Theater Lübeck brings Leonard Bernstein's satirical masterpiece Candide to the stage with wit, speed and philosophical depth - a turbulent journey through chaos, catastrophe and the eternal search for happiness.
We live in the best of all possible worlds! At least that's what Candide learned from his teacher Dr. Pangloss. When the Westphalian castle where he spent his youth is destroyed in the war, he embarks on an adventurous journey into the unknown - via Paris and Lisbon to Eldorado. But with the right amount of optimism in his luggage, neither earthquakes, shipwrecks, the Inquisition nor other catastrophes deter him from his path.
In 1759, Voltaire published "Candide", a biting satire on the optimistic philosophy of his time - the book was banned in the same year. 200 years later, Leonard Bernstein transformed the material into a colorful mixture of musical, operetta and opera and peppered his "declaration of love to Europe" with allusions from Rossini to Wagner and Johann Strauss. In 1993, none other than Loriot brought order to the convoluted plot - with his interludes and imaginative live drawings, "Candide" comes to the stage of Theater Lübeck for the first time.
Premiere November 14
Further performances: November 21 and 28, December 5 and 31, 2025, January 8 and 25, February 21, March 1 and 15, April 4, 11 and 17, 2026
