CANDIDE in Australia with Eddie Perfect

[Fan123]

Posted: 2/5/24 at 4:16am

If it's of interest to anyone. Perfect is playing Voltaire/Pangloss, with Lyndon Watts (Burr from HAMILTON) as Candide.

https://www.victorianopera.com.au/production/candide/

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 2/5/24 at 10:01am

For those who have followed the saga of Candide's various versions, the credits seem to indicate it's the 1989 "definitive version."

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/5/24 at 11:34am

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "For those who have followed the saga of Candide's various versions, the credits seem to indicate it's the 1989 "definitive version.""

Is that the so-called Hal Prince "opera house" version that later played Broadway?

Darko Tresnjak was supposed to direct a revival for Goodspeed in 2020, but it was canceled due to Covid and then never rescheduled. That combo sounds absolutely delightful. 

Updated On: 2/5/24 at 11:34 AM

[SweetLips22]

Posted: 2/5/24 at 1:51pm

Oh I wished that I lived back in Melbourne.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 2/5/24 at 2:41pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Is that the so-called Hal Prince "opera house" version that later played Broadway?"

Nope, it's the version Bernstein recorded for Deutsche Grammophon in 1989, also known as the "Scottish Opera version" because that's where the "definitive version" sort of began. Details here, here, and here.

(Anybody experienced in the show's variations just finds it cute Bernstein thought he could slap a "definitive" label on any version.)

Updated On: 2/5/24 at 02:41 PM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/5/24 at 3:01pm

Thank you for that clarity! IIRC, Bernstein was none to thrilled with Hal's treatment of his beloved CANDIDE, so I guess it's not a shock that he'd want to call his version "definitive."

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 2/5/24 at 3:32pm

I recollect that he liked Hal's version well enough because it gave the show more of an afterlife than trying to patch together Lillian's without Lillian. Plot-wise, and spirit-wise, it got closer to what he wanted. He just hated that it wasn't the way he'd do the score.

(For me, as long as you cut some of the unnecessary over-narration, John Caird's book from 1999 is the comfortable middle -- enough bawdy humor for the Hal acolytes, enough music for the Lenny lovers, and enough Voltaire for the scholars.)

Updated On: 2/5/24 at 03:32 PM