Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#1Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/13/06 at 7:55am
The New York Times has an article about a reconceptualized version of Candide which was "rapturously received" Monday night at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. The production, directed by Canadian opera director Robert Carsen (and I think staged by Rob Ashford, though he's not mentioned in the story?) has updated the show to satirize American life and politics, although the lyrics remain the same. It certainly looks unlike any Candide I've ever seen!
Candide in Paris
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
Updated On: 12/13/06 at 07:55 AM
#1re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/13/06 at 8:54amThat looks fascinating!
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
keen on kean
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/06
#2re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/15/06 at 8:08pmI am sure the French would appreciate any show that takes aim at America. But since it was written by a FRENCHMAN, don't you think they should try it closer to home?
Fenchurch
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/16/06
#3re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/15/06 at 9:13pm
Well, the operetta wasn't written by a frenchman, and the original book took aim at America at the time (McCarthy, etc), so I think it's right on the mark.
"Fenchurch is correct, as usual."
-Keen on Kean
"Fenchurch is correct, as usual." - muscle23ftl
"Fenchurch is correct, as usual." - muscle23ftl
#4re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/15/06 at 9:18pm
I think he was refering to the book by Voltaire...
but, yes, the musical was written by a number of Americans. I think that this current incarnation is FABULOUS (looking, I havent seen it)
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
Fenchurch
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/16/06
#5re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/15/06 at 11:52pmI, of course, realized that, but yes I agree, both Bernstein and Hellman saw Candide as analagous to America at the time, so there's nothing incongruous about this production at all.
"Fenchurch is correct, as usual."
-Keen on Kean
"Fenchurch is correct, as usual." - muscle23ftl
"Fenchurch is correct, as usual." - muscle23ftl
#6re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/15/06 at 11:53pm
oh! yes! I agree 100%
looks great!
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#7re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/16/06 at 12:11am
>But since it was written by a FRENCHMAN, don't you think they should try it closer to home?<
France is not quite the superpower it was in Voltaire's time. One needs new targets to keep satire fresh.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
#8re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/16/06 at 1:46am
And, of course, three of the four central characters are Westphalian, and the novella and musical both start and end in Westphalia. So Voltaire didn't set it primarily in France anyway.
That having been said, it's perhaps a bit questionable to make the castle of the Baron Thunder Ten Tronck, a ruler of a provincial backwater with delusions of self-importance (both the ruler and the province), into the White House.
#9re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/16/06 at 4:55am
Hi there,
I don't know if you can receive it, but, the Germano-French TV Channel Arte will broadcast this CANDIDE the 20/01/2007 at 22h10 (French Hour).
elmore3003
Leading Actor Joined: 3/31/04
#10re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/16/06 at 8:01am
Nobodyhome wrote: "That having been said, it's perhaps a bit questionable to make the castle of the Baron Thunder Ten Tronck, a ruler of a provincial backwater with delusions of self-importance (both the ruler and the province), into the White House."
I don't know; it seems like a pretty good description of the current administration to me!
tomorrowcomes
Swing Joined: 12/12/06
#11re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/17/06 at 9:17pm
>And, of course, three of the four central characters are Westphalian, and the novella and musical both start and end in Westphalia. So Voltaire didn't set it primarily in France anyway.<
Yes, but that's because there was heavy censorship in France at the time Voltaire was writing it. He couldn't set it in France without risking imprisonment (since it satirizes the government, the church, etc.), so while the story takes place in other countries, it's largely a critique of France itself.
#12re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/17/06 at 9:29pm
>> Little wonder that, after his Châtelet success this week, Mr. Carsen embraced Bernstein’s approach, saying, “Wouldn’t it be great to do this on Broadway?”
Wouldnt it just!!!
>> it's largely a critique of France itself
Not quite. It's a critique of a then-current and widely-accepted philosophy that said this was a perfect world, a philosophy espoused by a German, actually. Voltaire's setting the opening chapters in a Germen-esque country was more a comment on that than anything else.
http://docandraider.com
#13re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/18/06 at 3:34am
Hey, elmore3003, I actually did think about what you wrote before I posted what you did. I did anticipate that very objection. 
But this production is set, it seems, in 1950s America, so it's not about the current administration. Of course, a George Bush figure appears in the "King's Barcarolle," but I assume we're supposed to believe that 50 years have passed since the first scenes. And that if Candide and Cunegonde are now in their upper 60s, then the Old Lady is very old indeed.
More seriously, unless you subscribe to a Tolstoyan view of history, it's hard to argue that the current administration (or, for that matter, the Eisenhower administration) does not (did not) have an immeasurably greater effect on other countries than Baron Thunder Ten Tronck's little province (if it even is a province) could have had. Though it may be that Voltaire might have subscribed to such a point of view.
And as SeanMartin suggests, it was Leibniz's philosophy that was being parodied. I would guess that this was one of the reasons for setting it in Westphalia. Though some think that it was more a parody of the French philosopher Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis.
In addition, it was published under a pseudonym, Monsieur le docteur Ralph. Voltaire always denied that it was written by him. And he was living in Geneva when it was published. He was already in exile from both France and Prussia. He doesn't seem to have been too worried about getting into trouble as he had gotten trouble with rulers repeatedly.
Updated On: 12/18/06 at 03:34 AM
tomorrowcomes
Swing Joined: 12/12/06
#14re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/18/06 at 10:28am
Ah, now I feel like an idiot!
Of course I knew that it was a parody of Leibniz's philosophy (that everything happens for the best in the best of all possible worlds). I just meant that as an explanation of why it wasn't set in France.
Sorry about that.
#15re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/18/06 at 12:06pmIt will also be broadcast on BBC4 in the UK over the Christmas period.
Fenchurch
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/16/06
#16re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/18/06 at 12:22pmI think you're taking the time frame thing a little too seriously. I think the production is using current political and cultural figures and symbols and putting them into a fictional time and place, so the chronological difference between the contemporary symbols is irrelevant.
"Fenchurch is correct, as usual."
-Keen on Kean
"Fenchurch is correct, as usual." - muscle23ftl
"Fenchurch is correct, as usual." - muscle23ftl
#17re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 12/18/06 at 3:18pm
Which was why I originally wrote "it's perhaps a bit questionable," rather than "this is wrongheaded" or something like that. I didn't even say that I thought it was wrong, just that it could be questioned. The stuff I wrote later was merely an explanation of that point of view, since elmore had stated an opposing point of view, one that I had myself anticipated as an objection to it. A lot of it was sort of tongue-in-cheek.
But at no point did I mean to imply that I myself thought this was a bad idea.
#18re: Candide at hit at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
Posted: 1/21/07 at 5:28pm
Next it will also be broadcast on radio in France Musique the 07/02/07 at 20 h (French hour) and can be hear there :
http://www.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/accueil/
There's the possibility to hear live.
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