Quick Center screens "Candide" as part of Leonard Bernstein Festival | Press Releases

"Candide," a semi-staged film production of the brilliant comic operetta, will be screened on Sunday, April 30, at 3 p.m. as part of the Leonard Bernstein Festival at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. At 2:15 p.m., Mark McGregor, S.J., assistant professor of film, and Richard Regan, Ph.D., assistant professor of English, will introduce the film, which features Tony winners Patti Lupone and Kristin Chenoweth, and the New York Philharmonic playing the clever Bernstein score.

Filmed in at Lincoln Center in 2004, the production is a concert performance with costumes, makeup, dancing and acting, but no scenery. Conductor Martin Alsop keeps the pacing upbeat and the performance bridges the gap between Broadway and opera by featuring Lupone and Chenoweth, as well as Paul Groves and Stanford Olsen, both of whom have notable operatic backgrounds.

The storyline focuses on a set of young characters taught in childhood to believe they live in "the best of all possible worlds." The characters struggle to maintain their optimism despite war, famine, shipwreck, piracy, slavery, rape and disease, before finally reaching a sense of reality. In addition to Bernstein's melodies, the impeccable score features lyrics by Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, Stephen Sondheim and other luminaries, and the memorable tunes "It Must Be So," "Life is Happiness Indeed" and "Make Our Garden Grow."

Tickets are $7. For tickets, call the Quick Center box office at (203) 254-4010 or toll free at 1-877-ARTS-396. For more information, visit www.quickcenter.com .