Happy who, like Caprice, has had a beautiful journey,
Wandered everywhere for more than one lunation,
And then returned, but fresh as a roach,
Living between your parents for the rest of your age!
It is November 2020. The Opéra Avant-Scène has just published an issue devoted to Journey to the moon of Offenbach, in anticipation of a production which is about to be created in Montpellier, before continuing its journey throughout France, from Metz to Marseille and from Nice to Rouen. But who says December 2020 says… Covid-19. The pandemic changed the course of history and forced the Montpellier Opera to present the show without an audience, in front of an audience of professionals and journalists. Fortunately, four years later, the local public can finally board this Journey into the moon, and with palpable pleasure!
The production ofOlivier Fredj has already been commented on several times on Forum Opéra, during performances in Marseille, Nice, Compiègne and Rouen. The feedback from our colleagues on the staging was generally rather reserved, but the show seems to have progressed and to have gained in coherence and fluidity until these last performances in Montpellier. Even if the cast has changed many times depending on the houses in which the production was hosted, we observe among the artists a remarkable team spirit, which fully contributes to the liveliness and brilliance of the performance.
Journey to the Moon is a fairy opera, a genre which relies largely on visual effects and the spectacular: the libretto contains no less than twenty-three different scenes, with scenes of eruption, takeoff and moon landing, and no less than two ballets. During the creation of the show, the authors even rented a real camel from the Jardin des Plantes to make it appear on the set and impress the audience.
Obviously, the means of this production are more modest than those of the Théâtre de la Gaîté in 1875, but the twenty-three paintings are preserved in their entirety (even the camel is there!). Changes of scenery are provided by projections at the back of the stage, skillfully mixing engravings and period photographs, where scientific material is transformed into fanciful reverie, in the vein of Jules Verne, to represent places full of extravagance and spicy. The other reference mentioned is after the creation of Offenbach's work, but unmissable and obvious, since its title will be used by Georges Méliès for one of his best-known films. The director therefore chooses to include the representation in the fiction of a film shoot: a manager/director at the start of the show brings together the extras and the stars to start shooting the film. The action is then often punctuated by a tight and circular scene frame, resembling a lens or a lens, in which Offenbach's head appears speckled with lunar craters (he is only missing the shell in the eye to recall this legendary shot from Méliès’ film).
The insertion of this filming plot is not wildly original but has the merit of being effective and fun. Six dancers successively occupy the positions of sound engineer, stagehand or extra, before animating the scenes and making the score vibrate at different moments of the action in a staggering variety of jobs. The choreographies, signed Anouk Vialeare particularly successful, notably in the scene where Princess Fantasia discovers the feeling of love: the dancers interpret selenites discovering desire, through bodily movements full of sensuality.
But what makes the performance particularly lively and funny is the precise and dynamic acting direction, allowing the different scenes to follow one another at a dizzying pace, as well as a particularly keen taste for accessories and gags. . Thus, King V'lan wears a disproportionately large crown, Prince Caprice does not move around without his walking sticks adorned with two enormous shoes and Fantasia without a balloon hanging from her dress. King Cosmos looks like a bewigged jellyfish and the inhabitants of the moon are divided (before regaining power after the discovery of love) into “useful women” and “housewives”, some are dressed as vacuum cleaners or in a ball of wool and the others in a mirror or flower pot. The most hilarious costume is that of Queen Popotte, a sort of giant sponge who always moves with her pet sponge on a devil… These touches of humor, full of inventiveness and rich in visual discoveries, as funny as they are impertinent, do not prevent the director from fully giving their poetic charge to the more dreamlike scenes of the work, such as the apple duet, where the two singers are suspended in the air, just as in the snowy scenes, punctuated by the delicate falling of snowflakes.
The stage success of the show is accompanied by complete musical success. In the role of the sassy Caprice, Marie Perbost impresses with its energy and stage production. His supple voice, his refined phrasing and his timbre, always so fresh and fruity, give each tune a unique color, whether they are frantic gallops or tender romantic romances. The only downside: the roundness of the vocal coverage does not always allow him to deliver the text clearly. If this is less annoying in other repertoires, the flavor and clarity of the text deserve to be better highlighted in this type of work. By his side, Sheva Tehoval highly impresses. The singer dazzles from her first tune,'a breathtaking virtuosity and ease. Fantasia rivaling Prince Caprice in the field of eccentricity, the singer expresses the character's fantasy through precise vocalizations, brilliant highs, confident lows, even dirty and abraded to signify anger. The performer raises enthusiasm in the rest of the work, always funny and sensitive, thanks to a sure technique, a light soprano voice with a charming timbre and a magnetic stage presence.
The other big triumph of the evening is Yoann Le Lanwho emerges as the leader of the show. First a confident stage manager/director at the start of the work, he then played Marie-Anouk the flight attendant and the cashier with obvious pleasure, before appearing in Quipasseparlà. We can only appreciate his singing voice during this short tune, but the flexibility of the phrasing, the vigor of the projection and the clarity of the timbre bode well for the best. A talented artist to follow closely, certainly.
One could imagine a darker, biting voice for King V'lan, but Florent Karrer has the merit of not manufacturing vocal effects to match a certain idea of the character. The result is a touching and sensitive portrait of the king, never a caricature. Thibaut Desplantesin the role of his lunar colleague Cosmos, is hilarious and full of verve, equally at ease in the spoken and sung parts.
Apart from Fiamma, embodied with great charm by Jennifer Michelwe rarely have the opportunity to hear the other characters sing. Carl Ghazarossian is however particularly striking in charismatic and elegant Microscope, just like Marie Lenormandused to comic roles, who plays a hilarious Popotte. We almost begin to regret not being able to hear all the arias added by Offenbach performed when Thérésa took over the role at the Châtelet in 1877. Christophe Poncet de Solages ideally completes this homogeneous distribution where there is a joyful team spirit.
L’Montpellier Occitanie National Orchestra finds a work already popular in 2020. A recording published by the Palazzetto Bru Zane testifies to the orchestra's suitability for this music, which these 2024 performances only confirm. This time it is Victor Jacob who is at the head of the orchestra: he happily brings dynamic and agogic variations into succession, highlighting the delicacy of Offenbach's orchestration, particularly in melodramas and ballets. The opening is immediately a striking example: the madness of the final gallop, which races into an increasingly rapid tempo, responds to the grace of the horn solo, much more flexible and rubato. The female desks of the Choir of the Montpellier National Opera seem better prepared than the male players, who get lost a little in certain delicate passages, without however deserving in terms of sound homogeneity.
Ce Journey to the moon therefore ends his adventure in Montpellier in the most beautiful way. It’s a shame that the show won’t continue its tour to the moon: there’s no doubt that it would appeal to the Selenites as much as it enchants the Earthlings!
