french musicals (please help)

[children&art]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 9:37am

bonjour tous les monde du broadway:

i am taking a french course and am really pumped and excited about it, but i was wondering if you smart, educated theatre know-it-alls could help me with a question.

my commute to the class in the evenings is somewhat long and gridlocked so i was thinking that i would listen to some musicals that are either sung in french or set in france.

please help me flesh out my list.

so far i have:

1. les miserables - the french recording
2. no strings
3. funny face
4. an american in paris
5. can-can
6. gigi

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 9:49am

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
La Cage Aux Follies

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 9:51am

Candide

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 9:54am

Sung in French (original casts):
Notre Dame de Paris
Romeo & Juliet

Set in France:
Martin Guerre
Napoleon
The Bakers Wife
Amour

Posted: 1/19/06 at 12:37pm

Notre Dame de Paris would be an excellent choice if you want something rock-oriented. It didn't necessarily receive the greatest reviews in the world. I saw it in London a few years ago, and it was sung in English. The original was in French and was performed in France and Canada. There is a video of the entire show (performed in French) available if you search online.

[Sporti2005]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 12:39pm

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS

i think THE BOYFRIEND is set in france too....am i wrong?

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 12:40pm

Not exactly "French" but it does take place in the Paris Opera House:

Phantom of the Opera

[Nothatsmrt]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 12:55pm

Beauty and the Beast is also set in France, you know, in "this small provincal town".

[mother cabrini]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 1:02pm

the umberellas of cherbourg
amour
both by michel legrand....and both LOVELY to listen to...
there will also be french cast recordings of mainstream shows, prehaps difficult to find but im sure you could track some down

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 2:36pm

Yes! Umbrellas of Cherbourg... breathtaking.

...and its follow-up film The Young Girls of Rochefort.

[Taryn]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 2:45pm

I know there's a musical version of Le Petit Prince. I think Amazon has a recording of it; it's one I'd rather like to have.

[thetheatrekook]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 2:48pm

8 women

[TLKfan]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 8:28pm

-Notre Dame is very good in French
-Pascal Obispo is good and he wrote Les Dix Commendements but I didn't enjoy that CD
-The first song in Jersey Boys has French which is kinda funny.
-Les Mis, hopefully you have the Paris version because the original is horrible. Plus the Paris one has better translations and is more like OBC, etc.

Bonne chance. (I hope that was right, I'm losing my french!)

[suchclumsytime]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 8:32pm

The French recording of "Notre Dame de Paris" is awful. I second, however, "Romeo et Juliette" and "Amour." "Le Gladiateur" is wonderful, too -- my exchange student picked it out for me while I was in France. Also, if you're feeling adventerous, try "DaVinci." There's even some Italian thrown into that one for good measure...

Updated On: 1/19/06 at 08:32 PM

[BroadwayBaby6]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 8:36pm

If you want to spend ze moneeee...you can get the French cast album to "Gone With the Wind", an original French language musical. I believe you can get it through amazon.fr or dresscircle.co.uk

[MrBungee7]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 8:38pm

BUY BUY BUY le petit prince. It's spectacular. Quite possibly my favorite musical of in any language.

[BroadwayBaby6]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 8:41pm

Here's an English-language website about the "Gone With The Wind" musical. I almost saw it two years ago in Paris but my friend who lives there refused to go. He claims that French theatre is quite amateurish.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 9:05pm

Starmania.

[cturtle]

Posted: 1/19/06 at 9:08pm

i saw AUTANT EN EMPORTE LE VENT in paris. it was a trip! there IS a cast album CD.

[rowers unite]

Posted: 1/20/06 at 12:20am

L'Ordre de Bon Temps~ Another Canadian one (as in composed and wirtten by a Canadian, another as in I gave you a French Canadian movie too)

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 1/20/06 at 12:26am

The opera of The Little Prince by Rachel Portman or an actual musical version? I know there was a cartoon musical or something. The opera is very pretty and very suited to the book.


Love me some Michel Legrand.

[where's my shoe?]

Posted: 1/20/06 at 1:36am

The Scarlet Pimpernel is set in France and England. And a few of the songs (depending on which version you get) have some French in them. I know "Storybook" has a section in French.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 1/20/06 at 2:37am

IRMA LA DOUCE

and don't forget the comic operas of Offenbach: LA BELL HELENE, ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD.