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Lynn Torgove, Stage Director
William Cutter, Conductor
CANDIDE - a staged and costumed truncated version of Leonard Bernstein’s delightful comic operetta “Candide” based on the 1759 novella of the same name by Voltaire. Playwright Lillian Hellman approached Bernstein in 1953 with the concept. They delighted in the idea of drawing parallels between Voltaire’s satirical portrayal of the Catholic Church’s blatant hypocrisy and violence and the inquisition-like tactics then being implemented by the U.S. government under the House of Representatives’ House Un-American Activities Committee.
Voltaire’s charges against the society in the 1750’s - puritanical snobbery, phony moralism, inquisitional attacks on the individual - all rang true for Hellman and Bernstein in the 1950’s. They set out with zeal to create a show that would capture a contemporary Voltaire viewpoint.
Supported by the SHASS de Florez Fund for Humor