Candide
Playwright: Bernstein (music), Caird & Wheeler (after Voltaire)
At: Light Opera Works & Pegasus Players, Cahn Auditorium (Evanston)
Phone: (847) 869-6300; $27-$59
Runs through: Aug. 29
By Jonathan Abarbanel
After 48 years, this unruly musical masterpiece still refuses to be wrangled into definitive shape despite its brilliant Leonard Bernstein score, and myriad star lyricists (Lillian Hellmann, Richard Wilbur, John Latouche, Dorothy Parker, Stephen Sondheim). Versions of Candide range from farcical to near-tragic; from under two hours to almost four hours. Bernstein's final effort before he died was to reject Candide's 1973 Broadway reduction and enlarge it for the opera house.
This Pegasus Players/Light Opera Works (LOW) co-production performs John Caird's 1999 Royal National Theatre (London) version, running 2:45 with intermission. It's the darkest adaptation yet, utilizing much more of Voltaire's caustic satire of religion, militarism, man's inhumanity and social philosophy. It offers three songs not heard in previous versions, not even the original 1956 production: We Are Women, a delightful if slight duet for Cunegonde and the Old Lady; Martin's bitter song Words, Words, Words; and a harsh lament for Candide, Nothing More Than This. These unfamiliar bits may be reason enough for Candide cultists to attend.
Fortunately, there are other reasons. This final production by LOW artistic director Lara Teeter (who's accepted an endowed professorship at Shenandoah University), leaves audiences wanting more. Candide, and last year's ambitious Ragtime, tantalize with what Teeter might have accomplished given a few more years, a few dollars more, and a modern stage (which LOW desperately needs).
Candide looks good, sounds good, and delivers mood and pace. Scenic designer Tom Burch conquers Cahn Auditorium's limited quarters. His smart box set's eight classical doors, bookshelves and scientific instruments reflect the Age of Reason time period of Voltaire's mock-picaresque. Michelle Tesdall's pretty (but not overly elaborate) costumes and Andrew H. Meyers' boldly shifting lighting complete the Watteau-esque look in fine fashion.
But Teeter's main contribution may be finding real acting singers, and replacing LOW's frequent ham-handed direction and lead-footed choreography with far more accomplished work. As Candide, Will Reynolds is a find; tall, handsome, sweet-voiced with acting chops to spare. Just starting his career, Reynolds should do well. As Pangloss, James Rank—no slouch as a leading man—turns character baritone with aplomb. As Cunegonde, trim and pretty Jendi Tarde tosses off the showcase, coloratura Glitter and Be Gay with supreme confidence. Her voice isn't big, but it's fresh and crisp. Kate Young's saucy mezzo is just right as the Old Lady. Supporting work by Gary Alexander (gay Maximilian), Rebecka Reeve (Paquette), Adam Kozlowski (Martin), Siddhartha Misra (Cacambo) and especially Warren Moulton (Governor/Vanderdendur) is well-sung and on target drama-wise. Under conductor Lawrence Rapchak, the cast and full orchestra maintain LOW's impeccable musical standards.
Voltaire's 18th Century tale is shockingly trenchant in our contemporary era of uncompassionate Christians, Islamic terror and little-restrained despoilation. Even so, the Caird version grows preachy. Surely there's a happy medium still waiting between Voltaire's mordancy and the 1973 buffo Candide? But one can't criticize Teeter's farewell production.
Look Back
in Anger
Playwright: John Osborne
Rogue Theater Company at Breadline Theater Lab, 1801 W. Byron, Chicago
Phone: (773) 450-0591; $7-$10
Runs through: Sept. 4
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
Look Back in Anger is a victim of its own infamy. John Osborne's 1956 drama will forever be known as the seminal work that branded a band of British playwrights as 'Angry Young Men.' But it hasn't aged well, if the Rogue Theater's ambitious production is any indication.
When it first burst onto the scene, the play shocked staid British and Broadway audiences with its character of Jimmy Porter. Waging class-warfare on an interpersonal level, the loud-mouthed jazz trumpeter/songwriter verbally abused anyone who crossed his path. No one, included Jimmy's long-suffering upper-class wife, Alison, and his few lingering working-class friends, was safe.
During its Broadway run, Look Back in Anger generated loads of gossip when a woman from the audience climbed on stage to slap the actor playing Jimmy (it was later revealed to be a publicity stunt orchestrated by producer David Merrick). Viewed today, much of the shock is gone. Sure, people may still want to slap Jimmy, but it wouldn't be status quo audiences in retaliation for his class-shattering views. Nowadays Jimmy would be targeted for the vicious and emotional abuse he hurls out.
Blame it on being over-sensitized by Lifetime cable movies and women's groups who have made relationship terms like 'co-dependancy' and 'cycle of violence' part of our lexicon. This takes much of the bite out of Look Back in Anger, which now plays more like a soap opera for women who can't escape abusive men instead of a rallying cry for disaffected young men to start a counter cultural revolution.
Rogue's production certainly looks and feels right, especially being cloistered among multiple artist studios in the Breadline Center for the Performing Arts' satellite lab space. Amid the rumblings of nearby trains and the summer heat causing all to break out in perspiration, it's certainly the right setting for the chosen 'vie Boheme' the characters are eking out.
Nate White dominates all as he lashes through the role of Jimmy with a great dialect and lumbering-bear physicality. Yet White doesn't quite convince with Jimmy's overpowering sexuality. Perhaps Erin Shelton and Lisa Stran's great respective turns as Alison and Helena come off with more inner strength and intelligence than intended (or blame Osborne's credibility stretching plotting).
Ryan Young is a capable foil as Jimmy's Welsh friend Cliff, though a non-age-appropriate Dan Foss as Alison's father isn't convincing. Director Dan Taube handles the proceedings well, though the pacing features a few lulls that could be smoothed out amid the play's powerful fits and starts.
The Rogue Theater's Look Back in Anger certainly fits its mission to highlight rebels and misfits. The company has worked hard to create a fine production, but the play's creaking contrivances (plus its veddy British obsession with class) ultimately distances an American audience today. Go to examine Rogue's strong take on an important and revolutionary part of theater history, even if Look Back in Anger comes off nowadays more as an aging relic instead of fire-breathing call to arms in the name of class-warfare.
