Theatre Register
Candide: The New Broadway Cast Recording

Candide

Shows · Candide

Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics primarily by the poet Richard Wilbur, based on the 1759 novella of the same name by Voltaire. Other contributors to the text were John Latouche, Dorothy Parker, Lillian Hellman, Stephen Sondheim, John Mauceri, John Wells, and Bernstein himself.

Opened
1956
Performances
73
Type
Musical
Era
Golden Age
Music: Leonard BernsteinLyrics: Richard Wilbur, etc.Book: Lillian Hellman

Productions6 on Broadway

1933 Booth Theatre Original. May 15, 1933 · predates this show 8 performances
1956 Martin Beck Theatre Revival. December 1, 1956 · Tyrone Guthrie 73 performances
1959 Shaftesbury Theatre Transfer. April 30, 1959
1963 Transfer Theatre not recorded.
1974 Broadway Theatre Revival. March 10, 1974 · Patricia Birch 740 performances
1997 Gershwin Theatre Revival. April 29, 1997 · Harold Prince 104 performances

Every Broadway staging held in broadway-data, sourced to IBDB. 1 of these predate the show itself and are almost certainly a different work of the same name. Shown, marked, not merged. West End runs are not yet held.

Licensing 1 entry

US Music Theatre International Candide (1974 Version) matched on title alone — a lead, not a confirmed licensor

Read from the licensor's own pages and catalogues. Rights move, and an empty row means we have not confirmed a publisher, not that the show cannot be licensed.

In the literature42 passages

Another hopeful sign is the number of opera companies that have added musical theatre works to their repertoires. Not only does this help break down artificial barriers, it also creates new audiences for such notable examples as the Kern-Hammerstein Show Boat , the Gershwin-Heyward Porgy and Bess , the Rodgers-Hammerst… book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p13

There have been a few exceptions, such as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) and Nine (1982), but the odds are against success: over three dozen musicals set wholly (or partially) in Italy have floundered on Broadway, Off-Broadway, or on the road. Seven alone opened during the 1950s; besides The Liar… book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p61

Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella (1956), Leonard Bernstein’s Candide (1956), and Blitzstein’s Juno (1959). book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p320

Robert Rounseville created the title role in the original Broadway production of Candide. book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p399

The London production had a short run, and an attempt to resuscitate the musical with some of the original cast members reprising their Broadway roles went nowhere. book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p599

In his American Drama since World War II , Gerald Weales wrote that Candide was “not only the most sophisticated product of the American musical stage,” it was “probably the most imaginative American play to reach Broadway since the war.” book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p601

Passages naming this show, found by keyword across 178 books. Where this show turns up in the literature, not curated trivia about it.

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