Utah Arts Review: Fischer, colleagues look forward to Utah Symphony debut of Bernstein’s “Candide”

by Edward Reichel

The Utah Symphony will close out its Leonard Bernstein centennial celebration this weekend in Abravanel Hall with two performances of his 1956 operetta Candide. 

But this week’s performances will be no mere concert version. Candide will be semi-staged, with costumes and props, which, music director Thierry Fischer said, makes it a bit more of a challenge. In large part, that’s because the solo singers will be at the front of the stage with the maestro behind them and the Utah Symphony  and Chorus at the back. 

“It’s difficult, so I scheduled six rehearsals, “ said Fischer. “But I’ll soon find out if we really need that many as we get into it. Doing it this way [semi-staged] makes us push ourselves more, but it adds an extra dimension to the performance.”

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