CROQUEFER & TULIPATAN

orchestration for nine musicians Thibault Perrine

musical director Christophe Grapperon

staging Jean-Philippe Salério

sets and lighting Thibaut Fack

costumes Elisabeth de Sauverzac

choreographer Jean-Marc Hoolbecq
assistant director Victoria Duhamel
piano/chef de chant Nicolas Ducloux

characters and performers

Croquefer / Hermosa Flannan Obé

Boutefeu / Alexis Emmanuelle Goizé

Ramasse-ta-tête / Romboïdal François Rougier

Fleur-de-Soufre / Théodorine Edwige Bourdy

Mousse-à-mort / Cacatois XXII Loïc Boissier

production Athénée – Théâtre Louis-Jouvet / Cie Les Brigands

co-production La Coursive, Scène nationale La Rochelle & Le Centre des Bords de Marne, Le Perreux

Les Brigands receive aid from Ministère de la Culture – DRAC Ile-de-France and from SPEDIDAM.

in original language with Italian subtitles

thanks to Angelo Fabbrini Pianoforti - Pescara for the invaluable support

Bewitched by the charm of The Tales of Hoffmann and La vie parisienne, it is often forgotten that at the beginning Offenbach was a virtuoso cellist, prolix composer of so-called serious music as well as author of flourishing one-act pieces, one more bizarre than the other.

Having directed the works of the most diversified librettists, Offenbach explored all the genres: peasant farces and fantastic deliriums, opposed love stories and ridiculous plots, cloak-and-dagger stories of exotic taste ... A whole universe, yes, but a parallel universe, "conceived solely for the pleasure and the thrill of fiction," said Georges Perec. A big joke in which everyone, in the end, does nothing but pretend to be what he represents, and this is also the case with Offenbach himself . The "Mozart of Champs Élysées", the "Napoleon of the operetta", the bard of the «Parisian», arrived in France in 1833, from Cologne, the city of carnival and scented waters, where his father sang in a synagogue."The idea of the mask, which he carried with him in his luggage, literally invades his work," observes Robert Pourvoyeur. "In this France which makes its entrance into the industrial age, the main thing was to inspire confidence and to appear, even before being. Under Napoleon III, from the court to the banks, from the society women to the parvenu, few of those who called themselves lovers of art, are really what they claim to be."A thought that René Leibowitz deepens with respect to music scores: "It’s a masquerade music and at the same time a disguised music: a disguise of the characters (...), but also a disguise of the melancholy and the nostalgia for a lost innocence dressed with the craziest and most exuberant gaiety."

There are many stories of Croquefer. On the one hand the great medieval legend, here pleasantly mistreated for the sake of parody and the joy of anachronisms. On the other hand, the story of the play itself. In fact, the censorship, legacy of royal privileges, prohibits a piece sung by more than four characters to be represented outside the opera theaters – provision which the authors not only ignore but choose to ignore, relying on the goodwill that the ministry had granted so far. However they are guilty of naivety: the Censorship in fact, raises an objection two days before the performance, and panic spreads. The librettists Jaime and Tréfeu therefore have the terrific idea to transform the character of Mousse-à-Mort: they will say that the Saracens cut his tongue and his text will be screeched or posted on banners, a method tested by the 18th century Fair to put an end to the privileges of the Comédie-Française. Perfect. In this way, the ministry has fun and at the same time it’s clear that under the frills, every story connects with the other ...

Ten years later, Offenbach presents L’Île de Tulipatan. A decade which made him an unrivaled theater director and the author of stunning successes, which first triumph in Paris and then are exported to Vienna, London or New York. Without ever interrupting his production, he does not mind short fantasies that have established his glory, as evidenced by this comedy of quid pro quo, which takes place "at 25,000 kilometers from Nanterre, 473 years before the invention of the chamber pot". An isolation that allows exploration, at pleasure, of the confusion of genres, where he enunciates the exciting grammar of customs and traditions and where, contrary to all expectation, the feminine often overwhelms even the male. In a world of disguises, this becomes habit: if, in the German tradition, the girls’ roles are often embodied by the tenors, with Offenbach too we see men taking female roles when they have to interpret a particularly grumpy character (as in Mesdames de la Halle), or women who dress up to demonstrate the value of men (see Paimpol et Périnette). After a successful debut, L’Ile de Tulipatan talks about the revenge of nature upon all imperfections and at the end, the triumph of love.

He was assistant to Marc Minkowski (Massenet´s Manon in Monte-Carlo).

Baritone, he has worked in numerous vocal ensembles (Diabolus, Sequence 9.3 ...).

He has directed Les Aventures du Roi Pausole by Honegger at the Opéra de Toulon.

Upon Laurence Equilbey’s request, he is preparing the Accentus choir.

