Candide

Life is happiness, indeed. Or so believes Candide at the start of his great adventure through a world gone mad. By the end? Just wait and see.

Candide is a brilliant satire about humankind's capacity for mindless optimism, set to a remarkable score by famed West Side Story composer Leonard Bernstein.

Bernstein's genius is on full display: from the exuberant overture (a favourite of concert orchestras around the world), to the soprano showpiece ‘Glitter and Be Gay' and the touching choral finale ‘Make Our Garden Grow'.

This new staging by award-winning director Dean Bryant was a smash hit upon its Victorian Opera premiere in 2024, with critics declaring it “the best of all possible productions” (Australian Book Review).

Musical theatre renaissance man Eddie Perfect and the star of Hamilton Lyndon Watts reprise their roles in a production that delivers both first-rate comedy and the symphonic magic of Bernstein's score.

Since its premiere, Candide has defied classification — it's played seasons on Broadway but has been embraced by many of the world's great opera houses as part of the canon. Is it operetta or musical theatre? Whatever the case, it has some of the best music and most rollicking adventures you'll see in any theatre.