‘Candide’ a ‘monumental’ challenge
S.F. Symphony mounts concert performances of Leonard Bernstein’s beloved comic operetta
In “Candide,” the title character endures multiple misadventures, including heartbreak, travel fatigue and the Inquisition.
In other words, it’s the ultimate feel-good show.
Funny, freewheeling and pointedly satirical in its portrayal of human folly, Leonard Bernstein’s comic 1956 operetta tells the story of an innocent youth tested to the limit by a series of unfortunate events.
For many music lovers, the score contains some of Bernstein’s finest writing for the stage. Tenor Andrew Stenson, who will sing the title role when music director Michael Tilson Thomas conducts the San Francisco Symphony’s concert performances of “Candide” this week, describes the music as brilliant. But he’s just as enthusiastic about the story.
“The music is fantastic,” says Stenson, “but there’s also such depth to the character of Candide. It’s a coming of age story, in a way — you start your life believing that things are supposed to be a certain way, then, over the course of growing up, the world tends to chip away at that. One day you wake up saying ‘Things are not the way I thought they were.’
“The most amazing thing is that Candide, over the course of this amazing journey, is able to hold on to the best aspects of himself. Despite terrible things happening left and right, thinking he has it all and having it all snatched away again, he finds a way to not only survive but find a reason for living. I think that’s so miraculous and beautiful.”
This “Candide,” presented in the preferred Scottish Opera version, promises the highlight of the symphony’s season-long Bernstein centennial celebration. Stenson heads a cast that includes soprano Meghan Picerno as Candide’s beloved Cunegonde. Completing the lineup are sopranos Vanessa Becerra (Paquette) and Sheri Greenawald (Old Lady) and baritones Michael Todd Simpson (Pangloss) and Hadleigh Adams (Maximilian).
Inspired by Voltaire’s 1759 novel, “Candide” has a history almost as complex as the story it tells. Bernstein’s collaborators included Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Richard Wilbur, who wrote the original lyrics; additional lyrics were supplied by Stephen Sondheim, John Latouche, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker and Bernstein himself.
Bernstein composed the work at the height of the McCarthy era, and his allusions to war, repression, justice and the very essence of human nature have never gone out of style.
Sixty years after its premiere, the score remains a marvel — an endlessly inventive mix of Broadway lyricism and biting wit, waltzes and polkas, operatic heights and big musical theater moments. Act I takes a rollicking turn through the Inquisition with “Auto-da-fé,” and Cunegonde soars through the coloratura dazzler, “Glitter and Be Gay.”
Stenson’s favorite episodes include the operetta’s jazzy overture, “Candide’s Lament” and “Nothing More Than This.” Capping the score is the radiant finale, “Make Our Garden Grow.” The choral number is “just beautiful, with redemption for everyone,” he says.
Stenson isn’t new to San Francisco. He was a participant in the Merola Opera young artist program in 2012 and sang in the symphony’s performances of Handel’s “Messiah” that year. In 2015, he had a role in San Francisco Opera’s world premiere of “Dream of the Red Chamber.”
He first sang the title role of “Candide” in a Glimmerglass Festival production, which toured last year to Toulouse and Bordeaux, France.
“Candide” poses multiple challenges, he observes. “It’s a tough piece,” he says. “When we first did it at Glimmerglass, we had a map on the wall with numbered flags, color-coded for each character to show their journey. To see the mileage they chronicle over the course of the piece is just ridiculous! To put it all together is really, really difficult. It’s monumental.”
The symphony concerts are paring down the dialogue — “It makes it snappy, really keeps the action moving,” notes Stenson, who says that working with Tilson Thomas is a dream.
“Having the chance to work with somebody who worked with Leonard Bernstein — that insight is so valuable,” he says. “I’m really excited to learn from him. So I’m feeling very optimistic.”