Jack Swanson is a sweet-natured, sensitive Candide, game for it all as he travels from country to country getting taken advantage of. Erin Morley's slightly hardened Cunegonde — her "Glitter and Be Gay" is played more for coloratura #MeToo anxiety than laughs — makes her own travails more touching than usual. Likewise, both the supercilious Maximillian (Theo Hoffman) nor the flirtatious Paquette (Peabody Southwell) are unusually fleshed out, rather than Broadway comic book. Ebersole's Old Lady, she who is so easily assimilated, gracefully refrains from broad ethnic humor (another mixed blessing).

Source: Los Angeles Times January 28, 2018 22:40 UTC