Offenbach à la fête

Description

Beautiful enterprise to introduce operetta to children! What could be more natural when you know that this genre combines comedy, singing, dancing, and unparalleled joy. Gilles Avisse, the originator of the project, is a singer in love with Offenbach and a regular at children's shows. In the composer's repertoire, he has chosen well-known and lesser-known tunes, from La Vie parisienne to La Belle Hélène, perfectly suited for young ears. And since the goal is mainly to whet their appetite, all the pieces revolve around food: La soupe aux choux, Tarte à la crème, the Trio du jambon de Bayonne. A festive selection in more ways than one. Listening to the CD, we have fun, we dance, and our heads spin a little, joyfully dizzy from the thunderous arrival of all these colorful characters: a black widow, a hungry baron, a feathered concierge, a little girl who inherited her father's sense of humor. The dialogues flow and crackle like General Boum and the little delirious troupe. Surrounded by three talented singers, with clear diction and impressive performances, Gilles Avisse had the idea to request an original orchestration from Hervé Suhubiette for small percussion and household instruments (violin, cello, double bass, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, vibraphone, xylophone, kazoo, recorder, fork, and bowl). We are far from the stiff versions usually known for piano or orchestra. The whole thing is full of freshness, intensity, and joy of living! Olivier Saladin, a recognized actor and accomplice of François Morel (Les Deschiens), is a funny and cheeky narrator.