La Bete Et la Belle - DVD

La Bete Et la Belle [BLU-RAY] Released 2015 product/publication from BBC / Opus Arte

Jacques Offenbach's La Belle Hélène (1864) has always been one of it's composer's most successful works. • It's first, slightly scandalizing performance in Paris was quickly followed by productions in Vienna, Berlin, London, Milan and New York. • A satire of middle-class values, this opéra bouffe - told through the story of Paris and Helen, and her abduction by the Trojan prince disguised as a shepherd - pillories narrow-mindedness in society. • Adopting a pro-active stance, director Renaud Doucet and designer André Barbe treat the piece as a Inchgreat showInch with numerous choreographic elements, relocating the action of Offenbach's classical spoof and setting it on a cruise ship in the 1960s, when Flower Power, love and drugs were all the rage. • InchLa Belle Hélène is a firework display for ears and eyes...Inch (Hamburger Morgenpost), Inchopulent and amusingInch (Bild), and, in the title role, Jennifer Larmore convinces with her Inchfantastic vocal performance.Inch (Das Opernglas)

L'Étoile did much to establish Chabrier as a major force on the Parisian stage and his contemporary Henri Duparc praised him specifically for creating a French comic genre, both funny and musical - described as something of a French Die Meistersinger. The fanciful story is set in an imaginary kingdom and all, naturally, ends well. However, despite the slight plot line L'Étoile is something of a pivotal work, a unique example of French 19th-century light opera, orchestrated with great sophistication and flooded with gossamer wit. This production, featuring Stephane d'Oustrac, Christophe Mortagne, and Helene Guilmette, is a co-production of the Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam and Francois Roussillon et Associes.