“Bradley Cooper is joining the Philadelphia Orchestra,” writes Peter Dobrin in Monday’s (5/20) Philadelphia Inquirer. Cooper and “British actor Carey Mulligan will narrate the orchestra’s coming performances of Bernstein’s Candide at the Kimmel Center … led by music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin June 20, 21, and 22. Why Cooper? The actor and director … has been preparing to star and direct in a Bernstein biopic… ‘He’s been spending time with Yannick to learn more about classical music,’ said Kevin Newbury, who will direct the Philadelphia production of Candide…. The three Candide performances were nearly sold out even before Cooper and Mulligan’s participation was announced…. WRTI-FM (90.1) plans to air the June 22 performance on July 21…. The orchestra Monday also announced the rest of the cast, which will include Alek Shrader as Candide, Erin Morley as Cunegonde, Denyce Graves as the Old Lady, and Kevin Vortmann as Dr. Pangloss/beggar…. This production will be set in the 1990s … ‘at the height of the Clinton-Bush-Perot presidential race,’ Newbury says…. There are references to boy band New Kids on the Block, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Dazed and Confused.”
Posted May 21, 2019
