Review: MONTE-CRISTO, LE SPECTACLE MUSICAL at Folies Bergère

Monte-Cristo, le Spectacle Musical arrives in Paris with considerable ambition, adapting The Count of Monte Cristo novel—first serialized in 1844—into a sweeping French-language musical that aims to balance spectacle with emotional immediacy. Now playing at the Folies Bergère until 19 April 2026, before launching a tour across France and Switzerland in September, the production positions itself within the lineage of grand French musical storytelling, while attempting to inject a contemporary pop-rock sensibility, in the music as well as the choreography. 

Director Alexandre Faitrouni approaches the material with a performer’s instinct for emotional accessibility. Known for his work in productions such as The Lion King (where he played Timon), his staging privileges intimacy over sheer scale—an approach that works best in quieter moments, even if the broader narrative occasionally feels compressed under the weight of adaptation. After performing in Smile, Chaplin and playing Leo Bloom for a season of The Producers, Faitrouni is now back on the other side of the floodlights, his savoir-faire in musical theatre evident in his handling of performers. 

The score, composed by Benoît Poher—lead vocalist of the band Kyo—alongside Franklin Ferrand, leans heavily into a polished pop-rock idiom. It delivers its emotional beats efficiently, if somewhat predictably, alternating between brooding revenge ballads and more anthemic ensemble numbers. While mostly effective, the music rarely surprises. The book by Stéphane Laporte and Yann Guillon succeeds in streamlining Dumas’ dense narrative, though at the cost of some psychological depth. 

Choreography by Julia Spiesser—notably a featured performer in the early Just Dance titles—adds fluidity to the staging, even if its expressive vocabulary remains familiar rather than distinctive. 

The production should be carried by its central performances. Although lacking in physical presence, Stanley Kassa does bring vocal authority to Edmond Dantès, charting the character’s transformation with clarity, if not always complexity. Best known for his Enjolras in Les Misérables and a Trophée Révélation Masculine win, Kassa confirms his status as a leading figure in the current French musical theatre scene. Opposite him, Océane Demontis offers a grounded, emotionally credible Mercédès. Her previous turn as Nala in The Lion King at the Théâtre Mogador informs a performance that balances vocal strength with restraint. 

Among the supporting cast, Cyril Romoli (Danglars), Loïc Suberville (Fernand), and the always excellent Maxime De Toledo (Villefort) provide solid, if broadly drawn, antagonistic turns. The ensemble maintains cohesion throughout, though character differentiation sometimes blurs in large-scale numbers.  Nathan Desnyder, also a Trophée Révélation Masculine winner for Puss in Boots, is quite convincing as Cavalcanti.  However, stealing the show as he did as Tulsa in a Gypsy concert and in the title role of Dear Evan Hansen is the talented Antoine le Prévot as Albert de Montcerf, little seen in Act 1 but adding gusto to Act 2’s opening number!  

In contrast to the recent film version starring Pierre Niney, which leaned into cinematic realism, this staging embraces theatrical immediacy. It aligns itself more closely with the tradition of Notre-Dame de Paris or Les Misérables, though without quite matching their musical or dramaturgical distinctiveness. The choice to foreground music as emotional shorthand proves effective, but also contributes to a certain flattening of Dumas’ intricate moral landscape. 

The Folies Bergère itself lends the production an added layer of historical resonance. While inaugurated in 1869, its later direction under Léon Sari—a former secretary to Alexandre Dumas—provides a more tangential but still evocative connection to the author. 

Ultimately, Monte-Cristo, le Spectacle Musical is a polished and accessible adaptation that prioritizes emotional clarity over narrative intricacy. It succeeds as a crowd-pleasing spectacle, even if it stops short of offering a truly distinctive reinterpretation of its source. For audiences seeking a visually and musically engaging retelling, it delivers; for those hoping to encounter the full psychological and thematic richness of Dumas’ novel, it may feel somewhat pruned. The strongest points of the show are the magnificent and inventive video projections by set designer Julien Mairesse. Running until 10 April at the Folies Bergère, it might have a future on tour if it doesn’t clash too much with two other musical adaptations of Dumas’ novels currently in the works in France. 

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