Best recording of Candide

[Bret]

Posted: 7/24/05 at 11:32pm

I am looking to buy a recoreding of Candide, and want to get the best one. I would prefer the whole show, but highlights suggestions are welcome also. Any reccomendations?

[shermanslave]

Posted: 7/24/05 at 11:36pm

The Barbara Cook version to me is the best hands down.

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/24/05 at 11:37pm

I'm with sherman on this, OBC with Barbara Cook.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 7/24/05 at 11:42pm

Thanks for posting this, I was just wondering the same thing. This is one of the only shows I don't own on CD. How does the Barbara Cook version compare to the revival with Jim Dale?

[shermanslave]

Posted: 7/24/05 at 11:45pm

No comparison. The OBC is the best. Listen to nothing else, my friends.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 7/24/05 at 11:51pm

Okay, let's say the OBC is the best.

How would you evaluate the revival? Is it faithful to the "real" show, or was it messed with? It is any good at ALL?

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 12:51am

I may be painfully alone on this, but this is one of the few shows I love the opera singers doing...the Jerry Hadley and June Anderson one is, I think, the perfect cast.

that's my 2 cents.

[Broadway_Bound_Star]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 12:55am

I'm not sure if it was made into a recording but I saw a verso on PBS or something with Kristen Chenowith. she did awesome with the role. or whatever, I don't remember it very well
Updated On: 7/25/05 at 12:55 AM

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 2:01am

I was just gonna ask..is the Candide w/ Kristin (dvd) worth having?
I totally want to buy it..that and 90023 other things..

[devonian.t]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 3:22am

The DVD is an absolute joy! The staging is hilarious.

On the recording front, my favourite is the Hal Prince revival, mainly for the material selected. For me, Candide should be boisterous and bawdy, so the operetta style is not to my taste.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 3:36am

The first CANDIDE from 1956 is the best sung and played and indespensible as a classic OCR. Barbara Cook alone maks it worth owning but the CD is well sung and it is the only version to record the original lyrics.

It does not represent the show as it is now done on stage. The original Lillian Hellman book has been discarded in favour of a newer, sillier version by Hugh Wheeler. (That is not a slam: silly works well for CANDIDE.) Some of the lyrics were re-written by Stephen Sondheim for the 1973 Chesea theatre version which was out as a 2 LP set on Columbia but the label has never released it on CD. It has the whole show (as seen in that version - lasting about 90 minutes) but the cast are not strong vocally, and the reduced orchestra sounds skimpy.

The slightly revised version as presented by the New York City opera is out on a 2 CD set from New World but it dates back to the early days of CD's and may be hard to find now, though it is still listed as being in print.

Bernstein' conducted the complete 2-CD recording for DG not long before his death. This version restores material from all versions and has a good cast, but he takes the tempos so slow that it zaps all the energy from the piece. (Bernstein's recording of the opera CARMEN suffers from the same problem.)

The Broadway revival in 1997 was greeted dismissively, perhaps because New Yorkers had seen the show so many times at NYCO. I found the revival staged crisply and performed with zest and I quite enjoy the cast recording on RCA Victor. On a well-packed single CD they fit in all the key songs, so for a single disc its a good bargain.

I never tracked down the Scottish National Opera recording on TER, but have the DVD of the concert staging seen earlier this year on PBS with Kristen Chenoweth and Patti LuPone. For a concert staging it is rather inventive and does allow the music to shine, though I would have been happier if the 1986 telecast of the NYCO fully staged version had been released on DVD instead.

[seymour krelborn]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 9:08am

Definitely the OBCR

[DemonBarberofBroadway]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 9:17am

This is so weird..I just posted about how much I love Candide in the favorite musical post.

Anyhow, I'd also have to say the Jerry Hadley and June Anderson. I love Barbara Cook and everything.. but that one was conducted by Bernstein and I think it's just gorgeous. Probably because I'm an opera girl at heart. ^_^

And the PBS dvd = <3 <3 <3

[Garland Grrrl]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 9:19am

never heard glitter & be gay done as well as b. cook and i've heard it a zillion times in concert and competitions. but--a good show is worth having a few versions if you can get them. i LOVE the king & i and i have several recordings -- some of them are re-orchestrated in addition to cast changes, etc (b. cook is also on my favorite king & i -- i guess i just love her period)

[TheaterBaby]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 9:21am

The DVD is definitely worth getting IMH. Kristin and Patti are hilarious.

[DemonBarberofBroadway]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 9:23am

Mmm multiple Candide recordings. Yummy.

I actually have the PBS one as an illegal recording.. but don't tell anyone. It's not my fault - as soon as it comes out on CD I'll buy it. That is, if they ever release it.

[Love4Cheno]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 9:40am

Kristin is brilliant on Glitter and Be Gay. Some of those high notes are insane. Psssst...I got it off of Limewire.

[magruder]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 10:10am

Original Broadway cast recording first, but I listen to the Scottish Opera version as much, if not more. Tempos are brisk, all of the vocals are sublime, and "Venice Gavotte" is back, in place of "Life is Happiness Indeed". Plus, it has my favorite version of "We Are Women," and I also prefer the witty "RingaroundaRosie" to "Dear Boy," which is the sweetest song about syphillis ever written, but slows things down too much. If you are looking for the version that most closely resembles the Candide that gets performed most often these days, I'd recommend the City Opera version, but I don't listen to it much, and I recall that it has some sound issues, particularly on the first disc. The Bernstein version is TOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOOOW, and absolutely no fun, though authoritative. The '74 Broadway revival (not on CD), though rambunctious, has some bad performances, and reduced orchestrations. The recent Broadway revival recording is skippable. I've never bought the National Theatre recording, though I plan to pick it up eventually.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 10:13am

Barbara Cook's "Glitter and Be Gay" is unmatched.

[mominator]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 10:22am

Barbara Cook's Glitter & be Gay is wonderful. So to be honest I'd get the OBC one first, then ASAP get the PBS version with Kristin. All the performances were just superb!

[magruder]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 10:23am

Oh, I don't know. Cook's is very good, of course, but I wouldn't dismiss what Erie Mills and Marilyn Hill Smith do with it.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 10:26am

I think Cook acts the role the best, along with having a stunning voice. There may be more techinical singers who have done the role, but I think Cook has the best combo of voice and acting.

[magruder]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 10:32am

I didn't see Marilyn Hill Smith, but she's excellent on disc. But I did see Erie Mills, who sings it brilliantly and was HILARIOUS.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 10:33am

Who's on the newest recording? Blackwell? She is a great singer but can't act to save her life.

When I'm depressed I listen to "Glitter and Be Gay". Cheers me up. I always wanted to do that song as a drag number.

[magruder]

Posted: 7/25/05 at 10:36am

I do like Cook's "Paris, FrAUnce". It's a good delivery of a joke that very few actors understand.