BERNSTEIN, Leonard, & Richard Wilbur.

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Dr. Voltaire's Candide. Early rehearsal script of the "Chelsea Version", here titled Dr. Voltaire's Candide, and signed by the lyricist on the title page. Candide was first performed in 1956 but was not a success and it was reworked in 1973. It is significant the title page of this volume states "Lyrics by Richard Wilbur and.....?"The original production of Candide featured a book by Lillian Hellman, and many lyricists worked on the show including James Agee, Dorothy Parker, John Latouche, Felicia Bernstein, and Richard Wilbur. Hal Prince (1928-2019), the director and producer, worked on a revision in the early 1970s. Hellman refused to allow use of her work, and the project to reinvent the work therefore featured an entirely new book by Richard Wilbur. The "Chelsea Version" opened at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on 11 December 1973, and ran for 48 performances before transferring to Broadway, opening on 10 March 1974. It ran until 4 January 1974. This script, dated 15 June 1973, offers a textual witness to the redevelopment of the work.The volume comprises a title page, and 124 pages of script. Of these, 44 pages are additional leaves in the sequence (numbered "2A", "3A", "4A", etc.). Many of the additional leaves provide lyrics of songs or notes. Page "2A", for example, states "Candide sings of the happiness of his lot in an eight bar passage taken from the last main theme of the overture. This, of course, will have to be a new song, that is, new lyrics".This copy is numbe

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