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| Carolyn Gordon. |
"In Lieu of Reviews"
For background on how this previously
unpublished series—introducing all mainstream New York shows between 1970 and
1975—came to be and its relationship to my three The Encyclopedia of the New York Stage volumes (covering every New
York play, musical, revue, and revival between 1920 and 1950), please check the
prefaces to any of the earlier entries beginning with the letter “A.” See the
list at the end of the current entry.
CANDIDE (1) [Comedy/Audience
Participation/France/Youth/Period] AD: Organic Theatre Company; SC: Voltaire’s
novel, Candide; D: Stuart Gordon; P:
New York Shakespeare Festival; T: Public Theater/South Hall Theater (OB);
4/14/71-4/25/71 (14)
There were two attempts, one minor and the other
major, to adapt Voltaire’s satirical novel, first published in 1759. The first was an original adaptation, in contrast to the second, a musical revival. It was created as an
ensemble piece by the Organic Theatre Company of Chicago. Their approach, like
similar efforts of the day following the lead of Joseph Chaikin’s Open Theatre,
was to develop the work improvisationally before setting the results in
permanent form. Their version had some humor but was severely lacking in focus
and insight, with actors who seemed self-indulgent and undisciplined.
The company chose to do the piece in clown-like
costumes and makeup, vaguely suggestive of commedia
dell’arte. They were railed at by the critics, Edith Oliver, for example,
chastising them for a “sophomoric romp” that denigrated the original for
meaningless, self-serving purposes. The performances were “amateurish” and
without subtlety, and the awkward stabs at audience participation—including sending
balloons over the auditorium and passing out popcorn—contributed to the general
air of malaise.
Previous entries:
Abelard and
Heloise
Absurd Person
Singular
AC/DC
“Acrobats”
and “Line”
The Advertisement/
All My Sons
All Over
All Over Town
All the Girls Came
Out to Play
Alpha Beta
L’Amante Anglais
Ambassador
American Gothics
Amphitryon
And Miss Reardon
Drinks a Little
And They Put
Handcuffs on the Flowers
And Whose Little
Boy Are You?
Anna K.
Anne of Green
Gables
Antigone
Antiques
Any Resemblance to Persons Living or Dead
Applause
Ari
As You Like It
Augusta
The Au Pair Man
Baba Goya [Nourish the Beast]
The Ballad of Johnny Pot
Barbary Shore
The Bar that Never Closes
The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel
The Beauty Part
The Beggar’s Opera
Behold! Cometh the Vanderkellens
Be Kind to People Week
Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill
Bette Midler’s Clams on a Half-Shell Revue
Black Girl
Black Light Theatre of Prague
Black Picture Show
Black Sunlight
The Black Terror
Black Visions
Les Blancs
Blasts and Bravos: An Evening with H,L.
Mencken
Blood
Bluebeard
Blue Boys
Bob and Ray—The Two and Only
Boesman and Lena
The Boy Who Came to Leave
Bread
A Breeze from the Gulf
Brief Lives
Brother Gorski
Brothers
Bullshot Crummond
Bunraku
The Burnt Flower Bed
Butley
Button, Button
Buy Bonds, Buster
The Cage
Camille