I was so looking forward to seeing this production of CANDIDE since it's conducted by my friend, the great John deMain, who does PORGY & BESS better than anyone, and who is one great opera conductor. Also the cast looks good on paper, but it's not very good. You know you're in trouble when the choreographer decides to choreograph the greatest overture ever written for Broadway and you're stuck watching six dancers in silver body suits prance around aimlessly while the principal trumpet blows notes left and right. A lot of the secondary cast is Italian so a lot of the wonderful lyrics are next to unintelligible. The design, overall, is quite good, but the pace is slow. Then we get to the fantastic finale "Make Our Garden Grow" and the trumpeter blows the final chord! Oy.