Rameau - Les Paladins
Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris - Saturday May 22 2004 Les Paladins puts the fun back in "divertissement" "Jamais deux sans trois," the French say: bad things come in threes. After a poor Eliogabalo in Brussels and a boring Les Boréades in Lyons I expected the worst of the comédie-ballet Les Paladins . But, as I think I've said before, expecting the worst can be good policy: my luck turned, and how. This production is young, joyful, bright as a button; it puts the fun back in divertissement. It's the best thing in Baroque since - you guessed it! - Platée . However, in less than an hour I have a cab to the airport. I'll tell you more about Les Paladins when I get back from Rajastan... Edited one week later: I come back from Rajasthan - having learnt to spell it better - to find that there's a perfectly representative review in UK daily The Independent . What it doesn't say is how much better than usual - i.e. than the voiceless wonders baroque opera...