Union Avenue Opera Presents CANDIDE

War! Earthquakes! Disease! Very bad things happen to very good people (and plenty of bad ones too). When young Candide's marriage proposal to a baron's daughter doesn't quite go as planned, this naïve student of optimism is thrust into an eye-opening odyssey across lands near and far, discovering the horrors of existence at every turn. Candide is part opera, part musical, and entirely irreverent. Voltaire's philosophical spoof becomes a brilliant and breathless operetta set to a vivid score by Bernstein which abounds with spectacular music that includes a famous overture, the soprano showpiece "Glitter and Be Gay," and the soaring finale, "Make our Garden Grow." Through all its hysterical scouring of 18th-century wickedness and woe, Candide still finds a way to move and inspire with life-affirming lessons that, surprisingly, ring just as true today.

World-renowned opera legend, Christine Brewer, returns to the UAO stage in her role debut as The Old Lady in Candide. Schoonover will conduct while local director Annamaria Pileggi makes her UAO directorial debut. Jesse Darden and Brooklyn Snow make their UAO debuts as Candide and Cunegonde while Thomas Gunther returns as Voltaire/Pangloss following last year's successful UAO debut as Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore. Local actors Greg Johnston and Graham Emmons make their UAO stage debuts covering a variety of supporting characters. The chorus is composed of 16 of the area's most talented emerging artists including Leann Schuering, Liya Khaimova, Anthony Heinemann, and Aleksandar Dragojevic.

To purchase tickets, visit the website or call the box office at (314) 361-2881. General admission adult tickets: $35, Reserved adult tickets: $45.