Though Candide saw its composer Leonard Bernstein just on the cusp of greatness, prior to West Side Story, sadly it took years to get real love after the operetta’s initial Broadway flop in 1956. As recently as 1989, the year before his death, Bernstein was still tinkering with the show – so any production of Candide could be a very different encounter. Characters and songs may be there, or not.
Based on the Enlightenment-era novella by Voltaire, Candide is a two-fingered salute to the society of both the writer’s and composer’s times – in the case of the latter, a risqué affair for the mid-to-late 1950s. Candide remains surprisingly subversive, and – thanks to director James Bonas – is giving Wales a well-needed ribbing from the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff.
Firstly, the video work by Grégoire Pont towers over the whole production: a mighty, monochromatic vesta evoking Persepolis, the graphic novel by Marjan Satrapi, though perhaps more scribbly. It’s a heavy reliance on it, though were it not for the many witty moments that the cast utilize it, it could have been overegged. The sets of Thibault Vancraenenbrock are second fiddle to the smashing video work, though what there is compliments the screens well; swift moments of pretending to rock about in cars, boats and airships is standard fare, though the silliness is jacked up.
Some Welsh nods are injected in Candide for the WNO audience, and I think we’ve seen a fair amount of these contemporary ideas in other productions – though I doubt Glitter And Be Gay have been done with sanitation workers as here, Candide’s love Cunégonde flailing about a fire exit stairwell. Claudia Boyle wowed as our heroine, unafraid to reach a greater plateau, with even higher notes in an aria well known for its ludicrous demands.
The story leaves no prisoners, as the characters are spread across the old and new world. The cod-philosophy of Dr Pangloss – “Everything is for the best, in the best of all possible worlds” – keeps optimism afloat in the darkest of times. Candide abides in his teacher’s views and somehow makes it out alive from war, earthquakes, grief and multiple murders he has committed. Will he come across his childhood sweetheart Cunégonde ever again? Will he maintain his composure in this, the best of all possible worlds?
The evening went swimmingly, aside from an abrupt stop in the show, with an audience accident occurring in the dress circle. Once sorted, the cast found it hard to get back to where they were in the show – waiting for the video work to come and be pencilled around them, and Boyle even forgetting her line about lost jewellery. This could have easily been planned, though the stage manager coming on stage to stop proceedings was a sobering sight. Thereafter, things plodded along again in the odd metre that Candide has about it.
A well-fitted cast is suited into the postpunk, mostly period-correct costumes of Nathalie Pallandre. As Candide, Ed Lyon looks the part, his voice as finely tailored to the role as Boyle’s aforementioned Cunégonde; Gillian Bevan, a genderswap take on the reserved Dr Pangloss with a distinctly Vivienne Westwood-esque appearance, joins in the odd dance number and we love her for that. As the respectful Old Woman, Madeleine Shaw’s voice is bright and total mezzo, the diction for the spoken part left wanting (her elaborate story of how she loses a buttock was so quiet in the huge space). Mark Nathan plays Maximillian, the deep-voiced, foppish brother of Cunégonde, and gets stupidly comic moments, his crossdressing and mock death remained as highlights.
The WNO Orchestra never wain, conductor Karen Kamensek loving this piece eternally. Onstage with the players, it takes an American to truly get this show and the whole musical offering shimmered with bite and glee.
Welsh National Opera’s Candide, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Thurs 22 June
Touring the UK including Venue Cymru, Llandudno, Wed 5 July; Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon, Sat 15 July. Info: here
words JAMES ELLIS
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