Performance Dates
Photo Gallery
All the wild & wacky FUN of our production of Bernstein’s Candide beautifully captured by AO Official Photographer, Kathleen Benke
About Candide
Candide by Leonard Bernstein
Based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire
Book by Hugh Wheeler
A GLITTERING 100TH ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION AWAITS. Fast-paced, funny, and philosophical, Anchorage Opera joins nationwide celebrations of Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday. Based on the novella by Voltaire, Candide sets off with his friends to find the true meaning of life. Their exploits along the way, including separation, war, mistaken identity, kidnapping, murder, and a shipwreck, but they never give up their search for truth in this “best of all possible worlds.” A joint production with the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, Charles Prince Conductor, (student and personal friend of Leonard Bernstein, and son of the famous Broadway Director, Hal Prince), with Stage Direction by Cyrano’s Producing Artistic Director, Teresa K. Pond. Full of soaring arias and the rightly celebrated Overture, which has become one of Bernstein’s signature pieces, Candide is a treat for opera and Broadway fans alike.
In English with English supertitles
Bernstein’s CANDIDE New York City Opera Version. By arrangement with Boosey and Hawkes, Inc., Sole Agent for Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company LLC, publisher and copyright owner.
Bernstein Conducting “Candide” — Overture
One of Leonard Bernstein‘s last performances, which includes him addressing the audience about “the reason for Candide“. A tale of earthquakes & Voltaire in the Age of Enlightenment, followed by the incomparable Overture as the composer intended it to be performed!
The Cast
Production Team
Daniel Bates – Candide
Sharleen Joynt – Cunegonde
Charles Prince – Conductor
Teresa K. Pond – Stage Director / Choreographer / Co-Set Designer
Curt Olds – Dr. Pangloss / Voltaire / Buisnessman / 2nd Gambler / Sage
Victoria Livengood – Old Lady
Chorus Master – Richard Gordon
Cedar Cussins – Lighting Designer
Rachel Zatcoff – Paquette
Peter Kendall Clark – Baron / Grand Inquisitor / Slave Driver / Pasha-Prefect
Stage Manager –
Emily Butzi
Stacy Tanner
Assistant Stage Manager
Jonathan Hays – Maximilian
Paul Rios – Huntsman / 2nd Bulgarian Soldier / Heresy Agent / Governor’s Aide
Anna Cometa – Pink Sheep 1 / Female Slave
Tim Fosket – Lion / Old Don / Pirate
Kyle Gantz – Servant of Maximillian (Hugo) / 1st Bulgarian Soldier (Radu) / Judge / Jew (Don Issachar) / Father Bernard / 1st Gambler
Katie Strock – Baroness / Female Slave
Lisa Willis – Pink Sheep 2
Nick Lynch – Bulgarian Soldier / Executioner / Pirate
Warren Weinstein – Westphalian Soldier / 2nd Heresy Agent / Pirate
Denny Wells – 3rd Heresy Agent / Sailor
John Fraser, Phillip Woods – Old Dons
Robert Updegrove – Old Don / Sailor
Heidi Herbert-Lovern – Westphalian Soldier / Pirate
Catie Bartlett, Karlee Dolphin – Whores
Kaeli Braden, Carolyn Morris – Female Slaves
Allison Ackles, Chris Branche – Dancer Couple / Heretics
Hair & Make-up Designer –
Elle Janecek
Matt Smith – Technical Director / Co-Set Designer
Costume Coordinator – Lynn Murphy
Kaie Promish – Costume Shop Consultant
The Chorus
Soprano
Amanda Boger, Anna Cometa, Trudy Gantz, Jordan McCready, Vivian Mendenhall, Kaylee Miltersen, Carolyn Morris
Mezzo Soprano
Catie Bartlett, Kaeli Braden, Karlee Dolphin, Heidi Herbert-Lovern, Katie Strock, Lisa Willis
Tenor
John Fraser, Andrew Gray, Dustin Jorgensen, Robert Updegrove, Phillip Woods
Bass / Baritone
Tim Fosket, Kyle Gantz, Paul Rios, Warren Weinstein, Denny Wells
Synopsis
Act 1
In the castle of Baron Thunder-Ten-Tronck in Westphalia, Dr. Pangloss tutors four children based on his philosophy that ‘all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.’ The children are Cunegonde and Maximilian, the beautiful daughter and son of the Baron, Paquette, a servant girl, and Candide, a bastard cousin. Candide and Cunegonde fall in love and once their feelings are discovered, Candide is banished from Barony and tricked into joining the Bulgarian army to ravage his own homeland. After many misadventures, Candide is borne to Portugal where he discovers Pangloss, now a beggar, and both are sentenced before the Spanish Inquisition. An Old Lady leads Candide away and eventually presents him to her mistress who happens to be Cunegonde.
Act 2
The three of them set forth on a harrowing journey to the New World. Meanwhile, in the New World, the Governor of Cartagena, Colombia purchases Maximilian (disguised as a woman) and Paquette as concubines. The Governor falls for Maximilian and is so disgusted upon learning his true gender he decides to sell him to a monastery. Candide eventually arrives at the monastery in the New World and inadvertently stabs Maximilian and runs off into the jungle with Paquette. After further misadventures, the Old Lady helps Candide find Cunegonde, who has since become a prostitute in a gambling casino, so he buys her and the newly brought back to life Maximilian, who happens to be working there as a house slave. Destitute but re-united, the four go to see a wise man that turns out to be Dr. Pangloss. Their old teacher reveals his new plan for happiness to the quartet: man must ‘work from dawn til’ dusk, in the fields, patiently learning to make his garden grow.
Plot summary courtesy of Boosey and Hawkes, Inc. (publisher of the 1982 New York City Opera version)
Free “Words on Music” (Pre-Operetta Lecture)
Plan to join us one hour before each performance of Candide as Anchorage Symphony Orchestra Education Consultant, Susan Wingrove-Reed, gives a Pre-Operetta lecture on the music and personalities of Leonard Bernstein‘s beloved comic masterpiece
Saturday, April 7 at 7:00 pm in the Atwood Concert Hall (Orchestra Level)
Sunday, April 8 at 3:00 pm in the Atwood Concert Hall (Orchestra Level)
Sponsors
Official Airline for Candide
Guest Artists’ Fitness Sponsor