OPTIMISM! or Candide’s Voltaire, sparkling wit in rhyme at Spooky Action

In which Spooky Action Theater’s production of OPTIMISM! and its bow to the great Voltaire  inspires Hunter Styles to let loose his inner poet.

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If wit is your thing, you’ll find buckets to spare

in this thrilling, rambunctious new take on Voltaire,

whose timelessly dark sense of humor obscene

still lends much to Candide in 2013.

Spooky Action, while small, brings a grand scale of fun

to the tale of the titular prodigal son

with this freshly revamped (and now rhyming!) new version

of poor Candide’s ill-fated global excursion.

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It’s a whirlwind onstage as this story unfolds,

with nine actors in upwards of seventy roles

leaping in from all angles and playing with glee

at the heights of emotion required to be

true to Voltaire’s original cutting satire

of war, education, the rich, and the dire

inequities felt by the suffering poor

at the hands of the powerful, greedy for more.

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It’s been two hundred fifty-four years since the day

that the cranky old Frenchman decided to prey

on the theories of Leibniz, who came to the the schism

between church and state wielding grand optimism.

I believe, Leibniz said, that the Lord tries his best,

so there’s no use complaining when put to the test.

But who — thought Voltaire — will repent the world’s killin’s

if the victims are always forgiving the villains?

So Voltaire penned this masterful tearjerker tale

in which callow Candide, far from home, soon sets sail —

with a curious eye and substantial élan —

on a rollicking planet-wide bildungsroman.

From Bulgaria on to Cadiz and Lisboa,

then off on the seas like a younger Balboa

to the Amazon jungles and lost El Dorado,

where our hero learns quickly and earns his bravado.

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No atrocity, see, be it rape, war, or murder

can destroy this young man, full of hope, who’s incurred a

fair share, if not more, of increasingly stranger

deceits, double-crosses, and great deals of danger.

Although, over time, we begin to observe

that Candide’s optimism is starting to swerve

from the straight line of logic that Liebnitz intended

toward a personal interest in injuries mended.

By the way, was it Disney who said, after all,

that the world we inhabit’s remarkably small?

Because Candide keeps coming across folks he knows

from the previous chapters, arriving in droves

to locations far-flung at impractical rates.

Why does God, oh cruel world, choose to reset their fates?

Oh and hey, while we’re at it, what’s the deal with the rhymes?

This new version’s rough couplets don’t quite all sync up.

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Never mind, it’s all fun, and this great cast excels

at their vocal and physical conjuring spells.

In the ring with the team (the show’s done in the round)

we careen through a tale in which humor abounds.

Thanks to keenly-staged scenework from Mike Chamberlin

it’s quite tempting, when over, to jump in again

and trek on through America, Asia, and Persia

with a troupe that performs with such breakneck inertia.

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Highly Recommended
OPTIMISM! or Voltaire’s Candide
Closes May 19, 2013
Spooky Action Theater 
1810 16th St NW
Washington, DC
2 hours, 35 minutes with 1 intermission
Tickets: $20 – $25
Thursdays thru Sundays
Details
Tickets
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Thirty scenes are a lot to get through in one night,

but a cast with such energy lets us take flight

on this trip with Candide, Cunégonde, and Pangloss

and these other fun characters, wandering lost

through a world full of pain, much in need of reflection

(luckily, the play’s end brings some nice introspection).

It’s a show, as you’ll see as once the story unfurls

that comes close to the best of all possible worlds.

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OPTIMISM! or Voltaire’s Candide . Adapted by TJ Edwards from a novel by Voltaire . Directed by Michael Chamberlin .  Featuring Adeoye, Michael Kevin Darnell, Ryan Alan Jones, Patricia Lynn, Rosemary Regan, Gregory Stuart, Ryan Tumulty, John Tweel and Jessica Shearer Wilson . Production design team: includes Giorgos Tsappas (set), Brian Allard (lights), Bradley Porter (sound), Laree Lentz (costumes) and Deb Crerie (props) . Produced by Spooky Action Theater . Reviewed by Hunter Styles.

[wpcol_1fifth id=”” class=”” style=””][/wpcol_1fifth] [wpcol_4fifth_end id=”” class=”” style=””]Other reviews

John Stoltenberg . MagicTime!
Jane Horwitz . Washington Post
Chris Klimek . City Paper
Roger Catlin . MDTheatreGuide[/wpcol_4fifth_end]