Candide (1956)
Leonard Berstein (1918- 1990)
“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time.”
— Leonard Bernstein
OPERETTA: A short opera, usually on a light or humorous theme and typically having spoken dialogue.
FURTHER LISTENING: Bernstein: West Side Story; On the Town; Serenade after Plato’s Symposium
THE HISTORY:
Production hell, thy name is Candide.
Bernstein started working on his comic operetta in 1953 with the writer Lillian Hellman, and it had its first (unsuccessful!) Broadway premiere in 1956. Since then, there have been numerous revisions and adaptations, many of which jettison Hellman’s original script entirely.
The trouble was in the tone. Candide is an adaptation of the 1759 novella by the same name by French writer and philosopher François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire. The novella is a lighthearted bit of fiction with a serious message; Voltaire is lampooning his philosophical rival, Leibniz, whose core belief was that everything happens for a reason.
Voltaire would have none of that pollyannish optimism, and he penned a tale where a young man who begins his life with Leibnizian optimism but faces episodic trial after trial — many of them hilariously farfetched — until he reaches a new core tenet, “We must cultivate our own garden,” essentially arguing that man must take responsibility for his own fate rather than attributing everything to a higher power.
As a novella, it’s delightful. As a lighthearted operetta, it came off a bit highbrow — the creators and cast struggled to balance the work’s biting satire with its more sentimental bits. The original production closed after only a couple of months and was a commercial failure.
Critics and audiences liked the music, however, and most of the later versions feature a tightened script and fewer of Hellman’s overt political references to McCarthyism. The version at hand by Lonny Price premiered in 2004 in New York City, nearly 50 years after the show’s Broadway premiere. This version is in two acts and credits its text to Richard Wilbur, Stephen Sondheim, John Latouche, Lillian Hellman, and Leonard Bernstein himself, with a book by Hugh Wheeler. It is meant to be performed “semi-staged,” or performed in concert halls with minimal costuming and blocking. It has enjoyed several revivals in the two decades since its premiere.
Bernstein himself was, of course, the first American conductor to achieve international acclaim and one of this country’s best-loved musical figures in the 20th century. A consummate composer, performer, and entertainer, Bernstein helped define a uniquely American style of composition, leaping the gap between “serious” concert music and lighter, more Broadway-oriented works with ease and aplomb, even daring to mix those ideals at times.
His music for Candide is a burst of color and motion, a parody of different genres of music ranging from Renaissance chorales to 12-tone music, kicking off with a beloved overture that is so fiery and delightful it is regularly performed alone in orchestral halls. The warmth and wit and joy in the music balance out the heady philosophical jabs of the book, and the work remains quite popular today, particularly the hits like “Glitter and Be Gay” and “The Best of All Possible Worlds.”
The Plot
Act I
A stage narrator sets the stage by explaining that the show is an adaptation of Voltaire’s novella. The operetta kicks off in the fictional land of Westphalia in the 18th century, where tutor Dr. Pangloss teaches the Leibnizian philosophy “All is for the best in this best of all possible worlds” to his four young charges: Cunegonde, the baron’s daughter; Maximilian, the baron’s son; Paquette, a servant girl; and Candide himself, the illegitimate nephew of the baron.
Candide and Cunegonde are in love, but Candide is banished when their feelings are found out. He is forced to join the invading Bulgarian army, and when he returns home, he learns that everyone has died in a Bulgarian raid. He begins to wander the world, clinging to his tutor’s teachings.
In Lisbon, he reunites with Dr. Pangloss, now a syphilitic beggar, and the two are sentenced to death by the Spanish Inquisition. They escape to Paris, where they reunite with Cunegonde, who is surviving as a mistress to wealthy men. Candide kills Cunegonde’s suitors, and the three take Cunegonde’s friend The Old Lady and flee to Cádiz in Spain before setting sail for Montevideo in South America.
Act Two
Candide and Cunegonde split up again in Montevideo when the governor promises to marry Cunegonde. Candide flees through the jungle and reunites with Paquette and Maximilian. After a brief scuffle, Maximilian falls, and Candide and Paquette discover the riches of the city of Eldorado.
The pair resolve to rescue Cunegonde, and they learn in Suriname that she has been kidnapped by pirates and taken all the way to Constantinople in Turkey. Candide and Paquette set sail for Turkey, where they discover Cunegonde and the Old Lady working as slaves in a gambling palace. Candide buys their freedom with gold from Eldorado, as well as Maximilian’s, who is also there. They all return with Dr. Pangloss to Westphalia. Battered by their experiences, Candide turns from Dr. Pangloss’ optimism and resolves to live simply and “Make Our Garden Grow.”
(c) 2024 Jeremy Reynolds
