NT : What's On : Productions : Candide
Candide
music by Leonard Bernstein (1956)
book adapted from Voltaire (1758)
by Hugh Wheeler, in a new version
by John Caird (1999)
lyrics by Richard Wilbur
additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim,
John Latouche, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker and Leonard Bernstein
Voltaire's towering work of comic and philosophical genius is one of the glories of 18th-century satire and is as relevant today as when it was first written.
Candide explores a world that is dominated by violence, greed, war, hatred and a series of catastrophic events seemingly unmitigated by goodness, truth, beauty or God.Voltaire's great achievement is to temper his merciless analysis of human cruelty, and the apparent emptiness of heaven, with extraordinary wit and good humour. While disturbed by his story, we also find ourselves laughing uproariously
at it.
Add one of Leonard Bernstein's most brilliant scores and Richard Wilbur's witty lyrics to this heady mix, and you have a work of unalloyed pleasure.
Running Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
Cast credits:
: Alex Kelly
: Alexander Hanson
: Beverley Klein
: Ceri Ann Gregory
: Charles Millham
: Chu Omambala
: Claudia Cadette
: Clive Rowe
: Daniel Evans
: David Arneil
: David Burt
: Denis Quilley
: Elizabeth Renihan
: Gabrielle Jourdan
: Gilz Terera
: Jax Williams
: Leigh McDonald
: Mark Umbers
: Michael Wildman
: Myra Sands
: Richard Henders
: Robert Burt
: Samantha Lavender
: Simon Day
: Simon Russell Beale
Production credits:
Set Designer: John Napier
Costume Designer: John Napier with
Elsie Napier
Lighting Designer: Paul Pyant
Music Director: Mark W Dorrell
Orchestrations: Bruce Coughlin
Associate
Music Director: Steven Edis
Choreographer: Peter Darling
Assistant
Choreographer: Lynne Page
Fight Director: Malcolm Ranson
Sound Designer: Paul Groothuis
Candide finished on: 25 January 2000
