CANDIDE at Third Avenue Playhouse

Featuring a splendid score by the unparalleled Leonard Bernstein, CANDIDE is a witty and wacky satire of an operetta. Based on Voltaire’s 1759 novella of the same name, Candide takes the audience on a round-the-world romp of idealistic optimism as it clashes with a series of absurdly unfortunate events. The young and naïve title character is betrothed to the Baron of Westphalia’s beautiful daughter Cunegonde, and along with the maid Paquette and Cunegonde’s brother Maximilian, they all subscribe firmly to the doctrine that has been instilled in them by their teacher Dr. Pangloss: that everything that occurs is for the best, no matter what. They soon find out that isn’t always the case.