Customer Reviews

Candide (1956 Original Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Candide is without a doubt one of my favorite pieces of music. Forget the show; the show itself will never work on stage. But the music really is amazing. The biggest problem is, there must be a dozen recordings of it, and not one is even remotely like another. You literally need to buy six cds just to get the full grasp of the score. This one, the first, has the best cast and the best orchestra; unfortunately, it contains all of one third of the music. Still, it is more than worth it (heck, the overture alone makes it worth it)

I grew up listening to this album (my parents having been among the enlightened few who saw the original production) and have always considered it fascinating and brilliant. Sure, there have been a half-dozen attempts to revise the show over the years, with much music added later on (some of it very good), but you really can't go wrong with this original version.

First of all, in Cook and Rousenville, it has two FANTASTIC singers. Max Adrian's Pangloss is also a delight. The quasi-operetta orchestration is more full-bodied and satisfying than some later versions, feeling much more like the 1700s. Throughout, the music and lyrics are intelligent, inventive, and enchanting - on par with West Side Story, if a bit less easy to relate to, being in an older idiom. (In fact, one of the best songs of West Side Story, the breathtaking wedding duet "One Hand, One Heart" was actually written for Candide, but not used because the irony of "Oh Happy We!" suited Candide better.)

Anyway, this albums is a flawed masterpiece that preserves a spectacularly creative production, and is a must-have for any serious fan of American musicals!

Candide is a wonderful musical, and it can work well on stage (hence the 1970's run!)The music is wonderful and this a great recording, it doesn't have all the songs, but I think that it cought the spirit of the times well. What I mean is look at when this was written! How exciting it must have been, but the singers are great SO BUY!

Excellent music, witty lyrics, this is a really fun recording. The criticism of this work is that it didn't work very well on stage. I can't comment because I have never seen a production. As a recording, however, Candide is very successful with much better music and much more enjoyable songs than the great majority of musicals.

"And yet, of course, these trinkets ARE endearing..."

"Weren't you clever, dear, to survive!"

"Poets have said, Love is undying, my love...
Don't be misled...they were all lying, my love."

"I cannot entertain your shocking proposition...
How could I regain my virginal position?"

"Bon voyage, dear fellow, dear...benefactor of
your fellow man...may your luck continue, do
come again and see us when you can..."

On the PBS station, tonight, there was an excellent
program presented titled "Changing Stages." On the
program was a segment dealing with the British stage
between the wars -- 1920s and 1930s -- and the
brilliant, classy, stylish, clever, sophisticated,
ironic plays of Noel Coward.
If there was ever a time when the American stage
came to the same level of stylish, clever, sassy
sophistication and wit -- then surely it had to be
in 1956 when "Candide" was presented.
Unfortunately it is impossible to present Leonard
Bernstein's bright, sparkling, sprightly score
which is every bit as clever and sophisticated as
the lyrics which it dances and cavorts with...never
merely accompanies.
This has got to be the version which one has to
have. The duet singing...the ensemble singing...
cannot be matched again. Robert Rounseville and
Barbara Cook have such incomparably harmonic and
well melded voices. Barbara Cook's singing in
"Glitter and Be Gay" is coloratura artfulness...

especially when she goes to the high "Ahhhh...
singing of a sorrow, nothing can assuage." That
section reminds me very much of Harolyn Blackwell's
beautiful voice and singing of "Summertime" in
the Glyndebourne Festival Opera's recording of
*Porgy and Bess* on EMI Classics, conducted by
Simon Rattle.
I saw a memorial documentary on the life of
Bernstein, and at the end of it they played
"Make Our Garden Grow"...it was a very moving
tribute to a brilliant, but sometimes ego-
driven and obsessed titan...I also cannot forget
another documentary in which he was recording
"West Side Story" with Jose Carreras and Kiri
Te Kanawa. His hectoring of Carerras was
painful to watch...but instructive and
insightful of the nature of the man, as well.

"We're neither pure...nor wise...nor good...
We'll do the best we know...we'll build
our house...and chop our wood...and make
our garden grow...and make our garden...
GROW!"

I need to start this review with a statement of bias. Not only is Candide the first Broadway musical I saw as a child, it's also my favorite. As a musical, Candide has had an interesting development path and had produced a number of versions and recordings. Having just seen this version at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, I was on a quest to find this recording. The information about this recoding on Amazon's site is jumbled between the original 1956 production and the 1999 Royal National Theatre Production. It's difficult to know exactly which one you are ordering. I was really happy when the right version arrived, after 3 weeks, from a shop in London.

