Pay Attention? Seriously? That's the complaint about it?
Wow. Just wow.
And here I thought the number 1 mission of theatre in general was to get you to pay attention. What do I know? It's no Wedding Singer...
Paying attention to it is not my complaint. The longer, heavier versions of this show, despite the gorgeous music, are unwieldy and do not support the material. Voltaire's original is an airy affair that makes its points with quick darts of acidic wit in a brief 120 pages (depending on the edition.)
The Hugh Wheeler book from 1973 does exactly the same thing and is convulsively funny. The longer "opera" versions just seem aimless and airless to me and give the whole work a gravitas it doesn't need.
I saw a concert version in San Francisco a few years back that lasted nearly 4 hours, and with the exception of Marin Mazzie as Pacquette and Rita Moreno as the Old Lady, (they were brilliant) it was as dull as watching paint dry. Pity. But I paid attention all the way through. I think that's why I make the comments I make.
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/18/04
"not even close to Donna Summer..Cheno has talent."
No talent? Have you ever heard Donna Summer sing?
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/18/04
FYI in NY, on WNET (Ch. 13), Candide will be airing on Wednesday, Dec. 27th at 8:00 p.m. and Friday, December 29th at 1:30 a.m. Set your VCRs/DVRs!
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
life is always happy with kristin chenoweth!!!
I'm watching it now, but I missed the first half hour of it so I'm kind of confused.
Candide is amazingly confusing... you really need to watch the entire thing to pick it up (as it explains the "best of all possible worlds" bit).
It will be on again Friday at 1:30 AM.
Haha yeah. I've pretty much given up trying to figure out what's going on and now I'm just watching it wondering why the hell can't I sing like Kristin and Patti.
That exact same thing happened to me. I came home in the middle of it the first time it aired on PBS and thought it was really dumb cuz I couldn't figure out what was going on! But watch the whole thing from the beginning and it's amazing!
Videos