Despite its 1956 premiere Broadway season being labelled a box office disaster, Candide has become one of those masterpieces best known for its components rather than its complete performances which are still relatively rare.
The overture, orchestrated by Leonard Bernstein himself, is a favourite party piece for symphony orchestras worldwide, while coloratura sopranos delight in demonstrating their virtuosity with renditions of the stratospheric aria, Glitter and Be Gay.
The only other production of this work experienced by this reviewer was the legendary 1984 production directed by John Bell in the Seymour Centre which boasted a cast that included Philip Quast, Jon Ewing, Tony Sheldon, Tony Taylor, Deidre Rubenstein, Susan Van Cott, Barry Lovett and Rick Burchall.
However, in 2015, Lindy Hume created a production of Candide for Opera Queensland which starred David Hobson as Candide and Amelia Farrugia as Cunegonde.
In 2018, Mitchell Butel staged a production of Candide in the Sydney Opera House in which Alexander Lewis played Candide, Annie Aitkin played Cunegonde and Caroline O’Connor was The Old Lady.
Butel staged Candide again in 2024, this time in a co-production for the State Theatre Company South Australia and State Opera South Australia, with Alexander Lewis, Annie Aitkin and Caroline O’Connor repeating their roles as Candide, Cunegonde and Old Lady.
Earlier in that same year Dean Bryant produced a completely different concept for his production of Candide for Victorian Opera.
This production featured Eddie Perfect in the dual roles of Voltaire/ Pangloss, Lyndon Watts as Candide and Alexander Lewis demonstrating his versatility by taking on two different roles, Governor and Vanderdendur. In that production Katherine Allen played Cunegonde and Maria Mercedes played The Old Lady.
When Opera Australia programmed Victorian Opera’s production for inclusion its 2025 season it retained Eddie Perfect, Lyndon Watts, Euan Fistrovic Doidge and Eddie Muliaumaseali’i in the roles they had created for Dean Bryant but cast Annie Aitken as Cunegonde.
All these artists had appeared previously in productions for Opera Australia, except for Euan Fistrovic Doidge, who was making his Opera Australia debut as Maximilian.
Opera Australia alumni, Dominica Matthews, Cathy-Di Zhang, John Longmuir and Andrew Moran are cast in the roles of The Old Lady, Paquette, Governor/Vanderdendur and Martin respectively, along with the Opera Australia Orchestra and Chorus.
One could hardly imagine a more perfect combination of music theatre and operatic talents to interpret Dean Bryant’s deliciously subversive concept, which sets the action in a clapped-out fifties caravan inhabited by a ghostly troupe of characters wearing bizarre makeup and decaying, once-lavish 18th century costumes and wigs.
In this satire of a satire, pop-up signs effectively transform the caravan and keep the audience informed as to the location of the series of extraordinary events which challenge the resolve of Lyndon Watts’ Candide as he traverses the world convinced that he is living in ‘the best of all possible worlds”.
Eddie Perfect, brilliant as both the narrator, Voltaire and Candide’s tutor, Dr Pangloss, cleverly pricks any hint of pretention while the various characters, including Dr. Pangloss, endure a succession of eye-popping, cleverly staged and often very funny, events, for which Bernstein has written a succession of beautiful melodies, most of which are referred to in his justly celebrated overture.
Each of these songs is gloriously sung with admirable style and panache by this cast of superb singer/actors, thrillingly supported by the Opera Australia orchestra and chorus exhilaratingly conducted by Brett Weymark OAM.
Among many highlights in what will undoubtably be remembered as a definitive production of this Bernstein masterpiece, the extraordinary virtuosic performance of Annie Aitkin as a hilariously drug-addled Cunegonde singing Glitter and Be Gay, that deservedly stopped the show; and the full cast choral version of the concluding song Make Our Garden Grow, which brought the excited first-night audience to its feet for a thunderous ovation, will remain treasured memories.
Candide
Joan Sutherland Theatre – Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney
Performance: Thursday 20 February 2025
Season continues to 14 March 2025
Information and Bookings: www.opera.org.au
Images: Eddie Muliaumaseali’i as Cacambo, Lyndon Watts as Candide, John Longmuir as Vanderdendur, Dominica Matthews as The Old Lady, Andrew Moran as Martin, Euan Fistrovic Doidge as Maximillian, Cathy Di-Zhang as Paquette and Annie Aitken as Cunegonde in Candide – photo by Carlita Sari | Annie Aitken as Cunegonde and Lyndon Watts as Candide – photo by Carlita Sari | Cathy Di-Zhang as Paquette and Eddie Perfect as Voltaire – photo by Carlita Sari | Annie Aitken as Cunegonde – photo by Carlita Sari
Review: Bill Stephens OAM