The Stephen Sondheim Society

I agree. This really is a fantastic production, my best yet and I’ve seen 5! – The opening night audience loved it and I don’t think I’ve ever heard so much cheering at ENO before. I do wonder what performance the press saw



Robert Carsen has worked wonders in tinkering with the script and the format of songs - Dear Boy is cut and act two is slightly rearranged.



John Berry (Artistic Director of ENO) states it won’t be recorded but when this was on in Paris in 2006 it was broadcast on BBC4 and this is now available on DVD.



Rumours of the next ENO Bernstein project being Mass.

Thanks for those reports! Now must see what nights I might be able to get my senior concessions! its a great deal if you are of an age...............

Pleased to hear all these reports - I'm seeing it in a couple of weeks.



I was hoping ENO's next Bernstein project would be A Whitehouse Cantata. How brilliant would that be!

Hello there,

Well,I saw Candide today(July 5th) in a Matinee performance.I can only say what a great and witty(and at times quite poignant) production it was.It also has a wonderful cast,with not a bade performance in it.



yorksbear,With regard to Sondheim's extra lyrics,have a look at this site(sorry I don't know how to do a direct link).

http://www.geocities.com/bernsteincandide/index.html

I haven't explored it in depth,but I am sure there will be an answer for you there somewhere?



Gaby,although Mass was(semi) staged,(I have an original recording) I fear it may have become a little dated by now,as it is very much of it's time(1971),but it would be great to see it anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_%28theatre%29



Scripps,(Forgive me if you already know this)The White House Cantata started out as a musical; called "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue", in 1976.However,due to various factors(such as a very bad reception from the critics)it closed after only 7 performances!After which Berstein hid it away,and refused to look at it again.

Have a look at the entry in Wikipedia,which says it all really.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1600_Pennsylvania_Avenue_%28musical%29

I can only say that after removing the spoken dialogue from 1600,in 1990 Bernsteins children created The White House Cantata(and there is a very good,if sadly deleted version of it).

The last line of the Wikipedia entry is very telling

"The Leonard Bernstein estate licenses performances of the cantata version but refuses to allow the performance, recording, or publication of the original musical"

Of course,for estate,read his two children.(who are VERY protective of their Father's reputation)

However,stranger things HAVE happened,so who knows.

I for one would hope that we might get "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue"in it's full version, and not the truncated (after Bernstein's death)one.

Thank you Mrs Lovett.



I've got the recording of A Whitehouse Cantata and think the music is extraordinary and mesmerising. I do wonder if the rest of the score of 1600 Pens. Ave. contains other goodies but from the negative reports I've read about the show itself, I'm not over anxious to see it. Maybe we just have to take it on trust that the best is on the recording.

Ugh! This production is as unsubtle as they come, mistaking farce for satire, emphasising its (few) ideas by repeating them over and over in the stage equivalent of BLOCK CAPITALS (imagine Voltaire reworked for Daily Mail readers). It'even manages to be incoherent at times. There are some good individual scenes, and some excellent one-liners, but this is a production for those who don't want to have to think for themselves. The ending (with the optimism of the chorus contradicted by downbeat images of man's many failures) was so obviously signposted I was surprised not to hear a collective groan from the audience.



But it's worth the money just for the performances. Marnie Breckenridge was superb as Cunegonde - she can act as well as sing, and looks the part. All the other leads were on fine form (Sunday matinee, 6 July). The chorus and orchestra were particularly excellent - indeed, the curtain call for the orchestra received some of the loudest cheers. Quite how well this will work on Radio 3 when it's broadcast I'm unsure, but it's certainly worth keeping an eye out for in the Saturday evening schedules come the autumn. At least you won't be able to see the production - so you'll be spared Bush, Blair, etc., visually - and you'll be picture in your own mind the growing garden of the last number unhindered by the director's simplistic vision.

I saw the evening performance on July 5th and thought it was great - visually especially. In the programme notes it says Sondheim contributed revisions to "Life Is Happiness Indeed" and "What A Day". Anoraky or not, it was something I was looking for too!

From Mark Eden Horowitz's book Sondheim on Music one learns that Sondheim's contributions to the lyrics for Candide were Auto da fe (aka What a Day), Life is Happiness Indeed, Sheep's Song, This World, Old Lady's First Entrance & Old Lady's Second Entrance (the music for these two is as for Life is Happiness Indeed). Of course some of these might not be used in the current version, which I am seeing tonight. According to Craig Zadan, Sondheim's contribution to Auto da fe was only half of it. Sondheim's lyrics were for the 1973 revival of Candide, from which several original songs were discarded; I am uncertain as to whether or not Sondheim added any extra lyrics, or changed any, subsequent to that revival.

Members will be getting the chance to win a pair of tickets for the last matinee of Candide this Saturday. Watch for the letter in with your magazine, and for my e-mail.

