Pairing a score that mixes soaring arias, Latin tangos and Viennese waltzes with a globe-trotting story that touches on political excess, superstitions and traditions, there’s a lot going on in Leonard Bernstein’s operetta “Candide.”
It’s one of the reasons director David Schweizer has loved the operetta ever since he saw it as a young boy on Broadway decades ago.
It’s also one of the reasons the Tony Award-winning piece presented a problem for Schweizer, who will be directing the Long Beach Opera production of the operetta originally adapted from Voltaire’s 1759 satiric novella.
“I have adored Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Candide’ since I was a little boy,” Schweizer said. “But right away there were always problems because of the nature of the Voltaire satire.”
The story is told in a series of episodes that follow Candide, who is separated from his love Cunegonde.
He’s exiled and experiences a series of calamities, from war to earthquakes and storms and even an appearance in front of the Spanish Inquisition.
Yet he clings to the blindly optimistic belief that they are in “the best of all possible worlds.”
“I adore the piece, but so often I get tired of it,” Schweizer said. “Because there are just too many events. First he (Candide) goes here, then he goes there and it’s like too much ice cream, too many goodies. So one of the things we wanted to do is cut it down.”
To keep it simple, the production will be a chamber version with fewer singers and a scenario that mirrors the Long Beach Opera’s real-life dilemma of putting on the piece.
“In our version, there’s a company of singers and puppeteers who are working on how to do ‘Candide’ with so few people,” Schweizer explained. “And the singer playing the Voltaire (narrator) role is their crazy director who keeps telling them, ‘OK, this is a new scene’ and then this group has to immediately respond and figure how to do it.”
So for example, instead of the elaborate costumes that are usually part of the show, the actors will be looking through boxes to see what they can use to make the scene work as their crazy director barks his commands.
“I think it’ll give it a vitality and a sense of immediacy,” Schweizer said.
While the story will be tightened up, the iconic music, which includes such songs as “Glitter and Be Gay,” “Oh, Happy Me,” and “I Am Easily Assimilated,” will remain the same.
“It’s got gorgeous music. Amazing melody lines, super beautiful and always amazing to sing,” said Todd Strange, a tenor who portrays Candide. “The music changes up quite a bit because based on the characters, their mood, their persona, it can vary from a dance piece to a really beautiful ballad. So there’s a lot of variation.”
Although it’s her first time performing in this operetta, soprano Jamie Chamberlin is very familiar with the music.
She’s performed the aria “Glitter and Be Gay,” throughout her career at various singing competitions and other events.
It’s a tough song to nail, but since she’s familiar with it, Chamberlin said she can focus a lot of her energy on other aspects of the character.
“It’s made it easier to step into the role,” she said. “Now I’m finding it really fun, and I can really play with the character.”
Schweizer, meanwhile, had some fun coming up with the Long Beach Opera version of “Candide” and in particular with the character of the director, which reflects his role in the production, although he claims not entirely.
“The director (character) is very temperamental, ahead of people and impatient that people can’t keep up with him, and he wonders why people can’t read his mind. But no it’s not me at all. I’m much nicer than that,” he said with a laugh.
