Long Beach Opera to Present CANDIDE

On January 23 and 30, 2016, Long Beach Opera (LBO) presents composer Leonard Bernstein's satiric romp Candide at the Center Theater in Long Beach, CA. The eclectic score mixes everything from Viennese waltzes to soaring arias to Latin tangos. Filled with unforgettable songs such as "Glitter and be Gay, "Oh, Happy We," "I Am Easily Assimilated" and "Make Your Garden Grow," Candide was called by Bernstein his "personal love letter to European music." Adapted from Voltaire's novel, the operetta takes aim at political excess, social traditions and superstitions with an underlying warning against unfettered optimism. While beset by one calamity after another, including an earthquake, exile, war, slavery, robbery and even the Spanish Inquisition, the show's hero Candide and his true love Cunegonde cling to the belief that they live in "the best of all possible worlds." Candide's tuneful score and recognizable characters have made it an irresistible draw for audiences around the world. David Schweizer and his creative team will put a unique LBO spin on this all-time favorite.

As a young boy, David Schweizer first saw Candide on Broadway and immediately became an admirer. "I fell madly in love with the score and the ideas of the story - wild, fanciful, surprising, ultimately heartfelt." When he finally met Leonard Bernstein many years later, David recalls, "I yammered on and on about how brilliant I thought Candide was until Lenny [Bernstein] finally said, "And what about the rest of my work?"

David Schweizer comments that he and Scenic Designer Sean T. Cawelti, artistic director of the Rogue Artists Ensemble, are "creating the world of the story using resourcefulness and spur-of-the-moment invention, evoking, by the simplest of means, a special magic that only live theater can provide."

ABOUT CANDIDE: Adapted from Voltaire's 1759 satiric novella and composed by Leonard Bernstein, Candide is an operetta told in a series of episodes. Bernstein mixes a variety of musical styles with bows to Gilbert & Sullivan, Offenbach, Bellini, Herbert, and many others, to create one of the most popular Broadway scores ever written.

The idea for the show originally came from playwright Lillian Hellman in 1953. She saw parallels between Voltaire's biting criticism of political and religious persecution in the 18th century, culminating in the Spanish Inquisition, with the US House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee Hearings of the 1950s.

Bernstein was intrigued by Hellman's idea. He later wrote, "Voltaire's satire is international. It throws light on all the dark places, whether European or American. Of course, it's not an American book, but the matters with which it is concerned are as valid for us as any - and sometimes I think they are especially valid for us in America. Puritanical snobbery, phony moralism, inquisitorial attacks on the individual, brave-new-world optimism, essential superiority - aren't these all charges leveled against American society by our best thinkers? And they are also the charges made by Voltaire against his own society."

Candide premiered on Broadway in 1956 with an original book by Lillian Hellman. Since 1974, it has been primarily performed with the book by Hugh Wheeler.

In 1990, during a memorial concert for Bernstein, the New York Philharmonic paid tribute to their Laureate Conductor by performing the overture to Candide without a conductor. The gesture proved so moving, it became an orchestra tradition.

SYNOPSIS: The ever-hopeful Dr. Pangloss teaches his pupils - the innocent Candide, the beautiful self-promoting Cunegonde, the vain Maximilian, and the promiscuous Paquette - that, no matter what happens, this is "the best of all possible worlds." Candide is subsequently separated from his true love Cunegonde, exiled, conscripted into the Bulgarian Army, beset by storms and swindlers, even brought before the Spanish Inquisition; while Cunegonde rises above her desperate circumstances by becoming a prostitute and a thief. The unlikely hero and heroine eventually reunite and find contentment in a less than perfect world.

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