Leonard Bernstein worked on his musical version of Voltaire’s picaresque satire on Church, State and Philosophy for over twenty-two years, and, in the best of all possible worlds, he should have got it finally right; but he never did. The trouble is the musical’s book is as picaresque as the novel, and, as everybody in show business knows, satire is “what closes on Saturday night.” Candide in the 1950’s proved far too sophisticated for New York and London audiences, who came expecting a Broadway musical and found they were watching an opera bouffe, which satirized opera and its more ludicrous conventions. The show was an artistic success. Or, to put it another way, it was one of Broadway’s most famous flops. It lasted just 73 performances. Nowadays, Candide is recognized as a modern classic.
The Menier Chocolate Factory has an excellent track record when it comes to reviving musicals and Matthew White’s production, choreographed by Adam Cooper, is great fun. The staging recalls the 1974 Harold Prince revival in that it is acted in the round and the singers also act in the gangways and the walks above and around the auditorium. The production has the same sort of boisterous, colourful, carnival comic effect. Fra Fee is innocent Candide. James Dreyfus is the over-optimistic Dr Pangloss. Bernstein’s wonderful score is full of brilliant witty and tuneful pastiches. The singing of the final choral number, “Make Our Garden Grow”, is particularly impressive. Cunegonde’s jewel song, “Glitter and Be Gay” is a hilarious burlesque of coloratura (and greed) and Scarlett Strallen, vocally as bright and glittering as the bejewelled chandelier which hangs above her, stops the show.