Candide
1988 Scottish Opera Production

Opened May 17, 1988 at the Theatre Royale, Glasgow, Scotland
Closed July 1, 1988 after 13 performances
(includes 6 performances in Newcastle, Liverpool, and Edinburgh)
Previews began December 1, 1988 at The Old Vic, London
Opened December 6, 1989
Closed January 7, 1989 after 34 performances

Production Credits | Cast | Musical Numbers | Recording | Synopsis

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Music by Leonard Bernstein
Book adapted from Voltaire by Hugh Wheeler
Lyrics by Richard Wilbur
With additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, John Latouche,
Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker and Leonard Bernstein
Adapted for Scottish Opera by John Wells and John Mauceri

Production Credits

A Co-Production of Scottish Opera
[Managing Director: Richard Mantle; Music Director: John Mauceri]
and The Old Vic
[Executive Director: Ed Mirvish; Executive Producer: David Mirvish;
Artistic Director: Jonathan Miller; Administrator: Andrew Leigh]
Directed by Jonathan Miller and John Wells
Musical Direction [Glasgow, Orchestra and Chorus of Scottish Opera]: John Mauceri [Justin Brown after the first 5 performances]
Musical Direction [London, New D'Oyly Carte Opera Orchestra]: Peter Stanger [Stephen Clarke for matinee performances]
Set and Costume Design by Richard Hudson
Lighting by David Cunningham
Choreography and Staging by Anthony van Laast
Chorus Director [Glasgow]: Peter Stanger
Chorus Master / Assistant Musical Director [London]: Stephen Clarke
Orchestrations by Leonard Bernstein and Hershy Kay
Additional orchestrations by John Mauceri

Cast

Glasgow Cast

Nickolas Grace - Voltaire / Pangloss / Cacambo / Martin
Bonaventure Bottone - Captain / Governor / Gambler [First 5 performances]
David Hillman - Captain / Governor / Gambler
Mark Beudert - Candide
Marilyn Hill Smith - Cunegonde [First 5 performances]
Andrea Bolton - Cunegonde
Ann Howard - Old Lady
Gaynor Miles - Paquette
Mark Tinkler - Maximilian
Leon Greene - The Baron / First Officer / Grand Inquisitor / First Jesuit / Slave Driver / Ragotski
Howard Goorney - Don Issachar, The Jew / Father Bernard / The Anabaptist / Second Officer / A Sage
Elaine MacKillop - The Baroness / Waitress
Carol Rowlands - Lisbon Woman / Waitress
John Brackenridge - Informer / Announcer / Aide
Paul Anwyl - Huntsman / Croupier
David Morrison - Lisbon Man
Declan McCusker - Sultan Achmet
Grant Richards - Prince Charles Edward
Graeme Danby - Tzar Ivan / Sailor
Jonathan Hawkins - King Hermann Augustus
Scott Cooper - King Stanislaus / Archbishop

London Cast

Nickolas Grace - Voltaire / Pangloss / Cacambo / Martin
Mark Beudert - Candide
Rosemary Ashe - Cunegonde [alternating]
Marilyn Hill Smith - Cunegonde [alternating]
Patricia Routledge - Old Lady
Mark Tinkler - Maximilian
Gaynor Miles - Paquette
Alexander Oliver - Captain / Governor / Gambler
Leon Greene - The Baron / First Officer / Grand Inquisitor / First Jesuit / Slave Driver / Ragotski / Sailor
Howard Goorney - Don Isaachar, The Jew / Father Bernard / The Anabaptist / Second Officer / Sailor
Betsy Marrion - The Baroness
Harriet Neave - Lisbon Woman
Helen Garton - Lisbon Woman
John Brackenridge - Informer / Announcer / Aide
Jonathan Coad - Huntsman / Croupier
Bill Snape - Archbishop

Ensemble - Juliet Arthur, Susan Ashley, Christine Beaumont, John Brackenridge, Jonathan Coad, Tony Crean, Christopher Dee, Timothy Evans Jones, Andrew Fearn, Helen Garton, Helen Greenwaway, Stephanie Kulesza, Betsy Marrion, Robin Martin Oliver, Harriet Neave, Michael Neill, Jane Oakland, Beill Snape, Elisabeth Stirling, Robert Traynor

Musical Numbers

Selections as shown in the program of The Old Vic production

Act One

Act Two

Selections as shown in the published score

Act One

Act Two
    * These numbers are not on the cast recording

Recording

Candide - Scottish National Opera

Recording produced by John Yap
Engineered by John Kurlander
Orchestra conducted by Justin Brown
Digitally recorded at the Theatre Royale, Glasgow, Scotland on April 16 and 20 1988

Liner notes by John Mauceri

  • Compact Disc, 1988 [TER CDTER1156 (UK)]
  • Cassette, 1988 [TER ZCTER1156 (UK)]
  • LP, 1988 [TER TER1156 (UK)]
  • Compact Disc, 1988 [Musical Heritage Society MHS 512494X (US)]
  • Cassette, 1988 [Musical Heritage Society MHC 312494A (US)]
Reissued with Extra Tracks
  • Compact Disc, 1997 [TER CDTER 1156 (UK)]
  • Compact Disc, 1997 [JAY CDJAY 1257 (US)] (68:39 mins.)

Further recording information

Television Broadcast

The Old Vic production was filmed and telecast on the BBC.

Synopsis

Candide is in love with Cunegonde, daughter of the house in Westphalia where he is brought up.  Dr. Pangloss, their tutor, teaches them that everything in this world is for the best, part of God's universal plan.  Candide is then subjected to a knockabout series of disasters to test this theory.

He is expelled from Cunegonde's home, press-ganged into the army, finds Cunegonde raped and apparently dead, and meets Pangloss, disfigured by syphilis.  Surviving an earthquake, they are captured by the Holy Inquisition, and Pangloss is hanged.

Reunited with Cunegonde, he kills her new lovers and they flee to South America where she is sold into slavery.  After many adventures among war-like Jesuits and the wise inhabitants of Eldorado, he returns to Venice where he finds Cunegonde a whore in a gambling casino.

Finally disillusioned, he realizes that the world is neither good nor bad but what we make of it.

[from the program of The Old Vic production]

Compiled by Michael H. Hutchins