"Candide' at the Arden

Leonard Bernstein was never satisfied with his creation, Candide, and neither were the critics. Voltaire's original 1759 story, you'll recall, is the experience of a naive, gullible young man who is taught that this is the best of all possible worlds, and everything that happens is for the best. Candide undergoes disillusionment as he confronts reality and suffers hardships.

Bernstein's first 1956 conception amounted to a sardonic, sarcastic attack on religion and militarism, plus an attack on governmental witch-hunts for nonconformist citizens, with which the musical's main scriptwriter, Lillian Hellman, had first-hand experience. But Eisenhower-era audiences weren't in the mood for plays with messages. What they liked best about Candide were its catchy tunes and colorful production numbers. The original Broadway production closed in two months.

Later revivals stressed the comic side. Serious songs were dropped and the script was revised. Hal Prince directed clever productions in the round (in Brooklyn) and two Broadway versions that had Candide's mentor Doctor Pangloss soaring over the audience on a swing. They were fun. For DGG Records, Bernstein went in the opposite direction and conducted a two-disc recording that included almost everything he ever wrote for the play. It's a valuable historic legacy, but the singing is too operatic and is sometimes lugubrious.

In 1999 the British National Theatre produced a Candide whose tone was dark. It included songs that were unfamiliar to people who had seen previous versions, and some new lyrics to the older songs by Stephen Sondheim and Richard Wilbur.

Bernstein would be happy at last

Terrence Nolen's current production at the Arden uses that script and its songs for the first time on an American stage. The new script sticks close to Voltaire's intent as it ridicules religion, theologians, governments and philosophers. It's the most convincing Candide I've ever seen. Bernstein would be happy.

I always have high expectations when I attend an Arden musical directed by Nolen, based on the company's notable past presentations, like Violet, Baby Case, Pacific Overtures, Merrily We Roll Along and Assassins. Most of these fared poorly on Broadway (if they got there at all), but Nolen made them work because he accents the story and the lyrics. He's a theater director who happens also to do musicals, rather than a specialist in musicals.

Here Nolen has surpassed himself, bringing cogency and resonant tone to a very difficult play. He strikes an excellent balance with his parody of classic adventure/romances, strong social commentary and the best through-line of any Candide I've seen. For the first time, the action and dialogue propel an involving story, and all the songs logically spring from the plot.

A large cast with no weak links

Ben Dibble as Candide and Scott Greer as both his mentor, Doctor Pangloss, and as Voltaire are spectacular, and they're surrounded by a large cast with no weak links. I say "surrounded" intentionally, because this show is staged in the round, bringing the action close to the audience. Costumes are simple, and designer James Kronzer uses props cleverly to suggest the various locales. The stage is a blackboard, referring to Pangloss's classroom, on which the players use chalk to draw comments and directions.

Dibble sings as well as the excellent tenors I've seen in the role, like Jason Daniely and Jerry Hadley, and he acts the part more believably. Trusting, caring, questing, he makes us care about what happens to him.

Greer is such a compelling actor that some viewers may overlook his singing achievements. In this role and in others, Greer always stays on pitch, with nice gradations of vocal color. Pangloss usually is cast with a crotchety character actor, but Greer is a true singing actor, and he performs a tour de force here. He's Orson Welles with a singing voice.

A gleaming high soprano

The ingénue Cunegonde, a part originated by Barbara Cook and recently played by Kristin Chenoweth, is played by Liz Filios, a newcomer to Philadelphia. She reveals a gleaming high soprano voice, good looks and a sense of humor. Jeffrey Coon, who normally plays leading men, is delightful in a series of supporting parts. He displays his flair for comedy and, when needed, his strong baritone voice. Christopher Patrick Mullen takes the smallish part of Martin but makes a big impression with an affecting singing style. Mary Martello is an appropriately bawdy Old Woman, and Richard Ruiz is that rare combination of a comic actor with a great tenor voice.

Musical director Eric Ebbenga almost makes us forget how small his orchestra is. Yes, I miss the string section required in the original orchestration of this wonderful Bernstein score, but Ebbenga's pacing and coordination are exemplary. He deserves a large share of the credit for the fact that all the singers enunciate clearly and project the text meaningfully. And the choral singing, most notably in the "Make Our Garden Grow" finale, is sensational.

For all this, Candide isn't yet a lovable musical. It won't touch audiences the way West Side Story did, nor will it evoke tears of either sadness or laughter. It will, however, send you out of the theater thinking.