Vincent Heden

After the concert version of West Side Story and an extensive tour of the musical Bells Are Ringing, director Jean Lacornerie and musical director Gérard Lecointe have chosen to collaborate again, delivering to the French public a comparatively little known musical of the 50s, The Pajama Game, which, outside being the work of the dream team Jerome Robbins directing, George Abbott writing the book, and Bob Fosse choreographing on Broadway for the very first time, stands as perhaps the only musical dealing with unions and labor conflicts. The least we can say is that this choice couldn't be more on point given the political context of France today, with major strikes going on in sync with the show, which began its run at Théâtre de la Croix-Rousse in Lyon, followed by an extensive tour at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, also in the Lyon area, and now for a three-day run at the gorgeous Opéra de Rennes, where I caught a sold out performance on February 1st.

Brecht and Weill's The Threepenny Opera (l'Opera de Quat'Sous in French) is one of those works that became the hallmark of its era. Its sound, its look, and its cynicism are pure Weimar. However, during the 1928 Berlin premiere, early songs such as 'The Ballad of Mac The Knife' and 'Pirate Jenny' landed with a shrug, and it wasn't until the 'Canon Song,' halfway through the first act, that the audience became engaged. All of this to say that The Threepenny Opera is a complicated play whose virtues might not be immediately evident to the uninitiated. The production at Avignon's Opera Confluence, as directed by Jean Lacornerie, comes in at a swift two hours without intermission. While crammed onto an over-packed stage and breathlessly paced, Lacornerie still manages to keep the action moving with style.

First look at Young Frankenstein in Paris.

Metropolita(i)n, the bilingual, socio-political musical revue with songs & sketches that explore the similarities and differences between NYC/aris and their people ends its limited engagement Tonight - Monday, November 22nd at 7pm at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 West 42nd Street.