Brian Vu and Meredith Arwady shine in Glimmerglass Candide

Meredith Arwady (Old Lady), Brian Vu (Candide) and Katrina Galka (Cunegonde)

Katrina Galka (Cunegonde) and Brian Vu (Candide)

Bradley Dean (Pangloss)

Brian Vu (Candide), Jonathan Pierce Rhodes (Cacambo) and ensemble

By David Wolfson, 09 July 2023

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“Arwady... chewed the scenery up and spat it out at the audience”

Reviewed at Alice Busch Opera Theater, Cooperstown on 8 July 2023

Bernstein, Candide

Glimmerglass Opera

Joseph Colaneri, Conductor

Francesca Zambello, Director

James Noone, Set Designer

Jennifer Moeller, Costume Designer

Mark McCullough, Lighting Designer

Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra

Eric Sean Fogel, Revival Director, Choreography

Brian Vu, Candide

Katrina Galka, Cunegonde

Bradley Dean, Doctor Pangloss

Meredith Arwady, Old Lady

Schyler Vargas, Maximilian

Lisa Marie Rogali, Paquette

Jonathan Patton, Martin

Jonathan Pierce Rhodes, Cacambo

Keely Futterer, Vanderdendur

Ryan Johnson, Inquisitor

A dark, delicious take on Elizabeth Cree at Glimmerglass Festival

Cameron Kelsall, 28th July

Mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught anchors a fluid and appealingly staged new production of Kevin Puts' penny dreadful.

****1

Child's play: inventive, moving Rinaldo at Glimmerglass

Cameron Kelsall, 31st July

Director Louisa Proske refracts Handel's tale of warlords and witches through the prism of a juvenile dream world, aided by a game cast headed by Anthony Roth Costanzo.

****1

Simon Godwin directs Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at Glimmerglass

Edward Sava-Segal, 30th July

The English theatre directs turns his hand to opera with a staging of Gounod's take on Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers.

****1

Carmen at Glimmerglass: visually striking, dramatically inconsistent

Cameron Kelsall, 18th July

Denyce Graves, once the reigning Carmen of her day, directs a new production full of interesting choices that rarely cohere.

**111

A streamlined Trovatore at the Glimmerglass Festival

Cameron Kelsall, 7th August

Rising mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis offers a gorgeously sung and grippingly acted portrait of Verdi's gypsy.

****1

Isabel Leonard soars in Glimmerglass Festival's Songbird

Cameron Kelsall, 6th August

Set in New Orleans during the Jazz Age, this riff on Offenbach's La Périchole captures the festive spirit of the summer, despite some tired jokes.

***11

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David Wolfson

David Wolfson holds a PhD in composition from Rutgers University, and has taught at Rutgers University, Montclair State University and Hunter College. He is enjoying an eclectic career, having composed opera, musical theatre, touring children’s musicals, and incidental music for plays; choral music, band music, orchestral music, chamber music, art songs, and music for solo piano; comedy songs, cabaret songs and one memorable score for an amusement park big-headed-costumed-character show. You can find more information here.