A lively, appealing production of Leonard Bernstein’s operetta opens Victorian Opera’s 2024 season, and perhaps sets the tone for the company under its new Artistic Director, Stuart Maunder.

Nicely timed with the recent release of Bradley Cooper’s film about Bernstein, Maestro, this is the first Candide seen in Melbourne for many a year. It’s also notable for company debuts by artists such as Eddie Perfect, Lyndon Watts (Hamilton’s Aaron Burr), conductor Benjamin Northey and theatre, musical and opera director Dean Bryant.

Victorian Opera’s Candide (Lyndon Watts, centre). Photo © Charlie Kinross

This absurdist philosophical work’s 1956 premiere on Broadway was a failure, but various revisions, including takes better suited to opera companies, has seen this adaptation of Voltaire’s 1759 satirical novella find its audience. Victorian Opera has gone with Bernstein’s final revision. Hugh Wheeler wrote the book, and lyrics are by Richard Wilbur with contributions by the likes of Stephen Sondheim, Dorothy Parker and Bernstein himself.

The story follows a young man called Candide and his various on-again, off-again companions. They include the woman he loves, Cunegonde, and their tutor, Dr Pangloss, whose optimistic world view is put to the...