Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan in ‘Candide’? I had to go to Philadelphia to catch this.

PHILADELPHIA — How’s this for an enticing come-on: Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan in Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide”? Featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir and the mezzo soprano Denyce Graves?

So, yeah, I hopped on Amtrak and headed to the gorgeous Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where the revival of this problematic 1956 musical comedy is being staged for three performances, through Saturday. And what I got — apart from some alluring vocal interpretation from the likes of soprano Erin Morley as Cunegonde and tenor Alex Shrader as the picaresque title character — was a lesson in how a classical organization can trip up, coloring outside its accustomed lines.