Lynne

Lynne

When sould be expect this? Have not received any magazine or e mail and its friday evening so very short notice for a competition where the prize is for tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks

I received my magazine in this morning's post (Saturday).

UK Mail were supposed to have delivered the magazines on Thursday; it appears that they did not do so.

Lynne

Saw the last performance last night - and a very nearly full house. Loved it and thought Beverley Klein was WONDERFUL. Orchestra brilliant too. Have I missed something but why does Voltaire prounounce it COndide? Worst part was the chattering classes in the audience - why dont they stay at home and watch the tv?

Have I missed something but why does Voltaire prounounce it COndide?



It's how the French pronounce it!

Oh!! Thank you!! Now I can sleep tonight..............

I saw the same performance as you Alfredo! I wasn't sat next to you was I?

Well did you talk to the lady you were with (nearly) throughout the performance?



And were you sitting behind a brat of a child who kept talking to her father?



Hope it wasnt you! Sondheim people (should) know better!

We were very lucky then,our(matinee) audience was very quiet and attentive.

We were in the Upper Circle(2nd Row) BTW.

Being of a certain age subject to availability I can get very good concessions from 3 hours before performance so was lucky enough to sit in the front stalls. I think that many people who sit in the more expensive seats at our theatres are the ones who (might) chatter. The real theatre buffs are often to be found in the cheaper seats. When i was VERY new to london i sat in the back of the balcony at the Colli for 4 shillings..........or 20 pence to some of you!

Alfredo - shame on you! Just because someone can afford to sit in the more expensive seats doesn't mean they are automatically badly behaved! It may be that those sitting further back are straining to hear so they don't chatter away...

Sadly, it's just the few who spoil it for the rest. And I can't believe that parents can't explain theatre etiquette to their offspring prior to seeing the show (ie don't speak while the actors do, let's discuss the show during the interval and afterwards, NOT during, and kicking the backs of seats annoys the people in front of you).

I loved the ENO Candide (saw the matinee on 12 July) and luckily the audience was very well behaved.

Oh dear! As i wrote I thought someone might take it the wrong way which is why I put "might" in brackets! there does however seem to be a breed of people who are taken to theatre as party of corporate entertainment who do NOT know how to behave in a theatre. And they DO tend to be in the more expensive seats! My comments were meant constructively and in NO other way. And there ARE people who DONT teach their children how to behave either! Mea Culpa.

No, I definitely wasn't sat next to you Alfredo. I was on the front row of the upper circle and was very well behaved. I even sucked my mints quietly ;-)



I thought this was a production touched with moments of brilliance but also moments of boredom. The book seemed to evaporate at times but the music was never less than wonderful. The sets and the imaginative interpretation were great too, but I feel the show either doesn't have anything to say or says it very badly.

Wot about the wrapper?!!!



We all seem to have generally enjoyed it and was so good to see SS name up on the front!

Sondheim seems to be mentioned everywhere today - even in the review for the Spanish musical - whose name escapes me - in tonights London Evening Standard. So different from those days at the Mermaid - Side by side by who?



One last thing about seating and prices at the Colli - are you all aware that if u r over 60 then 3 hours b4 curtain and subject to space stalls are £30 Dress is £20 and upper circle is £10. AND if one of you is eligible you can buy a second ticket at same price for anyone with you regardless of age! just check the ENO site and see what s left and make a judgement as to if its worth going! Have seen some wonderful things there for a bargain price. Not just the opera but dance too. Only exception was Miss Minelli..........

Didn't know that Alfredo so thanks for the tip. Need to find some 60 year old friends now...

huntagranny.com......................!!!!

Alfredo,

I worked as an Usher at the Coli(from 1971 to 1981) so I might have taken your ticket?

Thanks for the information re Senior(I am 61) cheap tickets.Sadly we live near Rye(60 miles from London)so can't really take advantage of these tickets, (we have to plan well in advance for our London Theatre days out)but thanks anyway.

Oh dear! You could have been the same usher that told us off for moving from the back of the balcony to empty seats at the front!!



And why be sorry to live in Rye? Lovely place!!

Indeed that MIGHT have been me Alfredo.

However,the Balcony was a sort of "punishment" detail,as many staff(not me)suffered from vertigo when they went up there!

I was always strictly Stalls or Dress Circle only!

A great job(with miserable salary)BUT at least I got to see ALL the operas etc.

The days of Heather Begg playing Lady Jane in Patience........Iolanthe..........Cav and Pag with Dereck hammond Stroud.......wonderful days!

Indeed Alfredo,

From my country retreat,I especially remember June Bronhill in The Merry Widow.

Oh - the wrapper (by which I assume you mean credit titles) was definitely brilliant as were the sets and costumes, and the wonderful ENO orchestra playing the score.



However, when I saw the NT production I felt the book didn't really go anywhere - but looking back that now seems interesting and exciting compared to this production.