Customer Reviews

Offenbach: La Vie parisienne

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

You either love Offenbach or- as with Richard Wagner - despise him. I would take one La Vie Parisienne or Orpheus against a dozen Tristans or Parsifals.

This is a masterpiece! It is a non-stop 135 minute musical romp. And it is pure fun. What does it have going for it?

1- Offenbach...... This is Offenbach at his best. The music fits like a glove. This is to Paris like Fledermaus is to Vienna. The two musicals are cousins.

2- the cast....... The cast is perfect and is quite large. There are many important roles. Marie Devellereau as the glove seller, Gabrielle,is simply adorable and has more energy than a dozen cases of Wheaties. Everyone is oustanding. Boy, do they have fun.

3- Laurent Pelly.......The greatset stage director today and this is his masterpiece. Innovations galore. Moving the setting to the early 20th century was brilliant.

4- Chantal Thomas.......THE sets are huge and unbelievable. What a glorious train station.

5_ Laura Scozzi.......Even with a super gigantic cast of dozens her choreography is outstanding. No chorus lines for Miss Scoizzi. Everyone is doing something and, usually, something different. She cleverly has five or six girls doing a brief dance on their rumps!!!!!

6- The "Praise of Paris".......The last four minutes is unveliabable. The entire cast is on stage moving each and every body part. Each time you see it you can see something you missed. This is where Marie Devellereau sparkles. And the show ends with Offenbach's second greatest galop/can can.The happiest four minutes of opera on DVD.

# Won't someone release Pelly's Orpheus on DVD in Regioin 1?

## Don't ever look for this at the Met, even though they love Pelly there. To them, Mr. O. is, except for Hoffman, much too vulgar. The Met weas not built for fun.

Every one who is familiar with Laurent Pelly previous productions of Offenbach's operas that are available on DVD, Orphee aux Enfers, La Belle Helene and La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein, knows what to expect.

This is a brilliant stage production, and the musical side of the performance is excellent.

Highly recommended.

All parts taken together the sum is a delightful, charming confection, with a whiff of Fledermaus past in Pelly's cleverly funny setting of modern Paris.

Nice performance, quite entertaining, but this is one of Offenbach's weakest compositions. It is by far less quality than his last one "The Tales of Hoffman". In the present Operetta one can see Offenbach's mediocrity, rather than his genius that was exposed only later.