The second performance of Glimmerglass Opera Festival 2023 was this season’s premiere of Francesca Zambello’s production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, revived here by Eric Sean Fogel. The evening leans heavily on a dry comedic sensibility, which most of the cast execute admirably.
This is occasionally at the expense of more subtle dramatic choices. In Cunegonde’s iconic aria “Glitter and Be Gay” for instance, soprano Katrina Galka took a clownish tone, rather than giving any sense of what might be behind the rising hysteria of the music. She did, however, sing the coloratura immaculately, even making room in a busy itinerary of props and choreography for a few unexpected but perfect vocal color choices.
No subtlety was required – or desired – from contralto Meredith Arwady as the Old Lady. Vocally and physically perfect for this role, she chewed the scenery up and spat it out at the audience and generally seemed to be having an indecent amount of fun.
In the dual role of Voltaire/Pangloss, Broadway veteran Bradley Dean had most of the piece’s spoken text, which he delivered with ease and charm, despite having to work hard to be heard, unamplified, over the orchestra.
Tenor Brian Vu, as the title character, had the lion’s share of the evening’s solo singing. His voice was warm and buttery on top, although some of the lower range sometimes sounded to me as though his sound was still developing. He projected the character’s wide-eyed innocence naiveté well. One could have wished for a more layered interpretation. “It Must Be So”, his opening song, which should be the first crack in the character’s wall of optimism, had no hint of a struggle to believe what he was saying. Eventually, however, an arc emerged; Vu made “Nothing More Than This,” in which Candide’s disillusionment culminates, a standout moment.
Members of Glimmerglass’ Young Artists Program acquitted themselves solidly in the various smaller and cameo roles. While none of them displayed the self-assured quirkiness that would make roles like this indelibly memorable, all were vocally secure and comfortable with their comic business. I do need to give a shout-out to the two uncredited but massively scene-stealing performers who played the sheep.
Conductor Joseph Colaneri shepherded the Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra through a slightly ragged beginning to a lovely, warm and impassioned sound by the middle of the first act. The infrequent orchestral interludes were all too short. The chorus, directed by Katherine Kozak, also provided some of the major highlights of the evening, usually while also moving scenery, handling props, or outright dancing.
The plot of Candide moves through a dizzying number of locations, and the stagecraft necessary to fluidly create them on James Noone’s effective unit set falls largely to the ensemble. The lighting design, by Mark McCullough is often gorgeous; Jennifer Moeller’s costumes and the uncredited props range from similarly splendid to intentionally cheesy or grungy, and provide a large part of the tone of the evening.
I’m not sure it’s possible to make the show flow in a completely satisfying way (bias alert: I became familiar with the much shorter 1974 Broadway version long before I encountered the opera house version seen here). The unrelentingly picaresque nature of Candide’s journey means that it’s not really possible to accumulate any momentum toward the end of the opera. Still, unevenness in the acting aside, the production is musically satisfying, and Fogel and Coloneri keep it moving forward as much as the piece allows.
