The new Welsh National Opera travelling production of Bernstein’s operetta Candide is a totally delightful, innovative, surprising and astonishingly original pieces of theatre directed by James Bonas.
The basic material itself is one of the strongest shows that Bernstein ever collaborated on and worthy of this captivating effort. Taking Voltaire’s Candide as the basis of its peripatetic and picaresque story line, the show follows the adventures of Candide, Cunegonde and others through a series of adventures and catastrophes, natural catastrophes, human betrayals and greed, to show that perhaps all is not for the best in the best of all possible worlds. The production by Bonas does remarkable justice to the show’s originality, satire and sheer cheeky exuberance. One of its salient features is putting the orchestra at the back of the stage, so that the sonorities and orchestrations of this superb score come across with great clarity. I heard many details in the score that have never struck me as strongly before, and the conducting of Karen Kamensek is full of the joy, sheer energy and iconoclastic cleverness of both the book and the music.
The costumes are a wonderful mishmash suggesting both the original 18th century setting of Voltaire’s novella and 21st century sensibilities and iconoclasm. Using only sets of stairs and a few props, the mise-en-scene relies essentially on a curtain onto which are projected a series of line-drawing suggestions of the settings and also several irreverent and witty jokes. The videos seem to sketch themselves before your very eyes to convey every nuance and every setting; the entire cast has clearly been drilled to perfection to synchronise seamlessly with a series of illusions and illustrations that bring the story alive with almost an excess of visual energy.
Grégoire Pont, who created the animations and video, is clearly a genius in his field. The non-stop movement and choreography by Ewan Jones is constantly syncopated; observing its seamless integration into the score and story and with the cartoonish projections is, in itself, worth a visit. This is a very rich show, not just a feast for the ears and the mind, but also a rich feast for the eyes and full credit must be given for the overall effect to both Pont and Jones for their teamwork and the collaboration of the entire ensemble for the brilliance of the physical show. Every effect comes off with perfect ease.
The casting of the various roles is strong both visually and vocally. Ed Lyon makes an appealing, handsome and strong voiced Candide, convincingly innocent at the start and able to convey the growth and changes that his adventures make to his character through his acting as well as his beautiful singing. The ending when he exhorts us to make our gardens grow is very moving. Claudia Boyle is a brilliant Cunegonde in every way, a singing actress who not only glitters and shines through her beauty and acting but also has the vocal capacity to sing her difficult coloratura part easily. She and her accompanying dancers had the house cheering at the conclusion of the splendidly choreographed and sung rendition of “Glitter and Be Gay”. Madeleine Shaw makes the most of her standout roles as the Old Lady and also has a memorable song about being easily assimilated. Mark Nathan as the vainglorious brother Maximilian must also be singled out; and so should Francesca Saracino as Paquette, Julian Boyce as the Archbishop and Joshua Lear as the Priest. The interesting casting of Gillian Bevan as Pangloss, the Narrator, the Sage and the Beggar works just fine. There is not a weak link in the cast, the chorus or the dance troupe.
This is a gesumptkunstwerk of a production, a Brechtian feast of imagination and Alienation Effect that keeps your mind, heart and brain active throughout. It’s impossible not to pay attention from start to finish. The production is constantly refreshing and always busy but never inappropriately. And all the while it’s serving the Bernstein score, which is one of the best ever to emerge from Broadway.
If you have never seen Bernstein’s Candide you’re in store for a great treat. If you’ve seen it in some previous incarnation, this is a fresh approach to a wonderful work of music theatre that will captivate and delight you. If this production comes near you in its travels, I would recommend making whatever effort it takes to attend a performance. The Welsh National Opera proves once again its commitment to realizing every element of a work with equal attention and dexterity.
This production is next playing at the Birmingham Alexandra Theatre on Wednesday 12 July and the Brecon Theatr Bryncheiniog on Saturday 15 July. I encourage the Welsh National Opera to revive Candide again and tour it more extensively as soon as it can because it deserves to be much more widely seen. Maybe the BBC or Netflix could even do us a favour and film a live performance?