La Vie Parisienne

Last night, after dinner in a brasserie, Fabienne, Gilles (her gay guy friend), and I went to see La Vie Parisienne, a musical, at Theatre Antoine. The theatre itself was beautiful. It had posters of plays by Camus, Sartre, Tennessee Williams, and Shakespeare. There was the orchestra level, and then three additional balconies, none of which were very big, so it certainly had an intimate feel.

The show was a musical, with music by opera composer, Offenbach. The writers used his repetoire of compositions and added French lyrics. They'd pep up the melodies with faster tempos and additional instruments, beats, and a French twist on some of them.

The play itself was like theatre within a theatre. There were 13 actors, all dressed in very French black and white costumes, who sat on stage almost the entire time. It started off as if the actors had assembled for rehearsal of a play. In fact the set was just the bare stage itself, complete with the clock on the wall in real time, brick walls, exit lights, etc. Then they got their parts, and put the show on. Think Nick Bottom in Midsummer, but the entire play was like this. One actor was "on book" and a couple times fed actors their lines. In addition, when a scene was being played, there were other things happening in the company of actors "offstage." I say offstage, because of course they were still on stage. All the way upstage were what looked like prop rooms. In an show not like this, they would be covered with the set or a backdrop, but in this show they were exposed and used as actors changed clothes and put away props. There was even a moment where the girls in this room gathered around a mirror that had suddenly lit up just like in a dressing room, and they were getting ready to come on for their next scene. The stage manager was also a character, and his funniest bit involved the entrance of the characters with a piece of set. There was a drop that was a door and window to a cafe. When characters entered into the cafe without going through the door, the stage manager would come out and motion for them to enter again, this time through the door. They'd have to redeliver their lines as well, which got a big laugh.

The other incredible part was that aside from the entire cast being able to sing and dance, they could also play instruments, several of them played more than one. So when they were not in the scene, the actors were the musicians. The grand piano remained on stage, making it a part of this theatre within a theatre set. Several different people played the piano throughout. The main girl, when not in the scene, played the flute or the bass, another played cello, the stage manager was the percussionist, playing drums and some sort of Orff instrument. The violin player doubled as the guitarist, and the character who was the assistant to the stage manager surprised the audience by playing the harp. The stage manager would occasionally motion for the cast to accompany the song on an instrument of his choosing, and they'd act like they'd never played before, and then of course play it wonderfully. But they'd make a bit out of this initially acting as if they were trying to play for the first time. So of course not every song had the same sound because depending on who was in the scene, they wouldn't be able to play their own instrument. But as I said, many knew how to play the piano, so it was always available.

The show ended with a can-can number, and the actors moved seamlessly from dancing to playing an instrument, to dancing again, to playing a different instrument, and singing at the same time. It was an amazing finale.

The story itself was simple enough to understand, even though I didn't get all the French. It was about a Parisien guy who is trying to seduce a visiting Baroness from Sweden, but her husband is there, so the guy tries to get his girlfriend to flirt with the Baron, so that he may have the baroness all to himself. Of course, two other members of the cast try to seduce the Baron themselves. In the end, the girlfriend tricks everyone and sets up the Baron and Baroness, they realize they love each other, and the girlfriend can return to her Parisien boyfriend. So typical of a French plot. What I enjoyed most was how they were able to appear as a theatre company putting on a play, but that in itself was a play. They were all so talented! I had a great time and wish it would exist in English so that you could all see it.

I found this link on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ86joSsFm0&feature=related
There's just a couple parts where the writer is talking that you won't understand, but if you watch the various bits of production numbers you'll see what I'm talking about. It's not a very long clip. Enjoy!