CCM’s innovative staging of this classic opera highlights the artistry of the college’s “stars of tomorrow” and Bernstein’s extraordinary score.
The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) continues its Sesquicentennial Mainstage Series with Candide, presented in conjunction with the world-wide Leonard Bernstein at 100 centennial celebration. Conducted by Mark Gibson with stage direction by Emma Griffin, the opera runs Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017, through Sunday, Nov. 19, 2017, in CCM’s Patricia Corbett Theater.
Based on Voltaire’s biting satirical novella of the same name, Leonard Bernstein’s Candide follows a naïve young man as he searches for the meaning of life in a cruel and chaotic world. First performed on Broadway in 1956 and then revised in 1973, the comic operetta won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and multiple Drama Desk and Tony Awards. The opera’s energetic overture and the aria “Glitter and Be Gay” quickly became classics in their own time.
CCM’s innovative new production of Candide uses a mysterious, one-room set design that inspires the theatricality of the show. The performance will guide audiences’ imaginations as they journey through Voltaire’s “best of all possible worlds” with verve and humor.
“CCM’s highly imaginative staging of this classic opera-musical is part of a long performance tradition of presenting Candide as a theatrically inventive show,” Griffin says. “In our production, we’ve given the performers a blank canvas with which to create a world of heightened theatricality and magical realism.”
The production’s cast includes students from CCM’s opera, voice, musical theatre and acting programs, who use various items that are at hand to transform themselves and their surroundings in order to tell the story.
“Candide is a dark, funny satirical tale about the dangers of an unexamined world view,” Griffin says. “Pushing through the humor and the showbiz pizazz of the piece is the vital question: What do people do in times of cultural uncertainty?”
“Our answer is: We make joyful art, raucous and rich and strange, full of life and beauty.”
Explore the “best of all possible worlds” in CCM’s production of Candide, presented Nov. 16-19 in Patricia Corbett Theater. Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone 513-556-4183 or online at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice/mainstage/candide.
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CANDIDE
(New York City Opera House Version)
By Leonard Bernstein
Book by Hugh Wheeler, after Voltaire
Lyrics by Richard Wilbur, Stephen Sondheim, John La Touche and Leonard Bernstein
By arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., Sole Agent for Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company LLC, publisher and copyright owner.
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Creative Team
- Mark Gibson, conductor
- Emma Griffin, director
- Katie Johannigman, choreographer
- Thomas C. Umfrid, scenic designer
- Oliver Tidwell Littleton*, lighting designer
- Edward Mineishi*, sound designer
- Ann Marie White*, dialect coach
- Reba Senske, costume designer
- Lydia Brown, vocal coach
- William R. Langley*, chorus master
- Pauline Humbert*, stage manager
* CCM student
Cast List
- Brandon Scott Russell# as Candide
- Rob Stahley^ as Candide
- Heidi Middendorf# as Cunegonde
- Shannon Cochran^ as Cunegonde
- Chelsea Duval-Major# as Old Lady
- Karis Tucker^ as Old Lady
- Schyler Vargas as Maximilian
- Rebecca Printz as Paquette
- De’ron McDaniel as Pangloss
- Jaqueline Daaleman, Landon Hawkins, Nick Heffelfinger as Voltaire
- Clay Edwards as Baron
- Mia Athey as Baroness
- Logan Wagner, Grant Peck as Bulgarian Soldiers
- Breanna Flores, Elle Zambarano as Westphalian Soldiers
- Michael Hyatt as High Inquisitor
- Natalie Shepard as Auto-da-fe Victim
- Chandler Johnson as Governor
- Kseniia Polstiankina as Pianist
- Amy Joy Stephens, Briana Moynihan as El Dorado Sheep
- John Siarris as Prefect of Constantinople
^Denotes performers on Nov. 16 and 18
#Denotes performers on Nov. 17 and 19
Performance Times
- 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16
- 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17
- 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 18
- 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19
Location
Patricia Corbett Theater, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati
Purchasing Tickets
Tickets to Candide are $31-35 for adults, $22-25 for non-UC students and $18-21 for UC students with a valid ID.
Student rush tickets will be sold one hour before each performance to non-UC students for $12 or $15, based on availability. UC students can receive one free student rush ticket with a valid ID, based on availability.
Customizable subscription packages are also available for CCM’s 2017-18 Mainstage Series.
Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice/mainstage/candide.
Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.
For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.
For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.
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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation
Mainstage Season Production Sponsor: Macy’s
Opera Department Sponsor: Mr. and Mrs. Edward S. Rosenthal
Opera Production Sponsor: Genevieve Smith
CCM VILLAGE NEWS ARCHIVES 