3:38pm

Do another concert, please.
With Audra.

[Kad]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 3:40pm

I think the closest to a perfect production of Candide we will ever see is the Philharmonic concert.

It's a tough show to mount. It's huge. It requires a very large ensemble, the score needs a sizable orchestra for justice to be done to it, it requires a lot of technical elements. There still has not been a version of the book that seems to satisfy everyone- nearly every major production has revised it and revised the song list (despite Bernstein's "final" version of the score being set in 1989).

The 70s version was reduced to a one-act and cut about half the score- something I don't think critics will abide today.

I'm sure it'll eventually be revived again, but I just don't see it ever being a show that will be successful.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 3:41pm

Mary Zimmerman staged a production in Chicago that transferred to DC and is going to Boston this fall that was really great. She rewrote the boo to make it much more closely follow the original text. It worked much better than Hugh Wheeler's book, and if any production of Candide comes to Broadway anytime soon, it should be this one. I would highly recommend it to anyone in the Boston area who can see it this fall. Lauren Molina played Cunegonde, and she did the role quite well. Kristin Chenoweth is not the only person on the face of the earth who can play the role.

[Steel Pier Fan]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 3:43pm

Oh yea there are many great people who could play Cunegonde. She is a name that might bring people in though.

[Kad]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 3:45pm

Chenoweth's getting too old to play the role.

[Steel Pier Fan]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 3:50pm

That is why it should be done soon.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 4:24pm

First, we need to settle on a version. (Be warned; one of my infamous long posts ahead.)

* As Kad pointed out, before his death, Bernstein set the "final" version of the score in 1989. So let's use that as the jumping-off point since that reflects Bernstein's last wishes for the show. We've got that score, which reflects a particular plot line.
* With the score in place, we go back and shape the book around that, which isn't hard thanks to the narrative Bernstein and John Wells wrote to accompany the recording.
* There are two extant versions of the libretto available that can be licensed from MTI, the Hugh Wheeler version and the John Caird version (the latter of which draws on the other but also pulls from various sources including Lillian Hellman's abandoned original script and the Voltaire novella), and I'm sure the rest would be a mess of copyright problems involving the various estates, so we have to contend with what fits from either of those versions.
* Having a "set" score and a reconstructed book, one can then go about whatever vision they have in mind for the piece.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 4:43pm

CANDIDE has been done on Broadway 3 times: 1956(Hellman version) at the Martin Beck (73 perfs - flop); 1974 (Wheeler version) at the Braodway Theatre (740 perfs - still a flop despite the long run due to high operating costs and additional musicians on the payroll) and Livent's 1997 revival (Wheeler/Prince "opera house" version) at the Gershwin Theatre (104 perfs - again a flop.) Since this version had been done many times by NYCO it was felt that New York audiences had been overexposed to the show. And it is not a show that will ever sell to tourists.

The opera house version was huge hit for New York City Opera - possibly because of the limited number of performances they sold out all performances the first few seasons NYCO perfomed CANDIDE. (It was also telcast on Live from Lincoln Center.) Trying to find out when it was last done by NYCO - anyone know?

Updated On: 6/9/11 at 04:43 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 4:51pm

CANDIDE needs singers who have both quasi-operatic voices and spectacular comic time. You don't find people like that every day, and the show isn't worth doing if you don't have them.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 5:00pm

Mary Zimmerman staged a production in Chicago that transferred to DC and is going to Boston this fall that was really great.

I thought it was...okay. Definitely not great. I thought the Light Opera Works production (based on the 1999 RNT production) was far superior. I really didn't care for the various peripheral characters narrating to the audience with somber monologues. Zimmerman's direction and staging had a heaviness to it that bordered on the tedious.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 5:12pm

It's a work that belongs in an opera house. Perhaps City Opera will try it again once they find their new digs.

Posted: 6/9/11 at 5:40pm

I've said it beforeon here (many times) but will say it again. John Caird's revision of the Hugh Wheeler book for the RNT in London was one of the most exciting pieces of musical theatre I have ever seen (back in 99). It managed to capture all the best elements of Candide I think (maybe the samller orchestra aside), while somehow being much truer to Voltaire's novel--I found the concert version with Cheno greatly inferior and flawed, but I suppose it's not fair to judge (although I certainly thought it was a shame that Broadway around the same time got the not well received last Hal Prince production instead of transfering over the RNT one).

It's a shame more Candide fans don't seem to know this version, though I know a few American companies have been using its script now (I'm not sure if the RNT's cast album is still in print). The show undoubtedly works, and was a huge hit both with audiences and critics. Funny, clever, and often quite beautiful and touching.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 7:10pm

I really liked the New York Philharmonic concert version. I know it was a bit of a comedic departure from the RNT version, but I really liked Lonny's adaptation of the material and it was the first time that I actually enjoyed the show from start to finish. I wish they would make that version available to license and I'd still like to see what Lonny could have done with Candide as a full production and not just as a concert.

Posted: 6/9/11 at 7:31pm

This is probably a dumb question, but has Lonny done much in the way of New York fully staged events? He seems to have the monopoly on concerts now.

Maybe I should re-watch it, I just remember being often disappointed. I thought Candide was too old (Daniel Evans at the RNT was perfect casting), and I seem to remember Price incorporated some blatant political humour (though I may be mis-remembering, aroudn the same time there was a production in France that turned it all into politics). IMHO Voltaire's piece isn't so specifically political, in fact I think that's one way that Hellman's original libretto went wrong.

[lakezurich]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 7:53pm

I found Zimmerman's production at the Goodman to be incredibly dull and lifeless. And Lauren Molina should not step near that role again.

[evic]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 8:35pm

Only if Patricia Birch has nothing to do with it....Prince's 74 version was so much fun with the action taking place on different platforms all around the theater.....his NYC opera version was ok....and the revival of this version was a disaster. One of the best scores and orchestrations ever. Kristie as Cunagonde?- Only if you like your ingenues old and with botox

[Steel Pier Fan]

Posted: 6/9/11 at 8:37pm

Uhm... that was a little rude.

Posted: 6/9/11 at 9:02pm

*Confused* Pat Birch choreographed the '74 production. :blink: