Eight Hundred Tenth Program of the 2011-12 Season _______________________ Indiana University Opera Theater presents as its 424th production Candide A Satirically Comedic Opera in Two Acts Music by Leonard Bernstein Libretto by Lillian Hellman Based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire Kevin Noe, Conductor Candace Evans, Stage Director and Choreographer C. David Higgins, Set and Costume Designer Todd Hensley, Lighting Designer Sylvia McNair, Diction Coach Susan Swaney, Chorus Master ____________________ Musical Arts Center Friday, April Sixth Saturday, April Seventh Friday, April Thirteenth Saturday, April Fourteenth Eight O’Clock music.indiana.edu Cast of Characters Candide . Will Perkins, Michael Porter Voltaire/Pangloss/Martin/Cacambo . .Joseph Mace, Sean McCarther Cunegonde. Katelyn Lee, Shannon Love Maximilian. Brayton Arvin, Joseph Legaspi The Old Lady . .Ashley Stone, Laura Thoreson Inquisitor 3/Don Issachar/Captain/Tsar Ivan. Allen Pruitt Paquette . Kellie Cullinan, Audrey Escots Grand Inquisitor/Governor/Vanderdendur/Ragotski. Corey Bonar, Andrew Morstein Act 1 Sailor/Inquisitor 2/Jesuit 1/Hermann Augustus . .Brian Darsie Bulgarian Officer 1/Senor 1/Aide (Buenos Aires)/Charles Edward . Ben Smith Bulgarian Officer 2/Informer 2/Senor 2 . Max Zander Baron/Informer 1/King of Eldorado/Stanislaus . .Matt Cooksey Inquisitor 1/Archbishop/Sultan Achmet/Crook . .Bradford Thompson Bearkeeper . .Tyler Henderson Cosmetic Merchant . David Margulis Junkman. Zachary Coates Alchemist . Andrew Lunsford Croupier . Lorenzo Garcia Doctor. Chris Seefeldt Judge 1. Alex Nelson Judge 2. Preston Orr Judge 3. Andrew Richardson Baroness . .Kelsea Webb King of Bulgaria . Deiran Manning Businessman bound for Lisbon. Brandon Shapiro Executioner . .Ryan Kieran Executioner’s Assistant . Taylor Henninger Sailor 2. Benjamin Cortez Penitent 1 . Behrouz Farrokhi Penitent 2 . Jen Maler Synopsis Candide is a history of the adventures and misadventures of a young foundling brought up by the Baron and Baroness of Thunder-Ten-Tronck in Westphalia, along with their children Cunegonde and Maximilian. Before our eyes, Voltaire writes and tells a tale in which we learn that Candide’s greatest influence was his tutor, Dr. Pangloss, a philosopher who believed that this was the Best of all Possible Worlds. Act I We see and hear: How Candide was brought up in a fine castle and was driven there from; how a recruitment into the Bulgarian army led to the loss of what Candide loved; how they made a fine auto-da-fé to prevent earthquakes and how Candide was whipped; how Candide came to Paris, regained what he loved, and took a journey to Cadiz. Act II We see and hear: What happened to Candide and his friends in the New World, his discovery of Eldorado, his trip to Venice, and what Candide decided to become. 812.323.3020 Program Notes for Candide by Laura Dallman When Candide opened in 1956, Leonard Bernstein’s earlier Broadway hit On the Town (1944), along with his popularity as the conductor of the New York Philharmonic, seemed to position him for musical success. Yet Bernstein’s new production, which featured a libretto by Lillian Hellman and lyrics by Richard Wilbur and John Latouche, garnered mixed reviews and ran for only 73 performances. It quickly became clear that revisions would be needed. A new collaboration nearly 20 years later, with a shorter libretto by Hugh Wheeler, additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and staging by Hal Prince, ran for nearly 750 performances. Wheeler’s alterations to the narrative in particular seemed to have infused Candide with new life. To keep Candide’s audiences on their toes, later productions have often meshed together elements of the 1956 and 1973 scores and peppered their performances with popular and political references. This mixture of collaborators and performance versions makes Candide hard to classify. Furthermore, its blend of classical and vernacular music, as well as satire and romance, does not allow it to fit squarely in one genre or another. So what exactly is Candide? What is it trying to say? What should we, as the audience, take away from it? Perhaps the best way to understand Candide is not to search for a definitive version, but to recognize it as a versatile operetta that blends musical theater with opera and weaves political commentaries within its romantic tale. In other words, it is actually Candide’s inconsistencies that lend the work its charm. Bernstein used Candide as a medium to combine elements of opera and the popular musical. Most obviously, he sidestepped the operatic convention of continuous singing by placing spoken dialogue between musical numbers. Several of the numbers are also lighter in style, favoring simple strophic forms over extended arias, duets, or ensembles. In fact, Candide’s two opening numbers seem to share several characteristics with the “Jet Song,” the first musical number of Bernstein’s West Side Story (1957). To begin with, both pieces serve to mark social dividing-lines: “Life is Happiness, Indeed” quickly identifies Candide as low-born