Leonard Bernstein’s Candide is a supercharged wild ride in which 18th-century France crashes into 20th-century post-war America. Take a seat and strap in tight for a mind-boggling journey as we hurtle through a fantastical world of chaos – from castles in the Alps to skyscrapers in Montevideo, from earthquakes in Lisbon to the Amazonian jungles beyond the Andes. With societies riven by inequality and families displaced by war today, the story remains as relevant now as when it was first written in 1759.
From Bernstein’s compositional brilliance to the razor wit of Dorothy Parker, Candide is an ebullient romp that pulls together the best of Broadway, the champagne froth of operetta and the timeless satire of Voltaire’s original novella. WNO’s new production welcomes an award-winning team, who won the National French Critics’ award in 2022 for their production of The Snow Queen, and brings this zany, imaginative world to life and up to date with music, animation, dance and political bite.
