{"id":30506,"date":"2018-07-17T05:00:22","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T03:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=30506"},"modified":"2018-07-11T03:32:40","modified_gmt":"2018-07-11T01:32:40","slug":"french-culture-the-modern-musical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-culture-the-modern-musical\/","title":{"rendered":"French Culture – The Modern Musical"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few years ago I wrote a post about my favorite\u00a0com\u00e9die* musicale fran\u00e7aise<\/strong> (French musical), Starmania<\/a>. <\/em>At the time I alluded to the fact that, after years of all but ignoring the art form, France had a bit of a resurgence of modern\u00a0com\u00e9dies musicales\u00a0<\/strong>over the past decade. As recently as 2013, there were no less than 20 shows running in Paris!**<\/p>\n

\"\"

Le Palais des Congres a Paris where many shows play.<\/p><\/div>\n

The modern (?) musical<\/strong><\/p>\n

In some respects the big\u00a0com\u00e9dies musicales\u00a0<\/strong>in France, or what might more appropriately be called\u00a0spectacles musicals<\/strong> (musical shows\/performances<\/em>), are perfectly modern.\u00a0Featuring contemporary music stars, radio-friendly pop and rock-influenced songs, and often involving large production budgets, these shows tiennent plus du concert que de pi\u00e8ce de\u00a0<\/strong>th\u00e9\u00e2tre<\/b>\u00a0(are more concert than play).<\/em>\u00a0In some respects their raison d\u2019\u00eatre***<\/em>\u00a0is to generate interest in the songs more than the show.<\/p>\n

In other respects, these spectacles\u00a0<\/strong>are imminently classic.\u00a0While downplaying the actual story, they often draw on some of the most classic tales from French and from world literature. Drawing on\u00a0Les Trois Mousquetaires\u00a0<\/strong>(The Three Musketeers),<\/em> Louis XIV,\u00a0Rom\u00e9o et Juliette<\/strong> (Romeo and Juliet),\u00a0<\/em>or Mozart, they sketch out enough detail from these classic tales and biographies to frame the real stars of the show,\u00a0les chansons<\/strong> (the songs).<\/em><\/p>\n

Si l\u2019enregistrement n\u2019est pas d\u2019abord un bon produit discographique, appr\u00e9ci\u00e9 en radio, le projet est condamn\u00e9. <\/strong>(If the recording isn’t first and foremost a good audio production, ready for the radio, the project is doomed). <\/em>– Dupuis & Labarre, 2013<\/div>\n

Les Trois Mousquetaires
\n<\/strong>This clip features the French Canadian singer Olivier Dion as D’Artagnan (along with other stars of the original production). You can learn more about the\u00a0spectacle\u00a0<\/strong>here<\/a>.<\/p>\n