Star Tribune critics and editors anticipate most promising art and entertainment.

‘Candide,’ Cowles Center, March 21-24

A world gone crazy, full of unpredictable perils and reverses of fortune. Sound familiar? It’s the back story to Leonard Bernstein’s operetta “Candide,” a rambunctious treatment of Voltaire’s famous satirical novella. Long considered inferior to “West Side Story,” “Candide” has come on strong in recent years. VocalEssence teams up with Theater Latté Da for a semi-staged production directed by Peter Rothstein. This one has “unmissable treat” written all over it.