Maestro Leonard Bernstein’s musical version of Voltaire’s 18th-century novel was repeatedly worked on by a procession of other great talents .Lillian Hellman brought the idea to Bernstein and Dorothy Parker, Stephen Sondheim and Bernstein himself all had a hand in the lyrics, although the main lyric-writing credit goes to the poet, Richard Wilbur.
Perhaps this is why Matthew White’s admirable whirligig revival of this 1956 musical never quite rids itself of a certain dog’s-dinner quality.
But then, Voltaire’s satire about a Westphalian naif whose blind optimism survives serial calamities is not easily contained.
The narrative vaults across the globe with stunning bravado. Characters such as young Candide’s philosopher mentor Pangloss (a gnomic James Dreyfus) and the love of his life Cunegonde (a typically superb Scarlett Strallen) are established and then killed off, and then re-established with a callousness that forces the audience to rein in the emotions teased out by Bernstein’s occasionally gorgeous score.
White wisely promotes a carnival, tongue-in-cheek atmosphere.
