The Alliance Theatre will present a new production of “Candide” directed by Alliance Theatre Jennings Hertz Artistic Director Susan V. Booth with musical direction by Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Music Director Robert Spano.

The production will feature a cast of 17 actors, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Atlanta Symphony Chorus in this historic Alliance Theatre-Atlanta Symphony Orchestra collaboration.

With so many people onstage and little room for traditional scenic elements, Director Susan V. Booth decided to embrace additional mediums to enhance the storytelling – puppetry and film. Booth noted in a press release that, “When you have the opportunity to work with musicians as skilled as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra you don’t put them in the pit. We will have about 170 people on stage and a story that involves shipwrecks, warfare, jungle expeditions, and the odd burning of heretics.”

The performances, which will be presented in celebration of Bernstein’s centennial, will be held on  May 9–20, 2018 in Symphony Hall, while the Alliance Theatre undergoes a complete renovation.