La Vie Parisienne
J. Offenbach

Set design........Rifail Ajdarpasic
Costume design........Patrick Dutertre
Light design........Marie Nicolas
Choreography........Ana García
Conductor........Claude Schnitzler
première: 26 december 2010, Nancy
company: Opéra National de Lorraine

1st revival: 7 july 2010, Montpellier
Les Folies Lyriques

Reviews

Overwhelming:
the amphitheatre resounded with repeated applause. A taste for the spectacular, details to die for, the audacity of iconoclasm, and drawing on all the comedy that Henri Bergson lists including Gene Kelly. Under the grandiose set the rhythm of the pursuit of pleasure by the Baron of Gondremarck never slacks. A flawless cast of about thirty singers and dancers, subjected to the constraints of music hall, masters everything. The choreographies whirl; burst with sentiment and make the tinsel and the cock a doodle do shine brighter. The costumes of Patrick Dutertre add to the extravagance. One is smitten by the absurd situations that Wagner sustains until the end. And when the Brazilian arrives the party explodes!

Midi Libre

A patchwork Vie Parisienne
Four acts that overflow with laughs, with song and all kind of excesses. That’s what Offenbach wanted: to paint a Paris of colours, of flavours, but also of bitterness and gossip. The staging and the costumes have achieved a true rejuvenation of the work.  One is never bored, this show fires in all directions. And when the voices rise to the roof of the Opera Nationale de Lorraine, the house is speechless. The avalanche of colours, of sound, of gags and laughter… this is a “Vie Parisienne” that can be savoured without hunger, like a cracker with foie gras.

La Semaine

Sparkling “Vie Parisienne” in Nancy
“Yes, there you have la vie Parisienne, enjoyment that takes your breath away!” The version that l’Opéra National de Lorraine currently proposes for the end of year festivities doesn’t betray these words of Meilhac and Halévy, the librettists. An incredible vaudeville, where everyone cheats on everyone, but where everything returns to order at the end.  It is in this spirit that pleasure chokes morality under the duvet, that the staging by Carlos Wagner joyously offers in a splendid single set by Rifail Ajdarpasic and Ariane Isabell Unfried. --- Full of inspired ideas, costumes by Patrick Dutertre and hats by Estelle Ramousse perfectly in tune with this unrestrained fantasy, often lewd, but never vulgar.

L’Est Republicain

Carlos Wagner handles this work with the same seriousness as a great work by Strauss. One senses an attention to detail with performers who adopt his ideas with conviction, and play the play.

L’Hérault du Jour