Critical Review of Leonard Bernstein's Operetta Candide

Running head: CONCERT REPORT #2
CONCERT REPORT #2
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1CONCERT REPORT #2
Introduction
This paper aims to review the operetta, ‘Candide’, where the American composer
Leonard Bernstein composes the music and it is based on the novella Voltaire, written in
1759 (Gale 2015). It is often considered a satire in nature (Weinstein-Reiman 2014). The
operetta was performed for the first time in the year 1956. The first performance of the
operetta consisted of a libretto by American dramatist and screenwriter Lillian Hellman.
However, since the year 1974, the operetta has been performed with the book written by
Hugh Wheeler. This was due to the fact that Hugh Wheeler’s book was more precise to the
original source material Voltaire (Connors 2017). The lyricists of the operetta were Richard
Wilbur, Dorothy Parker, Lillian Hellman, John Latouche, Stephen Sondheim and lastly,
Leonard Bernstein. The show consisted of an ensemble of strings, woodwinds, brass,
percussion along with soprano, alto, tenor and bass singers.
Critical Review
The first time Candide was performed in Broadway in 1956, it was devastating
failure. Although it had a score which would attract a lot of listeners and admirers, it still was
a failure in terms of the number of audiences. The original libretto written by Lillian hellman
had undergone changes made by many writers over the years, in order to fix the main
drawbacks of the show. However, even after the changes and contributions made by almost 7
writers, Candide was still considered a failure. Therefore, when the show opened under the
L.A Opera’s production, directed by the creative Francesca Zambello, hopes were high that
the results would differ at this time. The cast consisted of the talented Broadway actors
Kelsey Grammer and Christine Ebersole.