Appointed a little over a year ago at the head of the Théâtre du Châtelet, Olivier Py has just presented the new programming of the Parisian scene dedicated to music. The most famous French musical comes across there Peer Gynt, Orlando by Händel mingles with Miss Knife, his double for almost 30 years… And for now, he is directing and writing for the first time the music for an operetta entitled Love Conquers. Created in Avignon in 2019, it will be repeated next month at the Châtelet.
Le Châtelet now out of danger
As soon as he arrived at the management of the Parisian institution, Olivier Py had to face a deficit of 4.5 million euros. The financial situation is now “stabilized”he tells us, satisfied with the success of the musical West Side Story last winter. We hope for this equally great success in 2024-2025, when the new season of the Châtelet was unveiled last night, on the theater stage. “I program what I like, and with joy. I don’t program what I don’t like”affirms Olivier Py, while deploring the recent drop of 200 million euros in the culture budget. “It is a crime against the spirit […] I think there is a serious error here. This economy is nothing compared to a government budget, we cannot do it without deeply hurting the democratic foundations of France.” The director nevertheless remains confident regarding the subsidy promised by the Paris town hall, in the amount of 15,300,000 euros.
Musical comedy and opera in all its forms
Musical comedy is one of Olivier Py’s great loves. She will therefore be in the spotlight again next season, with Wretched by Alain Boublil, with music by Claude-Michel Schönberg. “It’s a magnificent work, one of the great works of the end of the 20th century. It’s the most performed musical comedy in the world. In France, there was a little refractory side to Les Miserables, I don’t like it. I never understood why. We find it here in French, ‘100% French touch’, in a new production, with a real orchestra. And if he loves musicals so much, it’s because these “great and beautiful shows” are aimed at a wide audience, the same audience that he wishes to bring to the opera thanks to “Opéra pour tous”, an annual production for which tickets will not exceed 50 euros, with a reduced stage cost. “Opera has this damaging reputation of being prohibitive, in particular because of the price of tickets. I think that it is a popular genre par excellence, and that we must invent new ways of doing it.”
The Châtelet will therefore celebrate opera, in all its forms: classical, pocket opera, musical theater and baroque opera. Bizet, Stravinsky, Peer Gynt which he directs, Handel: “Considerable treasures that cannot be abandoned” and which will echo rap, urban music and dance. “It’s the Châtelet of all music and all audiences. This program resembles me.”
“L’Amour Vainqueur”, an initiatory operetta resumed next month
One of the new things at the Châtelet is also hearing the music of Olivier Py. We knew him as a playwright, director, author, actor but not a composer. However, he signs the songs of Love Winsa miniature operetta for children inspired by Grimm’s tales, and performed by four singers, dancers and instrumentalists. “I signed the music, but I won’t do it anymore. It’s too difficult to write music. I slowly took to my piano, and worked from the few chords I knew. It took me a year and a half to compose 15 songs, but I’m proud to have done it, because I really like this work.” The play tells the story of a young girl, imprisoned and prevented from marrying the man she loves. When she was released, several years later, she discovered a world in ruins. Guided by her desires and the inner fire, she sets out in search of her beloved, and finds him. “I love doing shows for children, but it’s much more difficult. The pieces I write for them are short, and for that I sculpt a grain of rice for weeks. I’ve always felt a very great responsibility when I speak to children. I often think that it is perhaps their first show, and that it can create vocations. Theater for children is truly an indispensable thing! “. Without forgetting babies, from 6 months, who will also find happiness in the next season.
