In two short years, the Interterm musical has established itself as the biggest happening of any kind on campus, with the possible exception of Commencement. In the third annual show this spring, "Candide," New York City Opera director A. Scott Parry, musical director Mark Swanson, choreographer Zoe Block, technical director Ed Ahern and two of the previous three lead actors, UMass alumnus Mike Devlin and Max Rosen '07 return from last year's wildly successful production of "La Cage Aux Folles."

The musical's formula for success seems to be to take everything that was great about last year, and to make that even bigger and better. The size of this year's show is unprecedented in all respects: the amount of financial support from the Music Department, AAS and Office of Student Activities; the number of shows (a Saturday matinee has been added in response to three sell-out shows last year); the number of students involved (including 40 orchestra and 80 choral society members) and the vocal demands of the music.

Moreover, unlike "La Cage," "Candide" actually has a lead female role, giving Julia Fox '07 and Alison Wahl '08 a chance to display their phenomenal vocal talents. Because of the demanding score and extra show, Devlin and Fox alternate starring roles with Rosen and Wahl.

The work itself has enough prestigious names to silence even the most pretentious literary critic. Based on Voltaire's classic 1759 novel, the score was written by the legendary Leonard Bernstein, with lyrics co-written by former U.S. Poet Laureate Richard Wilbur. The musical follows the misfortunes of the naïve young Candide as he searches for his childhood sweetheart, Cunegonde, and learns about the realities of life, finding one's identity and the power of creation. Mad-cap hilarity is combined with striking beauty.

"It basically covers the meaning of life," comments Parry. The whole show almost screams "liberal arts," so it may come as no surprise that Wilbur was an Amherst alumnus from the class of 1942.

Parry hinted that his interpretation has a hard-hitting contemporary take on some of the political themes that he hopes will provoke audience discussion. Ross Wolfarth '08, who plays Candide's mentor Pangloss, emphasized, "The show is emphatically not for the easily offended. [It contains] much sex and drugs and violence and ethnic stereotyping and the sort of thing that will get the entire cast and crew wiretapped by the Bush administration and/or shipped to a detention facility in Eastern Europe."

The cast and crew have been rehearsing full-time since the beginning of Interterm to put together a production of this magnitude. Wolfarth, in describing the rehearsal process, said, "It was exhausting, but probably the best three weeks of my life." Many raved about what a great experience it was to be able to work and bond with wonderfully talented students from all of the Five Colleges. "The cast became a community like no other," praised David Wolff '06E. Wahl lauded her fellow cast members, saying, "They are the most talented cast I have ever worked with."

For anyone who remains unswayed by this production's impressive resumé, Wolfarth succinctly points out, "The show contains lots of silly hats."