Broadway Features and Reviews
Broadway Candide's Confused Identity
By Juliane Elizabeth Buntin, Broadway Magazine
The biggest question about New York City Opera's latest revival of Candide
is what on earth to call the production. Since the world premiere in 1965,
Candide has played in opera houses and on the Broadway stage, turning the
show into a kind of cult classic favorite for both opera aficionados and
Broadway musical theater enthusiasts. With a magnificent Leonard Bernstein
score and the direction of genre-crossing Harold Prince (responsible for
staging The Pajama Game, and the treasured opera Madame Butterfly),
Candide proves difficult to classify.
The new cast makes this question even harder to answer. Daniel Reichard,
last seen dazzling audiences as Bob Guadio in Jersey Boys, is slated to
sing Candide in all 14 performances. It seems unlikely to think of another
opera casting a musical theater actor in a leading role. Traditionally,
the major difference between opera and musical theater has to do with
acting-opera stars are singers first, while musical theater leads must be
able to sing, dance, and act with the best of them. Reichard is not the
only cast member with musical theater credentials under his belt. Richard
Kind, singing Dr.Pangloss/Voltaire, just finished a Broadway run in The
Producers.
"It's a musical, a musical that is most appropriate in an opera house," responds Reichard in City Opera's Candide podcasts. "What distinguishes a musical from an opera is that the dialogue really affects the style of the piece. There's too much good stuff there that makes it like a musical, where speaking creates a whole style and tone that's very important."
Candide has always had a confused identity. Voltaire denied he'd written
it, claiming schoolboys used his name when the book became a best seller
in the mid 1700's, apparently too ashamed to own-up to the breezy story of
naïve Candide who experiences unending tragedy yet never succumbs to
despair. This story interestingly parallels the opera/musical debate, and
Harold Prince claims the anecdote "unlocked the show". Prince says of
Candide "It's an operetta or a light opera isn't it? I'm not much for
categorizing."
Candide opens on Tuesday, April 8th. New York City Opera performances take place at the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center (63rd St. & Columbus). NYC Opera podcasts available here.