This recording is fantastic and I would venture to say that it is now my favorite version of the story, which most closely resembles Voltaire's story. The performers are able to faithfully present the characterizations without sacrificing the musical skill necessary to sing the material. The performances all sound fresh and you get a good sense of the story by listening to these fine and complete performances. Glitter and Be Gay is really a standout and the best recorded version of the piece. I was going to say it is bright and fresh, but it really is "Bright and Cheerful!"

If you are only going to own a single version of this work I would purchase this one, but try them all! Each offers a compelling experience and it's interesting to hear how the work has developed over the years.

There are occasions when "Candide" seems a bit long in the tooth. This version moves at a brisk and enjoyable pace, prompting a desire to see the show again.
"Candide" with book and music by America's greatest talents of the Golden Age justifiably receives new incarnations every few years. Surely this production must have been one of the best!

I have the Original Broadway Recording of Candide with Barbara Cook, and I love it, but I needed to get the 1999 Royal National Theatre Cast recording as well. You see I am a singer/actor and I am going to be performing in a community theatre production of Candide and this version is the one that is closest to the score that we are going to use in the show.

To be honest after I read the other review of this recording I almost did not get it, but I am glad that I did. Yes there are some added songs and the order is changed around a bit from the original but the performances are first rate.

This is a wonderful recording and I would definitely recommend it. I think that anyone who loves musical theatre as a genre will enjoy this recording of Candide. I am very glad that I have this recording as a part of my musical theatre library.

Since mine was the only negative amazon.com review of the 1974 Broadway Revival recording of CANDIDE, David Barbour's evaluation of the same recording ("The TheaterMania Guide to Musical Theater Recordings") was balm for my bruised ego. So, based on his very positive review - in the same publication - of this 1999 Royal National Theater recording, I tracked down a copy from an amazon.com seller and waited most patiently for it to arrive. CANDIDE is, after all, my favorite Broadway score, with six recordings in my library and plans to acquire the others in the near future.

Unfortunately, in spite of some excellent performances, this disc is a major disappointment. Barbour wrote that "Alex Kelly is the best Cunegonde since [Barbara] Cook, " and he may be right. (I haven't heard Marilyn Hill Smith [Scottish cast] or Erie Mills [New York City Opera], and the New York Philharmonic version (DVD) with Kristin Chenoweth hasn't arrived yet.) Barbour further writes "Beverly Klein is a lively old woman" and "Simon Russell Beale displays savoir faire and a fine voice as Voltaire/Pangloss." Agreed. But I differ strongly with his assessment that Daniel Evans is a "fine Candide." Frankly, I find his English-pop-style voice unappealing and totally inappropriate for the role.

Most disturbing, however, is the new version of Hugh Wheeler's book by John Ciard, the show's director. New locales and characters have been added, and songs have been shifted around, further muddling what is already a confusing plot. Furthermore, lyrics have been altered, ostensibly to fit the new situations. "Life Is Happiness Unending" shows up early in the show - and on no other recording. There's a totally new, uncredited version of "What's the Use," vastly inferior to the original. Nor do the orchestrations by Bruce Coughlin do anything except make one long for the originals by Mr. Bernstein & Hershy Kay -- even Kay's "watered down" orchestrations for the 1974 production. At least, the Governor sings "But now while he hovers, let us be lovers" to Cunegonde, and not to Maximilian in drag.

I've said before that one can't have too many recordings of this best of all Broadway musical scores, but I may have to eat my words. This one is strictly for those CANDIDE fanatics who must have every version. Hey, that's me!

PS. For everything you ever wanted to know about every production, recording & revision of CANDIDE, go to www.sondheimguide.com for a marvelous guide compiled by Michael H. Hutchins.

after recently viewing candide in concert i took out the original cast and it was a disapointment.I'd rather have the studio cast recording because it has the stephen sondhiem lyrics aswell as the clasic bernstien music. the original only has 16 songs where as the studio cast has 34 songs, 10 more than the revival cast. my dad recieved tickets to the rvival cast directly from stephen sondhiem himself. the studio cast also has a lot of extra instrumental pieces such as the battle music.