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(Opéra Bastille, 120 Rue de Lyon, M: Bastille)
Beaumarchais's play was made into an opera by the Italian composer Rossini.
Performed in the controversial Opéra Bastille, the opera is a
stunning whirlwind of humor and deceit; the story comes alive with the
aid of fabulous costumes and beautiful sets. The stage director was the filmmaker Coline Serreau.
| "Two great composers, Mozart and Rossini, wrote operas inspired
by episodes of Beaumarchais' theatrical trilogy. Mozart chose Le Mariage
de Figaro, while Rossini chose Le Barbier de Séville.
We had the pleasure of seeing Rossini's masterpiece in the modern
Opéra Bastille, under the baton of the Spanish conductor
Jesus Lopez-Cobos. Le Barbier de Séville is a wonderful
opéra-bouffe, which charmed me with its playful
arias, its sparkling orchestration and the intensity and
energy of its composition." (CC) |
"This was our first performance of the trip, and it was
fun to see everyone dressed up for the show. I was vaguely familiar
with Rossini's music after listening to a recording from the MIT
Music Library, but having the story acted out was a new experience.
The mise en scène was recently designed, and the
setting was vaguely Arabic. There were a a few amusing
quirks, including a portable barbet kit for Figaro that came equipped
with flashing blue lights. Although the production was quite lively,
however, I still couldn't help nodding off (briefly!) during the
first act.
The opera building itself is very modern, and the acoustics were
excellent; the singers' voices carried strongly to our seats on
the first balcony. It was a large building, though, and it took
a little while to figure out what all the numbers on our tickets
meant: one for the floor, one for the door to enter by, one for
the row, and one for the seat.
Unfortunately I forgot to buy a program during intermission, and
by the end of the show they had stopped selling them." (JM)
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(Salle Favart, 5 Rue Favart)
This mix of opéra comique and comédie musicale tells the story of a dame who lost
her amour (lover) ten years ago, and she has been searching
futilely for another love. Her path miraculously gets intertwined with
a cynical but compassionate dwarf. This magical and silly comedy reveals
how a Belle can fall in love with a Toute Petite Bête.
| "While this wasn’t one of my favorite spectacles
(shows), I still enjoyed it. It is what the French call an opéra
comique. The opera is a modern-day adaptation of Beauty
and the Beast, but nothing like the Disney version (although
it did have some allusions to Disney in it). At first, I figured
it would be a tacky comedy show with singing somewhere in the mix.
But it was actually not tacky, and the singing wasn’t too
bad (except for “la Belle,” whose voice can get annoying).
I actually felt like I was younger, enjoying the caricature-like
characters and the clichéd storyline! The only part I really
disliked was the seats at the Opéra Comique – they
were built for people who were obviously smaller than me!"
(OJ) |
Read Le Monde's review
of La Belle et la toute petite bête.
This French drama is a must-see if you like suspense and intricate plots.
It tells the story of an ecologist/pharmicist who believes that he
should purify the world of evil people to make it a beautiful place.
The movie is full of complicated love-hate relationsips. Vincent Perez
stars as the psychotic pharmicist while Guillaume Depardieu (Gérard's son) takes the
role of the troubled flic (police officer) trying to stop the
murders.
"This psychological thriller, though at times a weak copy
of Seven, was an entertaining way to pass the evening. Devoid of
the blatant violence characteristic of American movies, it instead
explored the complex
love-hate relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist.
Unfortunately, the story was overly ambitious and too many issues,
both emotional and practical, were left unresolved at the end of
the movie. I do, however, at least appreciate how the film left
me thinking as I left the theater (or at least thinking twice before
making another trip to the pharmacy)." (TK) |
(Théâtre de la Huchette, 23 Rue
de la Huchette, M: St Michel)
These are two short comic plays by Eugene Ionesco. La Cantatrice
Chauve is a parody on the English society and the unspoken rules
of social interaction. It is a lively play that features comic outbursts
and ridiculous sarcasm. La Leçon, on the other hand,
starts out as a jolly comedy and spirals into a terse commentary
on the abuse of power. It features a tutor who repeteadly abuses his
power over students. Playing in the same theater for 50 years, these
two plays have clearly become French classics.
