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It all began with a competition launched by Jacques Offenbach to honour the composition of a comic opera based on a libretto by Léon Battu and Ludovic Halévy, a farce starring the hilarious figure of a charlatan chef: Doctor Miracle. The story? Young Laurette is in love with Captain Silvio, but her father, the Podestà of Padua, and her stepmother Véronique don’t intend to let anything come of it. Disguises and deception ensue. In the end, theatre and love triumph joyfully over the father’s tyranny, playing on his hypochondriac fears.
Out of 78 competitors, Charles Lecocq and Georges Bizet, aged 18 at the time, tied for first place. First performed at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens in 1857, Bizet’s version disappeared for a century before being rediscovered and revived by the Conservatoire de Paris. It is still too rarely performed, given its contagious merriment and the great pleasure it brings to audiences. Light-hearted lyrics whizz in every direction, set to music with hilarious imitations of different styles, while the dish of choice is a real treat: the omelette quartet with parody sauce.
Pierre Lebon directs this delightful one-act pocket operetta with a great sense of humour, adding a comedian to the four characters who serve up this lively little gem of freshness and verve. A nod to Bizet and his Carmen that will conclude the season, offering his early work as a mirror image of his universal masterpiece.
First performance at the Bouffes-Parisiens, Paris, April 9, 1857
Hugh MacDonald Editions © Fishergate Music
After making his debut with Pierre Barrat at Colmar’s Atelier lyrique du Rhin, he worked with Fran- çois Tanguy and the Théâtre du Radeau for several years. In 2000, he reunited with Pierre André Weitz, whom he had met at a production at the Théâtre du Peuple in Bussang in 1988; the latter introduced him to Olivier Py. Since then, he has designed the lighting for their theater productions and some sixty operas in France and abroad. He has also designed lighting for such artists as Ivan Alexandre, Pierre Lebon, Jacques Vincey, Kidjo and Isabelle Huppert at the Festival d’Avignon.