Since 2007, he has been directing all the Les Brigands company productions.

He has studied with Jean-Claude Raynaud, Thierry Escaich and Jean-François Zygel.

He studied Conducting with Nicolas Brochot and Catherine Simonpietri.

He has directed several performances of Dr Ox et Ta Bouche with Les Brigands, in Paris. He has written most of the musical arrangements of Les Brigands since 2003, as well as for the Théâtre du Châtelet (Le Chanteur de Mexico) and the Opéra de Lyon.

In 1985 he carried out his civil service at the Théâtre Le Rio in Grenoble directed by Yvon Chaix.

He has recited with directors Georges Lavaudant, Laurent Pelly, Michel Raskine, Christophe Perton.

From 1995 to 2010 he co-directed, with Claire Truche, the company Nième, in Lyon,

He does the staging for the authors Rémi De Vos, Alan Bennett, Sophie Lannefranque, Sergi Belbel ...

In 2008 he directed La Cour du roi Pétaud by Léo Delibes for the company Les Brigands.

He attended the École Boulle in Paris and completed his studies at the School of the National Theater of Strasbourg.

He signs the sets and costumes for Clément Victor, Pierre Ascaride, Thomas Matalou. He works closely with Yann-Joël Collin (Violences- Reconstitution) and Olivier Py.

In 2007, he staged Woyzeck/Wozzeck by Berg and Büchner at the Odéon (Festival Berthier).

He is currently working with Nicolas Kerszenbaum, Cécile Backès and Julia Vidit.

She has worked in the theater alongside Philippe Adrien, Dominique Lurcel, Christophe Thiry ...

She signs the costumes of twelve productions for the company Les Brigands (2001-2012). She collaborates with Brontis Jodorowsky in Besançon (Pelléas in 2009 and Rigoletto in 2011).

She participates at the Festival d´Aix-en-Provence with Dmitri Tcherniakov and later with Vincent Boussard (2012).

She collaborates with the artistic activities of the Music Festival Nigella (Puccini, Janacek, Schubert, Bizet).

He took his first steps on stage next to the choreographer Odile Azagury.

He is the author and collaborator of purely choreographic creations.

He has worked for the theater with Rochefort, Bozonnet, Podalydès, Bélier-Garcia ...

He is a pedagogue at the Studio d´Asnières and the Conservatoire National Supérieur d´Art Dramatique de Paris.

Since 2007 he has taken part in six productions of the Brigands.

He studied Acting, Singing and Dance (classical, modern jazz and tip tap).

Leading figure of the trio Lucienne et les Garçons, in 2006 he was awarded with the Spedidam prize.

He regularly appears at the cinema (Klapisch) and on television (TV films and series). He has taken part in three productions of the company Les Brigands (Lattès, Delibes, Terrasse).

He collaborates with Anne Baquet at the writing of Elle était une fois. He collaborates for the text and interprets L´Envers du décor.

Since 2001 she has participated in all the Les Brigands company productions.

She acted in the film musical comedy Jeanne et le garçon formidable.

Marc Minkowski invites her to sing alongside Jessye Norman and Papagena in Madrid.

She plays the role of Lulu de Belleville in the work by Germaine Tillon Le Verfügbar aux Enfers.

In 2011 she works in René l’Énervé by Jean-Michel Ribes and in La Zingara with Les Paladins.

He studied Singing with Cécile Fournier and then with Sophie Marin-Degor.

In 2006 he sings in the role of Platée with the l’Atelier des Musiciens du Louvre, in Grenoble.

In 2011 he interprets Marin (Didon & Enée) and Borsa in Rigoletto at the musical theater of Besançon.

He regularly works with the Chapelle rhénane & the Ensemble baroque of Toulouse. In January 2013 he joins the first Académie de l’Opéra-Comique.

She studies at the École d´Art lyrique de l´Opéra de Paris and at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles.

She plays the roles of Rameau, Lully and Monteverdi directed by J. E. Gardiner and René Jacobs. She regularly collaborates with the Péniche Opéra and Mireille Larroche.

In pop music she has stood out for: Oh mon bel inconnu, V’lan dans l’oeil, les Caf’Conc’ Hervé…

She dedicates one of her concerts to Marie Dubas, the brilliant fantasy artist who lived between the two wars.

He works with Marc Minkowski and in 1996 he joins the Choir of Musicians of the Louvre.

He is a member of the European Academy of the Festival of Aix-en-Provence (2001).

He founds the company Les Brigands and takes part in productions directed by Stéphan Druet.

He opens his company to that of 26000 couverts, to Johanny Bert and then to Pierre Guillois.

He directs the musical theater of Besançon (2008-2012) where, however, he does not appear on stage.