CANDIDE By Leonard Bernstein
CANDIDE Best known by many for its dazzling overture, Leonard Bernsteins' satirical operetta, CANDIDE, is full of beautiful music, fascinating characters and slapstick humour. Based on Voltaire's 1759 novella of the same name, CANDIDE presents a brilliant satire of Optimism, a fashionable philosophy of the time that led to a complacent acceptance of mankind's sufferings. Bernstein felt this complacency was equally representative of 1950s America.
Clever staging transports Candide, the hero, across half the globe, from Westphalia to Portugal, South America and Constantinople. On the way he encounters disaster after disaster, from earthquake and the Inquisition to piracy and shipwreck. Despite his love for the beautiful Cunégonde, Candide's experiences finally bring him to doubt the philosophy that 'everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds'.
Director: Jackie Keirs
Musical Director: Michael Evans
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