ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 17, 1996 TAG: 9606180055
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: OPERA REVIEW
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
Opera Roanoke's new production of "Candide" is a winner right out of the gate. Too bad there are only four performances, because this is one of those shows that an open-ended run transforms from merely very good to tremendous.
Director Ben Krywosz's innovative production is based on the definitive 1988 Scottish National Opera version of Leonard Bernstein's problematic work.
Is it a musical? An opera? A stage play with singing?
You sensed that Saturday's opening-night audience in Olin Hall at Roanoke College was in no mood to split hairs on such matters when they gave the cast a standing ovation and shouts of bravo.
Clocking in at more than three hours including intermission, it's a show that could use a few more cuts. And as for the substitution of a synthesizer for a string section in the pit - well, somebody should tell general director and conductor Craig Fields that the synthesizer sounds like a carnival calliope in spots. But these are quibbles when it comes to one of Opera Roanoke's most enjoyable productions in years.
Are optimists fools in the face of life's manifold disasters and cruelties? For Voltaire, who wrote the original novel "Candide," the answer was a resounding "Yes!'' The four attractive young people who are taken in by Dr. Pangloss' shallow Pollyanna-ism soon have the professor's theories beaten out of them by circumstance. Tenor Eric van Hoven is a callow young Candide, and soprano Elizabeth Comeaux is his beautiful ladylove Cunegonde. Comeaux was a joy all night long, with a light, crystalline upper register that made her long stretches of vocalise sheer pleasure.
The many different versions of "Candide" over the years have included productions that are almost totally different shows. What makes Krywosz's production different from the rest is his theatrical conceit that this is a play that is produced by a nameless local community once per year to remind themselves that life is both bad and good. Roles are assigned by lot and are drawn after the overture, when the principals jump out of the audience like quiz-show contestants.
From the beginning, a story-telling narrative advances, explains and comments on the plot, with most of the telling done by Dan Dressen, who sings Pangloss and other characters as well and continually steps into and out of character.
News flash: mezzo Elizabeth Huling is tremendous as the Old Lady. All by herself, she is worth the price of your ticket, with a collection of utterly convincing character voices, a lewdly masterful sense of physical comedy and a warm, throaty set of pipes that were fully capable of overpowering the entire orchestra entirely.
Other highlights include Elizabeth Comeaux's hilariously wicked ode to moral ambivalence, "Glitter and Be Gay," which got an extended hand. Dan Dressen's comedic palette was broad and consistently surprising. His version of Dutch ship master Capt. Vanderdendur was a dead-on tribute to - of all characters - Floyd the Barber of television's Andy Griffith Show.
This "Candide" is a good omen for the Craig Fields era of Opera Roanoke's history. It's funny, beautiful, moving, and it leaves you thinking.
``Candide'' is running: Tonight, Wednesday, and Friday at 8 p.m. in Olin Hall at Roanoke College. For information about tickets call 982-2742.
Seth Williamson produces feature news stories and a classical music program on public radio station WVTF (89.1 FM) in Roanoke.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 linesby CNB