Candide Tickets

Sparkling with wit and humour, Candide is part opera, part musical and entirely irreverent, drawing on everything from European operetta to Latin American dance rhythms.

We follow our hero and his sweetheart, Cunégonde, as they journey through a mad and chaotic world populated by a seemingly endless cast of vicious, greedy, lustful and manipulative characters.

Taking on an array of roles is a versatile and brilliant New Zealand and Australian cast led by the incomparable Reg Livermore in his New Zealand debut.

Auckland Town Hall will be refashioned into “The Best of All Possible Worlds” for this new production directed by New Zealand Opera’s General Director, Stuart Maunder and designed by Tony-award winner Roger Kirk. New Zealand Opera’s Director of Music Wyn Davies conducts.

Conductor Wyn Davies
Director Stuart Maunder
Designer Roger Kirk
Lighting Designer Trudy Dalgliesh
Sound Designer Jim Atkins
Choreographer Siobhan Ginty

Candide James Benjamin Rodgers
Voltaire/Dr Pangloss Reg Livermore
Maximilian James Harrison
Cunégonde Amelia Berry
The Old Lady Jacqueline Dark
Governor/Vanderdendur Kanen Breen
Also featuring Robert Tucker & Byron Coll

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Freemasons New Zealand Opera Chorus

Sung in English

Music by Leonard Bernstein, book by Hugh Wheeler after Voltaire, Lyrics by Richard Wilbur, with additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, John La Touche, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker and Leonard Bernstein.

Orchestrations by Leonard Bernstein and Hershy Kay; Musical continuity and additional orchestrations by John Mauceri. Licensed by Hal Leonard Australia, exclusive agent for Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd.