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Candide

Thanks to The Huntington Theatre Company, Boston for their fabulous production of… CANDIDE
Music by Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics by Richard Wilbur & others
Directed and newly adapted from the Voltaire by Mary Zimmerman

… and who gave permission to use their images.

"Life is Happiness Indeed”
In Act 1 we find the 18th Century protagonists Candide, the illegitimate nephew of the fabulously rich Baron of Westphalia and Cunegonde, the Baron’s daughter. They sing of their love, but their visions of the future couldn’t be more different: he aspires to a simple life growing “peas and cabbages,” while she yearns for a life “rolling in luxury.” They don’t notice the differences.

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"Bon Voyage”
Things do not go well. Bulgarians conquer Westphalia and everyone is scattered. But Candide finds Cunegonde in Spain where she is now a high-class prostitute. They escape and travel to Buenos Aires. There, the Governor detains the beautiful girl to be his mistress. Candide is driven to the jungle but finds Eldorado, “the land of happy people.” He helps himself to some red-gold sheep. He uses them to purchase Cunegonde’s freedom. The citizens of the port city of Surinam bid him “Bon Voyage.”

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“Candide at Sea, ou L’Optimisme”
Candide is at sea, optimistic that he will be reunited with Cunegonde in Venice. But, the ship sinks: he was swindled and sold “a wreck of a boat.” Somehow, after much further travail, they both make it to Venice. They are “not what they were” – “youth, charm and grace” are gone. But after much thought they decide to marry and “make our garden grow” on a small farm on the outskirts of Venice.

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