Messager - Véronique
Paris Châtelet, Thursday January 24 2008 Conductor: Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Production: Fanny Ardant. Sets: Ian Falconer. Costumes: Dominique Borg. Hélène de Solanges (Véronique): Amel Brahim-Djelloul. Florestan de Valaincourt: Dietrich Henschel. Agathe Coquenard: Ingrid Perruche. Ermerance de Champ d'Azur: Doris Lamprecht. Evariste Coquenard: Laurent Alvaro. Loustot: Gilles Ragon. Séraphin: Sébastien Guèze. Tante Benoît: Catherine Hosmalin. Esemble Matheus, Châtelet Chorus. Quite often, on French TV, we see 50s footage of neatly-dressed youngsters (some of the boys in dinner jackets) from Paris's posh western quarters jiving incongruously to rock 'n' roll in the smoky cellars of St-Germain-des-Prés. Usually Boris Vian appears with a trumpet. The current Véronique was actressy actress Fanny Ardant's first foray into directing and we all feared the worst, but in fact she managed to recreate just that atmosphere of bon-chic-bon-genre post-war Parisian gaiety. 50s ...