Patrick Honoré - Page 3

The best French-language musical of the century so far.

November has been a very busy month for musical theater in Paris. On top of the big shows opening at Mogador, Théâtre du Gymnase, and Théâtre de Paris, the Auguste Théâtre has been hosting a very intimate musical entitled Simply Musicals: Manila, London, Paris. Produced by Pinoy Jam Paris in patnership with the association Paris Broadway Saigon in 2012, it is a cabaret show with a storyline showcasing the talented baritone Dennis Astorga and the delightful soprano Charley Magalit, accompanied by the magic fingers of musical director Thomas MacFarlane at the piano.

Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party in Paris

West End Hit Comes to Paris.

A week long celebration of Broadway in Paris.

Playing at the arthouse venue Le Lucernaire just off of Luxembourg Gardens until October 31st, you won't want to miss this wild, action packed, musical tribute to blaxploitation, soul, and funk.

After a cancelled season, Bruxellons! Festival briefly decided to go ahead with what for francophones will be a delicious discovery of a show, despite production uncertainties and a lack of support from the Belgian government. How brave! We have to be thankful to them for the bold choice of presenting a British musical which, in spite of being the third longest running in London, right after Phantom and Les Miz, is totally unknown in the French-speaking world.

After several delays due to the pandemic, it was good to be back at the Massy Opéra, one of France's premiere musical theater venues now, after Cabaret and Into the Woods, this time for two performances (June 24th and 25th) of a brand-new Arts Lyrica production of Singin' in the Rain, spoken in French and sung in English.

For only four performances the past two weekends, the Châtelet in Paris was alive again with the sound of musicals we’ve been missing so much here. Boasting 2300 performances, and no less than four revivals on Broadway, Man of La Mancha ranks among the most performed musicals around the world. The book is by Dale Wasserman, based on his own teleplay on the fictional life of Don Quixote and that of his creator Cervantes, a very melodic score by Mitch Leigh, his first musical effort and his only big success, and lyrics by Joe Darion, which gave us at least two standards, the title song and “The Impossible Dream”, the latter recorded not only by Jacques Brel but by Johnny Halliday and Julien Clerc.

In 2018 Ann Reinking came to Paris to train the cast for the French-language version of Chicago. I had the pleasure of chatting with her.

All through lockdown, many French musical theater performers have been lucky enough to be able to go on developing their craft, tapping their troubles away with master teacher Victor Cuno, who in turn took the opportunity to use their talents to create a new show, simply called Victor Cuno's Broadway Cabaret, showcasing many triple threats who took advantage of their time off from theater commitments to rehearse at Swing Tap Studio near Bastille in Paris. Beginning with a showstopping new version of 'Anything Goes', musical arrangement and choreography by Cuno himself. A delightful special event for the Maison de la Radio's '42ème rue fait son show' was performed last December, and Cuno decided to expand this success into a full show.

The team that just brought us The Adventures of Tom Sawyers, which had two runs, last season are already back at Théâtre Magador with a new musical: Around the World in 80 Days.

After the concert version of West Side Story and an extensive tour of the musical Bells Are Ringing, director Jean Lacornerie and musical director Gérard Lecointe have chosen to collaborate again, delivering to the French public a comparatively little known musical of the 50s, The Pajama Game, which, outside being the work of the dream team Jerome Robbins directing, George Abbott writing the book, and Bob Fosse choreographing on Broadway for the very first time, stands as perhaps the only musical dealing with unions and labor conflicts. The least we can say is that this choice couldn't be more on point given the political context of France today, with major strikes going on in sync with the show, which began its run at Théâtre de la Croix-Rousse in Lyon, followed by an extensive tour at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, also in the Lyon area, and now for a three-day run at the gorgeous Opéra de Rennes, where I caught a sold out performance on February 1st.

An American in Paris is back in Paris.

Teaming up with DJs Tom Fire, Benoit Lugue, and Charles Schillings, Laurent Couson has come up a delightful concoction, Electro Symphonic Project.

After an exciting season of Chicago, Mogador is introducing Parisian audiences to one of the very best musical adaptations, if not one of the most successful, of a famous movie: the much-loved Ghost from popular 90s American cinema.

From August 30 to September 15, Inteam Production is presenting the Belgian premiere of Kander & Ebb's masterpiece Kiss of the Spider Woman, based on the novel by Manuel Puig and the award-winning movie version in 1985.

After the Trophy winners La Poupée Sanglante and Comedians!, to mention but a couple, Franck Desmedt has brought another jewel the tiny but cosy Thétre de la Huchette.