Candide at Wolf Trap

Some lovely DC friends of ours invited the Maestro and I down to their side of town to go see Candide in Concert at Wolf Trap starring Jason Alexander (ay! George Costanza!?!) on Sunday night. The Maestro walked into this concert with a little more enthusiasm than I. Coming from a far more instrumental background than I do, he was looking forward to hearing that world-famous overture (see first video). Coming from the voice/musical theatre background that I do, I had one awful experience with the coloratura aria in a college musical theatre class with which I equated the entire piece (see second video). As a result, I was less excited to see Candide, but looking forward to going to Wolf Trap for the first time.

Exhibit A

Leonard Bernstein conducts the overture from Candide

Exhibit B

Kristen Chenoweth sings Cunegonde's aria Glitter and Be Gay

Thankfully, the concert exceeded my ridiculously prejudicial expectations. The cast was fantastic. Even Georgey Costanza held his own up against the world class singers with whom he shared the stage and the National Symphony. And imagine my surprise when I read in the program that the soprano singing Cunegonde is a blogger. Read her stuff under the handle ACB at The Concert. She brought down the house with that nonsensical Glitter song.

The acoustics were surprisingly good in the outside ampitheatre. The principals' voices were amplified, but the choir and small ensemble of Wolf Trap apprentices were not. Thankfully, our hosts sprung for seats under cover (you can picnic out and sit on the lawn for much cheaper than tickets "inside") as it rained on and off during the performance. Overall, it was a great way to experience Wolf Trap for the first time.

We also thought it would take us forever to get out of the parking lot and back on to 66 (I started channeling my experience of sitting for hours in the parking lot at Nissan Pavillion after a Dave Matthews Band concert), and the four of us each hypothesized how long we'd be sitting in the car. It only took 6 minutes to get out of the parking lot and onto the highway. Also a plus in my book.

Some other events at the Filene Center that look like they'd be comparable experiences to the one I had are as follows:

July 11, 8:15 pm Kiri Te Kanawa and the NSO
July 12, 8:15 pm Broadway Program conducted by Marvin Hamlisch
July 26, 8:15 pm Broadway ROCKS! from Phantom to Dreamgirls
July 31, 8:15 pm Beethoven's Best w/ Joyce Yang on piano