Hervé (Louis-Auguste-Florimond Ronger) - V'lan dans l'oeil

Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, Wednesday June 23 2021

Conductor: Christophe Grapperon. Production, sets, costumes: Pierre-André Weitz. Lighting: Bertrand Killy. Choreography: Ivanka Moizan. Dindonette: Laura Neumann. Fleur-de-Noblesse: Ingrid Perruche. La Marquise: Olivier Py. Éclosine: Sandrine Slutter. Mariette: Clémentine Bourgoin. Françoise: Sophie Calmel-Elcourt. La Sentinelle: Alma Villard. Alexandrivore: Damien Bigourdan. Géromé: Pierre Lebon. Le Bailli: Jean-Damien Barbin. Le Marquis: Flannan Obé. Ernest: David Ghilardi. Chavassus: Antoni Sykopoulos. Roussin: Sévag Tachdjian. Le Duc d’en Face: Pierre-André Weitz. Dancer: Julien Mercier. Châtelet Chorus. Orchestre Pasdeloup. 

Of all the Palazzetto Bru Zane's 'restoration' projects, the one that's brought me the most pleasure has been their revival of Opéra Bouffe, especially the madcap works of the extraordinary Hervé. As Covid restrictions are lifted, Paris theatres are opening again, albeit not to full capacity, and as luck would have it, my first evening of live opera since March last year was devoted to Herve's V'lan dans l'oeil, a spoof of either Der Freischütz or William Tell or a bit of both, madcap to the point of outright surrealism.

Here, to give some idea of the plot for those not yet having had the luck to see it, is the start of the synopsis published on the Palazzetto's website (worth a visit for many reasons), translated into English:

'Created on October 12, 1867, V'lan dans l'œil - or L'œil crevé - marks Herve's first confirmed triumph. Compliments were showered on him: "Hervé is more than a café-concert composer, he is well and truly a musician, and it must be said how much skill and talent there is in his orchestration..." A crossbow contest is organized by the Marquis of Esprucprucpruck, so that his daughter Fleur-de-Noblesse, whose only passion on earth is carpentry, can marry the winner. Alexandrivore, though engaged to Dindonnette, feels obliged to participate: his dexterity as a crossbowman is legendary in the region. Fleur-de-Noblesse has not only constructed the whole shooting-stand herself, but also the target, which she has rigged so that when Alexandrivore shoots his arrow, she can cleverly fake getting it in the eye, condemning the "bungler" to prison. Dindonnette, disguised as a doctor, operates, sensibly extracting the projectile that wounded Fleur-de-Noblesse, thus enabling her to marry another suitor, Ernest, the little cabinetmaker she secretly loves. Then we learn all about the Duke d'En Face and the antics of his dentures...'

There is also a short article in English by Kurt Gänzl, here.

This production uses fairground sets, highlighted with coloured bulbs and neon strips: first, Eclosine's stand selling sweets, toffee-apples and candy floss, then the rigged shooting-stand and, finally, for the prison, a haunted castle. Costumes are basically Tyrolean: Dirndls and Lederhosen. I need go not further, as a fan of Hervé's on Parterre, ('the most essential blog in opera!', according to the New York Times), who incidentally invented the nickname 'GTE' (Greatest Thing Ever) for Lisette Oropesa, caught this effervescent production on video, and gave me permission to quote his own enthusiastic description:

'Absolute inspired, delightful lunacy to the nth degree. I LURVED it! (...) I can't stop watching this, it is addictive (...) another highlight to me is "the song of the atmospheric lobster", 32:40, or the ensemble that begins 1:34:20: the orchestra is playing a lovely dance tune, the ingénue enters and starts bursting balloons, on comes a cast member in a skeleton suit ringing bells and a guy in drag (with a beard) banging a drum, totally out of time and unrelated to the orchestral music; a baritone enters and starts singing the Toreador song from Carmen; while all the other noise and music is going on, two more guys in drag enter and start clashing cymbals, the heroine, with an arrow through her eye after the archery contest accident earlier, and her boyfriend, wearing Hawaiian leis come on and start dancing, a bagpiper crosses the stage piping while all the other stuff is still happening...... Hervé hits a level of craziness no one before or since has attained (...) Just watch the yodeling song of the hero in prison (...) starts at 1:45:45, hahahahah...'

Photos: Eric Bouloumie

Once more, the team on stage, bursting with vitality from beginning to end of this frenzied performance, was led by Laura Neumann and the always slightly worrying Damien Bigourdan, and once more, as in Mam'zelle Nitouche in June 2019, included Olivier Py, not directing, in an outrageous drag number as the Marquise. The Châtelet was in truth too big for this kind of show, and with social distancing still de rigueur, the atmosphere wasn't as wild as it ought to have been, but for me it was still a great way to get back to live performances and forget, for a couple of hours, a weird and far-from-wonderful year.

The video our Parterre enthusiast saw is, at the time of writing at any rate, available in full on a Russian opera website, and I recommend it highly to anyone who enjoys sheer comic madness on stage.