CANDIDE and COMET

[PaulWom]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 12:26am

Hey! I was wondering if anybody who saw the Hal Prince production could clarify this:

Some people have been saying that his production of  Candide was remarkably similar to Chavkin's Comet, but somehow I can't believe that he took over the ENTIRE theater (especially because that technology, sound design -wise in particular, has not existed until recently). Can someone fill me in on what that production was?

[Jarethan]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 2:04am

PaulWom said: "Hey! I was wondering if anybody who saw the Hal Prince production could clarify this:

Some people have been saying that his production of  Candide was remarkably similar to Chavkin's Comet, but somehow I can't believe that he took over the ENTIRE theater (especially because that technology, sound design -wise in particular, has not existed until recently). Can someone fill me in on what that production was?

 

I have always assumed that Chaikin's vision included an homage to Hal Prince.  To me, the concept was incredibly close to Candide, complete with actors saying 'excuse me' as they walked / ran / danced through the audience, playing from all different parts of the theatre, etc.  I can remember sitting in the 'Dangling Section' the first time I saw it...literally my feet dangled and I don't remember having a seat back; I do remember Candide getting tortured (it was a musical comedy) about a foot from my head, which added to the sense of silliness.  I sat on the floor level once (don't remember what it was called) and almost tripped Cunegonde.  

As I recall, Candide went further than Comet in re-designing the theatre.  It was hard to tell there was EVER a legitimate Broadway theatre there before Candide opened.  The Comet design team has done wondrous things, but there is no doubt that you are in a theatre, and many of the seats are where they always were.  They are embellishing it, whereas the Candide design was re-defining it.  I am not sure there was a single seat that was in the same place before the theatre was re-designed.

Re technology, Candide did not seem to make any special use of existing technology at the time.   It was not a 'technical show' in the way that Comet is, complete with horribly bright lights. 

 

 

[PaulWom]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 2:22am

Ok... I didn't come here for more Comet bashing Obviously I should've known better. 

I was just wondering how they could've pulled off the scenes in the mezzanine, for example, without today's sound design technology that was invented for Comet

[Jarethan]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 2:25am

PaulWom said: "Ok... I didn't come here for more Comet bashing Obviously I should've known better. 

I was just wondering how they could've pulled off the scenes in the mezzanine, for example, without today's sound design technology that was invented for Comet

 

In no way was I Comet bashing.  If you read again, the only thing I didn't like was some of the harsh lighting.  I thought they did a terrific job otherwise...Candide just went further in reimagining the theatre space.

 

[Valentina3]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 11:12am

Does anyone have pictures/videos they can share from Prince's Candide production? I couldn't find anything online.

[leighmiserables]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 11:40am

Valentina3 said: "Does anyone have pictures/videos they can share from Prince's Candide production? I couldn't find anything online.

 

"

This is the only one I could find (not even totally sure if it's from the right production, it just looks like it could be): 

Updated On: 6/13/17 at 11:40 AM

[daredevil]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 12:19pm

I saw the Prince Candide twice, during its Broadway run, and have seen Comet twice, once at Ars Nova and once at ART, but not on Broadway. I really don't think one production has much to do with the other. Candide was performed on an open space---only once or twice did the actors interact with the audience. It  was interesting to sit in a Broadway theater that had been reconfigured, but otherwise the production was pretty traditional. The vision of The Comet seems uniquely its own---its texture--the sense of flow between the actors and audience, and having its characters positioned at different spaces all around the theater seems, to me, to have nothing in common with the Candide that played the Broadway.

[Esther Blodgett]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 4:37pm

There is a coffee table book of this production of Candide with many photos (B&W and color) along with the Hugh Wheeler script and the multitudes' lyrics. Leafing through this book will give you an idea of how extensive the renovation and reconfiguring of the Broadway actually was. There is a copy for sale on abebooks.com for $79.05. Perhaps a library has a copy someplace.

The poster who said no seat in the Broadway remained where it was is correct. There was seating on the main floor on stools and some bleacher type seats. The mezzanine was entirely bleachers and extended way up into the heavens. I saw this in Brooklyn and had a dangling leg seat on a catwalk where many actors walked and/or ran right by my back. I later saw this twice on Broadway, but only from those top price stools.

This is one of the more memorable stagings from my distant youth. I loved it.

There is a tangental relationship to Comet, but they are two different stagings. Comet uses much of the existing theatre and Candide ought to have been done in a hotel ballroom.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 4:45pm

daredevil said: "I saw the Prince Candide twice, during its Broadway run, and have seen Comet twice, once at Ars Nova and once at ART, but not on Broadway. I really don't think one production has much to do with the other. Candide was performed on an open space---only once or twice did the actors interact with the audience. It  was interesting to sit in a Broadway theater that had been reconfigured, but otherwise the production was pretty traditional. The vision of The Comet seems uniquely its own---its texture--the sense of flow between the actors and audience, and having its characters positioned at different spaces all around the theater seems, to me, to have nothing in common with the Candide that played the Broadway.

 

I saw it four times, sitting in a different section each time.  There was a lot happening throughout the theatre.  Glitter and Be Gay was performed against a side wall (she had to be adding jewels as the song went on) but Cunegonde was surrounded on three sides by audience members as close as 2 feet from her.  There was an extended scene when Candide went searching...he kept on asking people in the audience to move (their top-price stools) so he could get by, singing periodically; the flogging scene was performed right by the Dangling section, etc.  True, it was not as constant as Great Comet, in that there WAS a real stage; but, I would venture that approaching half the show was performed among the audience.  The theatre was also considerably smaller, in terms of number of seats, than the current production of Comet.