I’ve made it no small secret that I think Candide is one of the greatest musicals ever written. Just last week, I included Kristin Chenoweth’s “Glitter and Be Gay” performance in a post to try and hook someone else on the score. The book (which one?) and score (which version?) is excellent. The problem comes in trying to sell an over the top piece of period satire as something palatable for a wide modern audience.
Candide is Leonard Bernstein’s adaptation of Voltaire’s master-work of satire. Voltaire was lampooning the various philosophies that were quickly gaining popularity based on variations of optimism. People were really getting behind movements that said things like good things come to good people and everything that happens is good because everything is meant to happen. So, Voltaire created a grotesquely absurd tale of a young man, Candide, whose life is systematically torn apart by forces beyond his control. He is exiled from his kingdom, separated from his betrothed, witnesses the repeated murder of his mentor, and faces horrid luck at every turn. Still, in spite of all of this, he keeps claiming everything that happens is good because his mentor taught him everything that happens is the best thing that can happen.
It’s a strange choice to turn into a musical for numerous reasons. One, it’s bizarre. I’m not exaggerating when I say the novel features Candide’s mentor Pangloss murdered again and again. Because only the best things can happen in the world, even being drawn and quartered is not enough to kill the man. Two, it’s episodic. Each chapter is like a miniature story on its own accord. Three, there are a ton of settings. These people travel all over the world to experience more and more absurd variations of misery. Four, by the time Berstein began working on Candide, most of these philosophies had fallen away or transformed to unrecognizable forms. That means it’s a satire that requires a historical context that is near impossible to present onstage. This requires a massive transformation of the original intent of the story to sell to a wide audience.
There have been five major mountings of this musical in NYC, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.