The Best of All Possible Worlds

October 13, 2008

On Saturday, Norm and I went to see the musical Candide at the Arden Theater in Philadelphia.

The musical is based on Voltaire's satiric novella, entitled "Candide: Or, All For The Best", which I have often heard referenced, but have never read. It is an interesting time to be exposed to this particular work; there are a number of parallels between the world we live in now and the world as it was when Candide was written.

Voltaire published it in 1759, as a sarcastic response to the au courant philosophy of optimism espoused by Leibnitz, juxtaposed against the horrors that were occurring in the Western world at the time. These horrors included war, such as the conflict we Americans call the French and Indian War (part of a larger conflict called the Seven Years War in Europe) and natural disaster in the form of the catastrophic Lisbon earthquake of 1755 and subsequent tsunami and fires. References to some of these events are written into the novella.

Certainly Candide hammers its point home about foolish optimism in a world filled with evil, but it does so in a manner that is witty and very funny, with some great music. The story is all over the place, but roughly follows the idea of the Fall of Man in Genesis: an idealistic and innocent young man (Candide) lives in a castle-paradise owned by a Baron and his family, including the Baron's lovely daughter. The younger occupants of the castle are taught by Dr. Pangloss that they are living in "the best of all possible worlds."

All is well until Candide and the Baron's daughter Cunegonde kiss, and then Candide is thrown out of the castle, to begin his wanderings in an evil world, wherein he is treated very badly. Cunegonde also loses her paradise, and is subjected to all manner of abuse. The abuses and degradations suffered by the characters are presented in a very unsentimental, matter-of-fact way, and are so excessive that they become ridiculous.

The characters also spend much of their time pursuing wealth in any way they can get it other than performing actual work, but usually it slips through their fingers. Cunegonde sells out her erstwhile lover Candide a number of times, even though he remains true to her. By the end of the play, the characters are older, sadder, wiser, poorer, (and in the case of Cunegonde, uglier), and ready to start "tending their own gardens", as Voltaire puts it, meaning apparently that they will live real lives of honest work, and be responsible for themselves.

In addition to the skewering of optimism as a life philosophy, there is much philosophical discussion about the meaning of life in general and the nature of and reason for evil; there is no real resolution of any of these weighty subjects, and critics still argue about what Voltaire was advocating by his ending.

In some ways Candide could have been written recently. The terrible things that happen to the characters, the conflicts, natural disasters and greed are all too familiar to modern readers, especially after the last few weeks, when greed apparently almost brought down the global economic system.

Although Voltaire does not leave us with any real philosophy (other than pessimism), the idea of living lives that are simpler and more reality-based is a good thing to take away from the story. Perhaps it is that life is just not simply good, and we will have to work to ameliorate its horrors.

Some of us may literally be "making our own gardens grow", if food prices continue to skyrocket.

The musical version of Candide is really more of an operetta than a musical, with a wonderful score by Leonard Bernstein that makes some significant demands on a soprano (I am speaking specifically of the tour-de-force "Glitter and Be Gay"). I have tried to sing along with this recording of Dawn Upshaw, but she leaves me in the dust when she gets to that high E-flat.

The production at the Arden is really well done, and quite enjoyable. The production was theater-in-the-round, and utilized an unusual device wherein the stage floor was a giant round chalkboard, and various set-pieces are suggested by drawings which are then erased by men with mops.

In addition to the solos, there are some terrific choral pieces, one of which Norm and I have sung ("Make Our Garden Grow"). It is an acapella song, challenging to sing, with complex harmonic lines, and ends the play on an uplifting note.