Friday's French music break - Carmen Maria Vega, "Oser les larmes"

Friday's French music break this week is from a musical.

It's "Oser les larmes", sung by Carmen Maria Vega who plays the lead role in the show billed as "the musical spectacle of the new season" in the shape of "Mistinguett, Reine des années folles"

Carmen Maria Vega (screenshot performing "Oser les larmes" RTL le Grand Studio, September, 2014)

Now, don't groan, be misled or become all snooty at the idea of a musical - and a French one at that (yes they exist) because "Mistinguett" distinguishes itself by Vega's performance and voice for starters and the inspiration for the show, Jeanne Bourgeois.

She was a French actress and singer who began her career at cabaret venues in Paris before taking her show to across the Pond to become a Music Hall star in the States.

"Mistinguett" is produced by Albert Cohen, a man who has had a hand in some of the most popular musicals in France in recent years including "Les Dix Commandements", "Le Roi Soleil", "Mozart, l'opéra rock" and most recently "1789: Les Amants de la Bastille" - all of which were huge domestic successes.

So the man knows how to put "bums on seats".

The musical cleverly portrays part of Mistinguett's life - and that of the history of the Casino de Paris - in the "Golden Twenties", complete with singers, musicians, actors and dancers who, "tell the story of the creation of the first vaudeville show and one that Broadway."

The show hasn't left the critics indifferent. Benoît Tourné writing for Musical Avenue.fr questioned who would be the "core target audience" (the elderly who might still remember Mistinguett or the young unfamiliar with her) but admitted the show was "excellently crafted...seductive and not to be missed."

And Sophie Delassein in "l'Obs" said the show was "unlike any other musical" and one whose success lay "in combining new songs with those from the era in which the production is set."

The real star (and "find" if you like - at least to a wider public) though is 30-year-old Guatemalan-born Vega, whose performance is stunning: she really is Mistinguett, and reason enough for seeing the show as well as discovering some of the other work she has already done (visit her official site and check out her tribute album to Boris Vian for example).

"Mistinguett, Reine des années folles" opened at the Casino de Paris in September and will run until January before going on a nationwide tour.

"1789 : Les Amants de la Bastille" a revolutionary love story set to music

I'm not a great fan of musicals at the best of times, and even less so of French ones.

But occasionally I allow myself to be dragged along to one.

"You'll enjoy it, you'll see," friends who had seen the production of "1789 : Les Amants de la Bastille" during its first run in Paris, assured me.

"There's some great music, fine voices and the set is sumptuous. Plus you'll brush up your knowledge of French history," they insisted.

"Besides, you shouldn't be so snooty about these sort of things."

Moi? Snooty (and pretentious)? I hardly think so.

After all, I was the person who had recently seen the French version of "Mamma Mia"... and liked it.

Plus in recent years I've enjoyed the "Sound of Music", "West Side Story" and "Carousel" at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

All right, already so they were all transfers of original productions from Broadway or the West End.

And they weren't exactly in the mould of that 1998 gem "Notre Dame de Paris" described by The Independent when it opened in London as "a load of old bells" and which must surely have set the trend for the glut of French musicals that were to follow over the next decade or so.

Anyway, 1789-bound I was, even if somewhat sceptical.

Having heard some of the sound track on the radio and knowing that Louis Delort, a finalist in the first season of The Voice, had been cast in one of the lead roles, I didn't hold out much faith in my friends' first two assertions.

Louis Delort and Camille Lou (screenshot from "Tomber dans ses yeux " official video, 1789 Les Amants de la Bastille)

As for helping me make sense of a period in French history. I had my doubts.

On that count at least, I wasn't disappointed.

It was a French Disneyfying of events made palatable for everyone and accompanied by some frenzied dancing and uptempo but nonetheless uninspiring songs.

The run-up to the French revolution serves as a backdrop to a love story (what else?).

Robespierre, Danton, Marie Antoinette Louis XVI et al are all present and correct as are two fictional characters from both sides of the divide: Ronan Mazurier (Delort) for the "revolting peasants" and Olympe du Puget (Camille Lou) an under-governess at the royal court.

Delort is good, as is Lou. And... oh and look, there's another TV talent show contestant in the form of Sébastien Agius (Robespierre) who apparently won the inaugural season of the French X Factor in 2009.

They and the others belt out the tunes, helped by microphones cranked up to the max to overcome the pre-recorded intrumentals.

The music is...well, it seems as though Dove Attilla and Albert Cohen (the duo responsible for bringing us "Les 10 Commandements", "Le Roi Soleil" and most recently "Mozart l’opéra rock") have cobbled together the tracks that didn't quite make it into "Mozart".

Still, the audience seemed enthralled. Well at least those who weren't "watching" the whole thing through their smart 'phones while filming.

"Please don't use flash photography," the announcer had requested before the performance began.

"It's dangerous for the performers (huh?) and besides the stage lighting is sufficiently bright," he added, thereby making a nonsense of the sign at the entry to the venue which said "no cameras allowed".

