Candide

Tonight I saw the next play in Shakespeare Theater Company’s season, a production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, the musical version of the play by Voltaire. It is a satirical comedy rebutting the philosophy of “Optimism”. It was a nice production, and the orchestra and singing were first class. The leading lady basically sounded like an opera soprano. The staging was interesting; after a small room setting, it opened into a fixed setting with walls that looked kind of like a paneled library. The brought staging elements into that fairly plain space in interesting theatrical ways. For a war scene, a few players were running back and forth, and people from the edge were tossing big silver balls back and forth across the stage, which effectively suggested cannon fire. Sea voyages and balloon flights had someone carrying a model in the background, while the actors moved like they were on the vessel. It was very effective. I’m glad I saw it even though this was the second show I’ve seen in two days.