| "La Huchette is a small theater in the Latin Quarter that
has presented Ionesco's first two plays without interruption since
1957. Eugene Ionesco was 32 years old when he left his native country
Romania in order to establish life with his family in Paris. Six
years later, La Cantatrice Chauve ("The Bald Soprano"),
his first play - or his first anti-play as he called it - was performed
for the first time. One year later, in 1951, he wrote his second
play, La Leçon ("The Lesson"). I enjoyed
these two plays a lot, and I was impressed by the complexity of
their message. La Cantatrice Chauve, whose source of inspiration
is in part the author's experience with foreign language textbooks, is not
only a satire of the superficiality and incommunicability of a society
frozen in meaningless formalities, but also an inquiry into the
meaning of theater in a society turned upside-down by World War
II. The second play we saw, La Leçon, is at least
as complex as La Cantatrice Chauve, and it represents a
pleading against totalitarianism, against collaboration, against
manipulation of women by men, and against an unreformed educational
system." (CC) |
| "This duo of short plays by the francophone playwright Ionesco
has been continuously featured at the Théâtre de la
Huchette for fifty years, yet the seats were all filled for the
performances we attended. Clearly, Paris has not tired of the shows,
and it’s easy to see why: the acting sparkled with vivacity,
adding a necessary element of physical humor. The chemistry between
the actors was particularly evident in La Leçon, as the easy
rapport between the professor and his student dissolved into a disturbing
fit of frustration. This was dark comedy at its finest: absolutely
horrifying and hilarious at once." (TK) |
(Palais des Sports, M: Porte de Versailles)
This spectacle follows the life of Napoléon up until he became
Emperor. With 600 costumes and 100 actors, it is a show on a grand scale.
Cannons go off, troops march, love letters are written and countries
conquered, all within the span of a few hours.
(110, rue Amelot, M: Filles du Calvaire)
Le Cirque d'Hiver is the oldest-running circus in the world. It was a venue
for many spectacles during the 18th century, and was eventually baptized
cirque by Napopleon III in 1852. It features complicated
trapeze acts, horse and sea lion tricks, comic shows, and various other
interesting features.
"The circus was a spectacular experience. To tell the truth,
I was
slightly embarrassed when walking in and seeing all those little
children.
The only adults that I saw were accompanying their kids. The ventriloquist
wowed the crowd as he ingeniously set up a skit with 4 voices. The
walruses, horses, and dogs performed some really cool tricks like
riding in different formations or flapping their fins (applauding
the crowd). In that room, it felt like I was 7 years old again and
I loved it." (AN) |
(Salle Richelieu, 2 Rue de Richelieu,
M: Palais Royal)
Le Dindon is a comedic play that satirizes the complex sexual
relationships amongst friends. The current showing is directed by Lukas
Hemleb at the legendary Comédie-Française.
| "This was my first experience at la Comédie-Française,
and it was just impeccable: the acting, timing, delivery, scenery,
and music were all perfectly executed ; the precision alone was
almost entertainment enough. The mise en scène was
modern, and the stage consisted of intersecting regions of hardwood
floor with walls at adjustable angles. At a few occasions during
the first act, the walls would begin to turn slowly, either opening
the stage or closing it off to reflect the emotional state of some
character. Another neat touch: M. Soldignac was accompanied by a
musical jingle that played each time he said, "Business is
business"; this was, in effect, his personal theme song. We
sat in the fist row of the second balcony, and the view was certainly
all-encompassing (if distant). The theater was lavishly decorated,
with plush red seats and gold accents. Between the theater, the
mise en scène, and the audience, it was an elegant
evening all around." (JM) |
This just-released French comedy is a parody on the Doestoevsky novel,
Crime and Punishment. The premise is a jolly chiropractor who
does not know when to stop telling jokes, and eventually begins to literally
kill people with laughter. The film was directed by Isabelle Doval and
also stars Isabelle Doval and her real-life husband José Garcia.
| "What a boring, trite movie. It's true I missed several jokes
that must
have been funny, judging from the French audience's reaction, but
most
of it seemed Americanized comedy-drama overkill. One can tell from
the
first scene that José Garcia, the main actor, is clever,
excited, and
immensely funny. The problem is not as much him as it is the
storyline, which is simplistic and somewhat confused. But the theater,
at a UGC joint in basement -3 of Les Halles, a somewhat shoddy Parisian
megamall, was top-notch. Why doesn't the US have bathrooms right
in
the theater? Never mind the smell. The seats were luscious and you
could get sweet popcorn as well as salty. Don't forget your Coca
Light. It's worth going at least once to one of the big chain movie
theaters, but also check out the smaller, less commercial cinemas
that
feature more sophisticated French and international film."
(CG) |
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Comments and questions to
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