Candide

A comedy concerning floggings, rape, justifiable homicide, ship travel, Jews, Christians, mass murder, death, desire, and the general joy and suffering one finds within this, the best of all possible worlds.

Voltaire’s picaresque novel is epic in ideas as well as in globe-hopping scope. Nick Ryan’s adaptation abridges the wild tale while successfully maintaining both Voltaire’s witty satire and his intellectual debate. Four Humors Theater’s production is as outrageous as the story. Director Jason Ballweber creates a broadly theatrical, anarchic experience. As the hapless Candide, Brant Miller is silly, but also sweet, giving the show an emotional punch. Playing multiple roles, Matt Spring, Ryan Lear, Christian Bardin and Anna Hickey dazzle.