Curtain up. Flash, flash, flash went the smartphones in a pattern which was to repeat itself every time there was a scene change.

Every song was roundly applauded. Children and adults alike texted furiously as they scoffed their popcorn and guzzled their soft drinks and I sighed, looking at my watch and wondering whether I could leave before the end.

It was...well a real treat for those who enjoy their French (musical) history served up Camembert-style.

Me? I think I'm musical-ed-out for the moment.

But if you're really keen to see what has, after all, been a huge success in France, "Les Amants" continues its nationwide tour with stopovers in Montpellier, Nice and Marseille before returning to Paris in November.

And then at the beginning of 2014 it'll be on the road again.

Mamma Mia! the musical opens in France

It's the moment French fans of Abba have probably been waiting for; the opening at the Théâtre Mogador in Paris of the hit musical Mamma Mia - in French.

Screenshot from Mamma Mia trailer

The blurb surrounding the opening is almost as full of overblown superlatives as the phenomenal success the Swedish quartet achieved during their career.


Mamma Mia, l'évènement Europe 1
envoyé par Europe1fr. - Regardez la dernière sélection musicale.

First staged in London back in April 1999, the musical has, according to its official site, been seen by more than 42 million people in 40 countries and every evening attracts more than 17,000 people.

Mamma Mia! (exclamation mark obligatory) we're told, is "a worldwide phenomenon" that has been translated into 10 languages, including German, Russian, Spanish and Japanese, which might for some raise the question as to why it has taken so long for a version in the language of Molière.

The explanation apparently is provided by the fact that while the translation of the lyrics by Nicolas Nebot also required the approval of Abba's Björn Ulvaeus.

"I sent him my translations and he was especially keen to keep the sonority and the catchiness of the phraseology," Nebot is quoted as saying.

"He (Ulvaeus) didn't want a word-for-word translation," he added.

The musical's dialogue has been translated by Stéphane Laporte.

The publicity machine for the musical has already been in full swing for several months and seems to have paid dividends with 125,000 tickets sold, the entire month of November fully booked and the run extended to April 2011.

So the French can finally enjoy the musical in their native tongue for the first time, but can anything really replace the original?

Perhaps not.

But there again there's always the version with which you might not be familiar from the British comedy duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.

Made by the pair for Comic Relief in 2009, it's a parody of the film starring Meryl Streep and is...well judge for yourselves.




And if that wasn't enough for you, here's part II.

Paris is alive to "The Sound of Music" - apparently

Ask many a native English speaker to hum or sing a tune from the musical "The Sound of Music" and the chances are they'll at least be able to break into song.

Most could probably make a reasonable bash at "My favourite things", "The hills are alive", "Do-re-mi", or "Climb ev'ry mountain" just to mention a few of the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein numbers that have become standards over the years.

But that's not necessarily the case here in France, as the popular presenter and comedian, Laurent Ruquier acknowledged on his daily radio show last week, when he and his assembled crew, were hard pushed even to name one song.

That could be about to change though because the 1959 musical is (unbelievably) receiving its first staging in this country, and once again it's audiences at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris who are enjoying some of the unquestionably most memorable and singable songs in the history of musicals.

The Sound of Music, or "La Mélodie du bonheur" as it's rather poetically called in French is 50 years old.



Reviews for Spanish director Emilio Sagi's staging have been full of praise. "A little jewel" said the national daily, Le Monde.

"The audience was on its feet, applauding enthusiastically," wrote Le Figaro after opening night.

Indeed it is rather special. It's a Broadway musical which combines opera singers in the lead roles of Maria, the soprano Sylvia Schwartz and as Georg von Trapp, the baritone Rod Gilfry, alongside established actors/singers such as Kim Criswell as the Mother Abbess.

And that's not forgetting, for Le Monde, "the seven adorable and lively offspring of the Baron" or the Orchestre Pasdeloup under the musical direction of Kevin Farrell as well as the Choeur du Châtelet, the choreography and acting, which after almost two months of rehearsals offer audiences a polished and rounded production.

But there's something missing especially for those who might be more familiar with, and therefore hoping for, the schmaltz and kitsch of the Oscar-winning 1965 film version.

It's somehow just not as escapist or as heartwarming, and of course there's no Julie Andrews.

The spark seemed to be missing.

Although there were some laughs at the mannerisms and light comic touches throughout, and applause after each "number", on the whole members of the public at Saturday's matinee performance remained polite and restrained, perhaps reflecting on the fact that they only had a few days left to prepare for Christmas, or were wondering what had happened to the heating in the auditorium.

And then there were some rather puzzling and distracting French surtitles, projected either side of the stage throughout the performance that rather missed the nuances of Hammerstein's lyrics.

Among the critics there has been general enthusiasm for the production with the recommendation that it's a "must see" for those in Paris over the holiday season.

Perhaps the best way though is to judge for yourself.

Or you could always settle down with a DVD of the film in the comfort of your own home and indulge to your heart's content.

The Sound of Music continues its run at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris until January 3, 2010.