After two years of success in France, Starmania begins a “break”. A final performance will take place this Sunday, December 29 in Marseille before, according to the production, a stopover and then shows abroad. A decision viewed with caution by Thomas Jolly, the director of this new version of the cult show by Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon, launched in 2022.
“This break comes at a somewhat abrupt moment,” he declared to Le Parisien. “I created and directed this show but for a year, the production has kept me very far from its decisions, from the changes in distribution, which I do not understand well.”
The production announced the suspension of performances only two weeks ago, in a press release. It is through this that Thomas Jolly, who marked the year 2024 by ensuring the artistic direction of the Olympic Games ceremonies, was informed, he assures: “I did not expect it. I imagined (that the show) would run for another five or six years.”
“The competition is very strong”
“It was necessary, after two particularly intense years and crazy success,” explains Aurélien Binder, co-producer of the show under the banner of Fimalac Entertainment, to Le Parisien. “There are a lot of musicals on the road and the competition is very strong.”
The gamble of this staging was, in fact, a winning one. Passed through France, Switzerland, Belgium and Canada, Starmania attracted more than 1.2 million spectators in 361 performances.
“There is no resumption date, but we are working on the international sequel,” assures the producer. “The priority is in Asia, where there is very strong demand.”
“A gigantism that is difficult to move”
A prospect that “delights” Thomas Jolly while worrying him: “I dreamed of this show in a big way and I first thought of it for a French-speaking audience. The scenography and 120 people on the road, it’s a gigantism difficult to move.”
Another subject of incomprehension: the absence of studio recording and visual capture. The output of the audio recording is itself uncertain. “We considered filming the show,” declares Aurélien Binder, “but it is so complex that a recording cannot convey what we see.” An argument that Thomas Jolly brushes aside:
“We manage to film the shows of Mylène Farmer and Taylor Swift and we cannot capture ‘Starmania’”, he emphasizes.
“That there was no recording or capture of this form leaves me doubtful. It is an inaction that I do not understand” (…) “I am sad for myself, for the artists, because it’s hard to stop without keeping track of the work and the involvement they provided.”
Original article published on BFMTV.com
