Candida (play)
Candida (Shavian: 𐑒𐑩𐑯𐑛𐑦𐑛𐑳), a comedy by playwright George Bernard Shaw, was written in 1894 and first published in 1898, as part of his Plays Pleasant. The central characters are clergyman James Morell, his wife Candida and a youthful poet, Eugene Marchbanks, who tries to win Candida's affections. The play questions Victorian notions of love and marriage, asking what a woman really desires from her husband. The cleric is a Christian Socialist, allowing Shaw (who was a Fabian Socialist) to weave political issues, current at the time, into the story.
Candida
30 March 1894
Theatre Royal, South Shields
English
The wife of a clergyman must choose between her husband and a man who idealises her
north-east London
Shaw attempted but failed to have a London production of the play put on in the 1890s, but there were two small provincial productions. However, in late 1903 actor Arnold Daly had such a great success with the play that Shaw would write by 1904 that New York was seeing "an outbreak of Candidamania". The Royal Court Theatre in London performed the play in six matinees in 1904. The same theatre staged several other of Shaw's plays from 1904 to 1907, including further revivals of Candida.
In order of appearance
Musical adaptation[edit]
In 2009, Writers Theatre presented a musical adaptation of the play under the title A Minister's Wife, with music by Josh Schmidt; lyrics by Jan Tranen; book by Austin Pendleton; conceived and directed by Artistic Director Michael Halberstam. The production was critically acclaimed and in 2011, the Lincoln Center mounted a new production of the piece (also directed by Halberstam). The production featured Kate Fry as Candida; Bobby Steggert as Marchbanks; Marc Kudisch as Morell; Liz Baltes as Prossy; and Drew Gehling as Lexy. The production received outstanding notices in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Charles Isherwood, writing in The New York Times, called it a "lovingly composed chamber musical" which "moves with a gentle step, keeping an intimate focus on its central characters."[13]
An original cast recording from PS Classics was released on 30 August. The West Coast Premiere of the musical adaptation opened in June 2013 at The San Jose Repertory Theater directed by Michael Halberstam.
