Review: CHÂTELET MUSICAL CLUB at Châtelet

For the 2nd year, the Châtelet Musical Club is growing, inviting artists from different countries and backgrounds to share their love and talent for musical theater in the intimate grand foyer of the Théâtre du Châtelet, which, under the helm of Jean-Luc Choplin, has for the past decade been the new temple of musical theater, introducing the French to the genius of Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein (among others) and serving as the home for the first ever tryout in Paris with An American in Paris in 2014.

Educating Parisian audiences continues through monthly events of 2 performances in a day with emcee Jasmine Roy, seasoned musical theater performer from Quebec, where she starred in The Rocky Horror Show (1988), later performing in Les Misérables in Toronto (1991). After moving to France, she was offered a part in Starmania by Luc Plamondon himself and was cast as the mother in the only stage version of Michel Legrand's Les Demoiselles de Rochefort at the Palais de Congrès in 2008 before being part of Star Academy on French television and getting back to the stage at the Châtelet for Sondheim's Into the Woods (2014) and at the Opéra de Toulon for Bernstein's Wonderful Town (2018), to be revived this March.

Jasmine possesses a warm and self-deprecating sense of humor, which helps bridge the gap between the different generations of audiences, tastes, and styles represented in these evenings. She herself wows the public with her deliveries of standards such as Gershwin's "Fascinating Rhythm", together with an original, very funny Quebecoise song "J'ai un bouton su'l bout d'la langue" in January of this year, the highlight of the evening being 2 fully choreographed numbers from Woody Allen's Bullets over Broadway, "Tiger Rag" and "'Tain't Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do" (which incorporated some of Susan Stroman's original choreography), well-executed by the talented students of the ECM under the direction of Ned Grujic.

February's edition was graced by the presence of last-minute guest Jordan Stewart, who stopped the show with his dynamic renditions of "Let it Sing" from Jeanine Tesori's Violet, "Mister's Song" from The Color Purple, and "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" from the Temptations-inspired jukebox musical Ain't Too Proud, soon to open in London. Another highlight was a spectacular Wicked medley, devised and interpreted by the students of Les Cours Florent, where the show was brilliantly adapted into French last year. But the evening belonged to Prisca Demarez, currently starring in her one-woman musical Coquelitcot, mezmerizing the audience with a sultry rendition of "Lucy la Salope" ("Special") from the French adaptation of Avenue Q, a classy personal version of Bono's theme song from the movie GoldenEye, and a moving rendition of "All Is Found" from Frozen II, which was followed by another new Disney song by the company's most beloved composer Alan Menken, "Badder" from Disenchanted.

The evening concluded with a singalong to "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray. We can't wait for the next editions, March 4th, April 15th, and May 13th.

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