Offenbach - La Périchole

Opéra Comique, Paris, Wednesday May 25 2022

Conductor: Julien Leroy. Production: Valérie Lesort. Sets: Audrey Vuong. Costumes: Vanessa Sannino. Lighting: Christian Pinaud. Choreography: Yohann Têté. Puppets: Carole Allemand. La Périchole: Stéphanie d'Oustrac. Piquillo: Philippe Talbot. Don Andrès de Ribeira: Tassis Christoyannis. Don Miguel de Panatellas: Eric Huchet. Don Pedro de Hinoyosa: Lionel Peintre. First notary/Tarapote/old prisoner: Thomas Morris. Second notary: Quentin Desgeorges. Berginella, Frasquinella: Marie Lenormand. Mastrilla, Brambilla: Lucie Peyramaure. Guadalena, Manuelita: Julie Goussot. Ninetta: Julia Wischniewski. Orchestre de chambre de Paris. Les Eléments chorus.

Photos: Stéfan Brion

Perhaps I'm an irredeemable misery-guts. But if so, I'm not alone. Halfway through La Périchole, my neighbour turned to me:

He: Je peux dire quelque chose ? (Can I say something?)

Me: Ça ne décolle pas ? (It isn't taking off?)

He: Je m'emmerde. (I'm bored.)

'Je m'emmerde' is the last thing you want to hear in the middle of an Offenbach opéra bouffe. But as I've said many times, with Offenbach it's devilishly tricky to strike the right tone. The Opéra Comique's new production takes us back to Jérôme Savary's conception of 'théâtre populaire', which I personally found amateurish, corny and condescending. The 'Peruvian' costumes were spectacularly colourful and the show was full of gags, but I only found one genuinely funny: singing llamas that poked their heads through the prison bars for the 'Lala la-la-la-la-la !' interjections in the bolero 'Les maris courbaient la tête'. Others were plain daft: 'police' dancers bouncing around on space-hoppers during the 'Sautez Dessus !' gallop. In any case, most of the ballets were humourless, superfluous overload (reminding me a bit of Lacroix' La Vie Parisienne in January). Despite Stéphanie d'Oustrac's best efforts, the whole thing fell continually flat: no fizz, no sparkle, and this even on the last night of the run. Not even Eric Huchet was convincingly funny, which is saying something.

Stéphanie d'Oustrac was certainly the star of the show, but does she really have the temperament for bouffe works? I wasn't totally convinced by her 'Je suis un peu grise', but unfortunately and unfairly for her, I will forever have Ann Hallenberg's performance of the same aria in my mind. Oustrac's best moment of all last night was in 'Je t'adore, brigand', her least 'bouffe' aria. Her mature (and undeniably near-flawless) operatic mezzo sound tended to overshadow her Piquillo, Philippe Talbot, making him sound very much an operetta tenorino, Chanteur de Mexico style. I got more pleasure, in the end, from simply listening to the score, played lovingly by the Paris chamber orchestra under Julien Leroy.

It never rains but it pours: we have another Périchole coming up at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées next season, this time reuniting Pelly and Minkowski, whose Grande Duchesse and Belle Hélène were unforgettable highlights of my opera-going in the 90s. I wonder if they can carry it off again. It will be interesting to see and compare.

Here, Maestro Wenarto, a bit tipsy, gives us his version of 'Ah quel dinner.'":