La Grande Affabulation
This is a 21st-century urban legend. It is said that one night, some children left home without telling their parents, on a quest known only to themselves. They took food, costumes, trestles and songs with them. Along the way, they told each other the story of which they are the heroes through music. This musical ‘great fabrication’ weaves together the tale of this journey of discovery.
For the young artists of Opéra-Comique in Paris, aged 12 to 23, Geoffroy Jourdain and Benjamin Lazar have composed a colourful show, where the spirit of the ‘musical fable’ of the early days of opera blends with that of processions and popular festivals. These young performers could not have better guides in Baroque repertoire, which inspires so many intimate connections between poetry and music, dance and song. On this journey, they travel through the ages and also glean other music, modern and contemporary, to accompany their mysterious quest.
Cast
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Chorus
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Maîtrise Populaire de l'Opéra Comique
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Orchestra
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Les Cris de Paris
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Director
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Benjamin Lazar
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Conductor
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Geoffroy Jourdain
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Choreography
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Gudrun Skamletz
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Artistic collaboration
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Elizabeth Calleo
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Sets and costumes
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Adeline Caron
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Lights
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Christophe Naillet
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Assistant conductor
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Guillemette Daboval
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Assistant stage director
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Michel Abdallah
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Assistant costumes
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Adelaïde Gosselin
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Director of musical studies
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Katia Weimann
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Chorus master
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Clara Brenier
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Role study
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Dorothée Voisine
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Film production
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Camera lucida productions
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Videos
Story
Scene I
The dream of rehearsal
A rehearsal of the Maîtrise Populaire is about to begin. The students are getting ready and chatting. One of them tells how she once took in an octopus she found on a beach and had to flush it down the toilet so it could return to the sea. Another worries about a song she has not learned. Around her, the atmosphere grows uneasy. Suddenly, the maîtrisienne wakes with a start: the distressing rehearsal was only a dream. She takes her diary and confides in it about a notebook she has lost, one that contains precious memories.
Scene II
The extraordinary council
A half-human, half-bird being appears in the shadows, soon followed by a cloud of birds and a cohort of sorcerers. Gathered in an extraordinary council, these creatures discuss the bonds that unite their two realms: the visible and the invisible. The bird-being presents the maîtrisienne to the assembly, telling how she once saved him when he was a fledgling fallen from the nest. As a reward, the birds and sorcerers offer to help find the young girl’s lost notebook. One bird has spotted it in an inaccessible forest. The chief sorcerer decides to read it from afar, by the power of his mind.
Scene III
The forest of Long Waiting
The notebook contains a story: that of a court where an endless celebration is taking place. There, a prince and a princess meet and fall deeply in love. But a jealous nobleman makes them drink a poison that sows doubt in their love. The princess and the prince then lose themselves in the Forest of Long Waiting. To help them, the maîtrisienne, who has listened to the entire story, becomes a character in the tale herself. No sooner has she entered the forest than she encounters beings who are half-human, half-animal, and who invite her to follow them.
Scene IV
The drowsy knight
The “Drowsy Knight” appears, followed by his companions. They know neither how to wake him nor where he wishes to go. The maîtrisienne suggests that, to provoke a reaction, they speak to him of love. The prince then appears, whose melancholy song awakens memories of love among the knights and the animals. As the Knight does not wake, the maîtrisienne and the whole troupe decide to join him in sleep. The sleeping characters are visited there by the allegories of dream and nightmare.
Scene V
The sea, the monster, and the dance of joy
The Drowsy Knight has awakened: he wants to go and see the sea. The birds help the maîtrisienne bring the troupe out of sleep. All set off together toward the shore. Rising from the dark waves, a monster emerges. Just as the Knight is about to strike it down, a character steps in. It is the adolescent who once rescued the small octopus on the beach and who recognizes in the sea monster the creature she once saved. The octopus recognizes the girl. It calms down and embraces her. The troupe disperses in the joy of spring reborn. The maîtrisienne has not recovered her notebook, but she has been able to invent another story: the great affabulation.
Gallery
