| Snobbery, philosophy, nobility and religion |
Candide |
| Welsh National Youth Opera , Wales Millennium Centre , July 15, 2006 |
This year has seen some significant landmarks celebrated. Her Maj became an octogenarian. Macca turned 64. And his divorce lawyers got the bunting out as all their birthdays came at once when Heather got her ticket to ride. 2006 is also the 50th anniversary of the first showing of Leonard Berstein’s Candide and Welsh National Opera’s youth division, a fertile talent allotment that has germinated a few tall poppies over the years, are staging a production as a half-century salute to the musical mastery of one of the great composers/conductors of the 20th century.Based on Voltaire’s satire, Candide bubbles with Bernstein's boundless melodic invention. The libretto is credited to six authors, a list that includes Dorothy Parker, Lillian Hellman and Stephen Sondheim, and has at its core a wit and earthiness that still speaks to our jaded, over-indulged palettes today. It’s pretty postmodern in the promiscuous way it pot-shots and splatter-guns the parody. Snobbery, philosophy, nobility, religion are all pilloried as Candide circles the globe in search of his love. Along the way, he encounters cruelty and oppression but tries to remain wildly optimistic, the central treatise being the toughness of staying positive in the face of reality’s toughness. This is an unwieldy piece that’s difficult to get right, but Nik Ashton is the most musically responsive of directors and grabs the scruff of Candide’s neck and squeezes out every note, word, movement, something confirmed in the line and propulsion of Tim Rhys-Evans’s conducting. No amount of direction, though, will resuscitate performances laid naked under audience expectation. The standard here, however, is even-handed and sustained. A few edgy high notes and the odd fudged line aside, the company sing with warmth, focus and–that definer of youth–vigour yet still manage to deliver grandeur despite their age. Alan Winner as Voltaire/Pangloss straddles the roles with dollops of campness and bawdiness, like Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen channelling the spirit of Sid James, and the other newsworthy performance is Wyn Davies who, as Candide himself, oomphs with a powerful, yet contained, physicality. However, the production is at its blistering best when everyone is on stage; the energy-o-meter soars and the sense of a company working as a complete one is palpable. The major drawback is the set. Scrap that, the set is actually striking and the use of its props comedically memorable, but it just doesn’t work in the venue. If it were in the main WMC auditorium as opposed to the smaller Weston Studio it would frame the action elegantly, but as it is it bonsais the space and fetters the flow. Throughout, scenery is wheeled about Andy-Pipkin-Little-Britain style which would be fine in the expanse of the main theatre, but here the click-clack of castors derails the attention. At times, the lugging about of furniture is so obtrusive you might as well be in the loading-bay at Ikea, which is a shame because it dulls the production’s polish and, more criminally, detracts from some special performances. A big musical that needs a bigger living-room. Candide is at the WMC until July 17; for further details log on to www.wmc.org.uk or call the Box Office on 08700 40 2000. For further information about Welsh National Opera visit www.wno.org.uk |
Reviewed by: Jason Jones |
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