“There will be two unmistakable voices during the BSO’s performances of ‘Candide’ this week: Leonard Bernstein’s, which comes through every note of his prismatic score; and Peter Sagal’s, known to the many fans of ‘Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me’ on NPR,” writes Tim Smith in Sunday’s (6/7) Baltimore Sun. Sagal, “an admirer of Bernstein’s stage works … was happy to accept an invitation to narrate the BSO’s semi-staging of the piece from a friend, director Garnett Bruce. ‘Like all people with absolutely no musical talent,’ Sagal says, ‘it has always been my dream to star on the orchestral stage. I’ve narrated [Prokofiev’s] “Peter and the Wolf” for two small orchestras.’ … The narration for ‘Candide’ is meant to help audiences follow the complications of the plot and substitute for some of the original dialogue. The text Sagal will read ‘has been carefully vetted and approved and licensed [but] I want to bring some of the personality I’ve established on radio to it.’ … So far, the only problem between director and narrator has had to do with pronunciation. ‘Garnett gave me an angry look when I said ‘Bern-steen,’ Sagal says. ‘I now know its pronounced “Bern-styne.” ’ ”
Posted June 9, 2015