and his beloved, Cunegonde, as a woman of noble birth. In West Side Story, the “Jet Song” and its elaborate choreography reveal an intense gang rivalry between the Sharks and the Jets. As Candide continues, “The Best of All Possible Worlds” explains Dr. Pangloss’s belief that “everything is for the best,” which his rather naive students accept as truth. In the “Jet Song,” Riff leads his gang through a statement of purpose, explaining that “when you’re a Jet” you are the best kind of friend and the worst kind of enemy. Both songs outline a sort of creed that guides the actions of the characters. Like many Broadway productions, Candide’s abundance of strophic songs creates a lighter atmosphere. Indeed, such an atmosphere seems to have been calculated to allow Candide, which opened in Broadway’s Martin Beck Theatre, to compete with musicals such as My Fair Lady. Nevertheless, moments of operatic convention do peek through the popular style. Cunegonde’s “Glitter and be Gay,” which was intended as a caricature of bel canto style , features a dazzling array of coloratura passagework with quick scales and leaps reminiscent of Rossini’s arias. Elsewhere, lush orchestration and sweeping melodies seem to hint at Bernstein’s early training at Harvard and The Curtis Institute of Music. Candide’s plot centers around its title character, whose roundabout adventures lead him away from and ultimately back to Cunegonde. Yet the story is not a straightforward romantic tale. For both Bernstein and his first librettist, Lillian Hellman, Candide served as a vehicle to satirize a postwar America inflamed by McCarthyism. Candide seems to allude to anti-Communist sentiments, particularly in its auto-da-fé scene. Here, the crowd seems irrationally joyful, celebrating the punishments of Candide and his venerated tutor, Dr. Pangloss, as if they were part of a giant block party. As a true auto-da-fé is a public act of penance, not a celebration, the absurdities of this scene serve to distance the viewer from the action and create a space to reflect upon contemporary politics and society. In contrast to the auto-da-fé scene’s critical tone, the ensemble number that closes the opera, “Make Our Garden Grow,” offers a positive expression of Bernstein and Hellman’s socialist ideals. As Elizabeth Crist writes, the number represents a “healthy social collective”: Candide, Cunegonde, Paquette, Maximillian, Dr. Pangloss, the Old Lady, and the chorus sing of working together to make a better life. Cunegonde vows to bake bread every day and everyone promises to build the home, chop the wood, and nurture the garden together. Later productions of Candide seem to assert their own political twists. A 2008 production by the English National Opera redubs the city of Westphalia as “West Failure” and offers a lurid caricature of 1950s anticommunism by presenting an auto- da-fé of dancing Ku Klux Klan members. Other productions add a contemporary flavor: the 2004 PBS presentation with the New York Philharmonic drops the names of pop-culture icons like Donald Trump, Chanel, and Jean Paul Gaultier. By inserting modern references and staging scenes to resonate in different ways, productions of Candide continue to be fresh and relevant for viewers today. Tonight, we will encounter Candide’s familiar adventures and hear Bernstein’s memorable music; however, as this production is guest stage director Candace Evans’ IU Opera Theater debut, we are surely in for some surprises. Whether she chooses to play up contemporary issues or highlight other facets of performance remains to be seen, but certainly Candide’s unpredictability will once again set out to captivate its audience. Enjoy 4 Free Events Ballet at the BCT The Choreography Project Wednesday, April 18 & Thursday, April 19 7:30pm | Buskirk-Chumley Theater Undergraduate Opera Workshop Sylvia McNair, Director Thursday, April 19 5pm | Musical Arts, MAC301 “Happily Ever After”, scenes from operas and musical theater works. Graduate Opera Workshop Carol Vaness, Director Friday, April 20 | 8pm & Saturday, April 21 | 4pm Musical Arts Center, MAC301 Three One-Act Operas • Aleko by Sergei Rachmaninov • Hin und Zurück by Paul Hindemith • Pyramus and Thisbe by Neely Bruce Composer Neely Bruce will be present at the performance. Opera Selections IU Baroque Orchestra/Pro Arte Singers/IU Ballet Department Saturday April 21 & Sunday April 22 4pm | Auer Hall Lully opera selections directed by Nigel North, including semi-staged excerpts from Alceste, Atys, Armide, Iris, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and Bellerophon. For information on many other free events, visit music.indiana.edu/events. Artistic Staff Conductor Kevin Noe was recently appointed director of orchestras, professor of music, and head of the graduate orchestral conducting program at Michigan State University. A passionate supporter and promoter of composers, creators, and the arts of our time, he is also the executive artistic director of the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (PNME) and has commissioned and premiered over 60 new works.