5th Avenue production perfectly balanced

The musical “Candide” is a gloriously fun and serpentine journey that blends the brilliance of composer Leonard Bernstein with some truly farcical scenes that left me exhilarated and a little bit exhausted — but in a good way.

Playing at the 5th Avenue Theatre, this newer version of Voltaire’s satire seems a far cry from the schizophrenic production that first appeared on Broadway in the 1950s. According to theater lore, the buoyant Bernstein score never matched up with the grim adaptation done by famed playwright Lillian Hellman.

But this Royal National Theatre version with a new adaptation by John Caird and lyrics by Richard Wilbur — additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Hellman, Dorothy Parker, John Latouche and Bernstein — certainly proved that “Candide” can be a successful balance of the elements of story, satire and score.

In fact, this “Candide” balances dark comedy in the operetta style with a dash of Monty Python and a sprinkling of Gilbert and Sullivan. It weaves a plot filled with a cavalcade of cruelties — war, enslavement and earthquakes — with crazy characters that include a pair of ridiculously cute red sheep, a woman who is missing one buttock and an over-the-top gay baron.

The essential theme of “Candide” is to balance optimism with pessimism. To balance the glass half empty with the glass half full. To conclude that life isn’t either good or bad, but a confounding and Quixotic cocktail of both.

The story line follows Voltaire’s novel and also follows the ideology of Murphy’s Law in that whatever can go wrong, does go wrong.

The story is narrated by philosopher Dr. Pangloss whose student, Cunegone, and her cousin, Candide, fall in love. Right from the start, this relationship goes wrong as Candide is an illegitimate child and Cunegone a lovely, rich daughter of a baron.

After Candide makes the baron angry, he is thrust into the world and goes from calamity to calamity. Cunegonde, meanwhile, has her own hell to pay as she is kidnapped by pirates then bought and sold into slavery several times.

It’s a whirlwind tour of humanity’s faults and virtues and doesn’t end in a fairy tale happiness. More like, it is what it is, much like life.

The set design (Matthew Smucker) was sublimely simple with oversized pieces representing what looked like a ship’s portal that was ever changing with scenes that switched from a shining moon to an angry sea.

The direction and musical staging by David Armstrong was fluid and flawless and handily accomplished with a solid cast full of amazing singers.

The challenging score completes the circle. Some favorites were the wonderfully witty “Dear Boy,” “Glitter and Be Gay,” sung by Cunegone with a delivery that mixed comedy and sarcasm with a touch of madness; “Words, Words, Words,” done by the marvelous Allen Fitzpatrick during a standout performance as the pessimist Martin; and the lovely finale number, “Make Our Garden Grow.”

Every actor shined, starting with the Herculean performance of David Pichette as Pangloss, followed by Stanley Bahorek’s exuberant Candide, Laura Griffith as the sultry Cunegone and Anne Allgood as the hilarious Old Woman.

The only audience warning I have is that it takes a long time to go around the world — it’s about a three-hour sit-through with one intermission.

I have to wonder why the 5th Avenue doesn’t consider changing the start time for shows on Thursdays (a school night) to match the 7:30 p.m. start times for the Tuesday and Wednesday night shows. Maybe I’m just a wimp. That said, this rare chance to see such a bountiful show as “Candide” was well worth losing a little sleep.

Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424; goffredo@heraldnet.com.

“Candide”

Through June 13 at the 5th Avenue Theatre, 1308 Fifth Ave., Seattle.

Tickets start at $25.50. Call 206-625-1900 or go to www.5thavenue.org.