Candide (Original Broadway Cast)

This original 1956 production, with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Richard Wilbur, and libretto by Lillian Hellman, based on Voltaire's novel of the same name, was not a hit, except as a recording. Presenting the remarkable Broadway debut of Barbara Cook as Cunegonde (she still sings "Glitter and Be Gay," or "The Jewel Song" better than anybody) and a praiseworthy Bernstein score, Candide on disc quickly became a cult favorite. None of the endless stream of revivals (most recently the abysmal 1997 Broadway staging), replete with new libretti, additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and Hal Prince three-ring-circus staging, has improved the oil-and-water marriage of Voltaire's satire and an operetta-ish approach to musicals. Candide in fact may be the only musical in history to incorporate both first-rate and 10th-rate material as well as everything in between. They may never get it right on stage. But fortunately it's been all right on record for more than four decades. Cook and company (including the operatic tenor Robert Rounseville in the title role, and Irra Pettina as the comic Old Woman) still glitter on audio. --Robert Windeler