A concert version of Leonard Bernstein's 1956 operetta based on the 18th-century satire by Voltaire—does that sound a little highbrow for your taste? Not to worry. This Great Performances offering, taped last spring at New York City's Lincoln Center, puts an emphasis on rowdy, often bawdy comedy.
Opera star Paul Groves brings goofy innocence and a great tenor to the title role of a naïf who bounces around the world on a series of misadventures. Kristin Chenoweth, from The West Wing and Broadway's Wicked, shines as Cunégonde, his wayward true love. Patti LuPone adds lots of attitude as a vampy old lady with only one buttock. And you know it's an "anything goes" kind of show when a Donald Trump lookalike snarls, "You're fired!" during the Spanish Inquisition.
MUSICAL
