In France, Voltaire’s Candide returns to the stage.

In both Voltaire’s and [Leonard] Bernstein’s versions, a central scene involvers an auto-da-fé, in which Candide and Dr. Pangloss are sentenced to be burned at the stake to save Portugal from a repeat of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Here, while retaining the jaunty song, “What a Day for an Auto-da-fé,” Mr. Carsen does what Hellman and Bernstein had imagined, recreating the House Un-American Activities Committee and casting the chorus as Ku Klux Klan torch carriers.Then, when Candide flees to the New World, it is now the liner France that carries him to New York. After an immigration officer kidnaps Cunegonde, Candide sets off on his journey, accompanied by a loyal Indian, Cacambo (Ferlyn Brass). There, he discovers more of the United States: Mormon proselytizers in Utah; hippies in San Francisco; Jesuits in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Indians at Wounded Knee, South Dakota; and dancers in Hawaii.

Five exiled kings whom Candide meets are in turn transformed with masks into five contemporary politics leaders: George W. Bush, Vladimir Putin, Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, and Silvio Berlusconi. They are sunbathing on inflatable mattresses in the middle of a huge oil slick. Surprisingly, lyrics written for the kings decades ago still work for today’s politicians.

And not surprisingly, Voltaire’s scathing satire, whether it’s literary or theatrical, still works for today’s world.