This groaner is by the very prolific Bob Dvorak.

Voltaire’s great bastard hero Candide was the subject of a Broadway operetta a few decades back. Voltaire’s story wandered as greatly as did Candide himself in documenting the hero’s life adventures.

Needless to say, significant portions of the original story were glossed over (or, perhaps, Panglossed over) in its reduction to a few-hour stage presentation. Normal dramatic license allowed Bernstein and Hellman fair latitude in selecting scenes of merit and discarding others.

There was one minor episode during Candide’s adventures in South America, not even documented in Voltaire’s original work, wherein Candide acquired a horse. This horse, a gray with some brown-and-white mottle, became his pal, and he would frequently take it out to ride for the mere pleasure.

Although this little sub-story was eventually excised from the operetta, Bernstein had written some extraordinary music for the scenes with El Caballo. Needless to say, there was no dialogue therein — and only a bit of monologue, so there was plenty of music. The maestro was justifiably proud of the underscoring for these scenes, and eventually transformed the music into an orchestral presentation:

Suite: Candide Dapple