Admin

Organization

Singer

Tenor

Éric Huchet

Falsacappa

Soprano

Daphne Touchais

Fiorella

Mezzo-soprano

Julie Boulianne

Fragoletto

Francis Dudziak

Le Baron de Campo Tasso

Martial Defontaine

Duke of Mantua

Franck Leguérinel

Pietro

Léonard Pezzino

Carmagnola

Loïc Félix

Antonio

Philippe Talbot

Le Comte de Gloria Cassis

Bass

Ronan Debois

Le Précepteur

Fernand Bernadi

Captain of the guard

Antoine Garcin

Barbavano

Thomas Morris

Domino

Marc Molomot

Adolphe de Valladolid

Christine Rigaud

Zerlina

Duchesse

Michèle Lagrange

Princesse de Grenade

Nicole Monestier

Pipetta

Pipetta/Une Espagnole sémillante/Une brigande/Une marquise licencieuse

Une marquise licencieuse

Conductor

François-Xavier Roth

Stage director

Macha Makeïeff

Jérôme Deschamps

Set designer

Françoise Darne

Costume designer

Lighting designer

Marie-Christine Soma

Jean-Marc Martinez

Pipo

Others

Toulon Opera Choir

Orchestra

Les Siècles

Opéra Comique

Les Brigands -  (The Bandits)

Paris

France

Opéra-Comique

Salle Bizet

Les brigands Paris 2011 Huchet Boulianne Touchais Defontaine

“Everyone steals according to one’s position in society.” A social critique, a credo to live by, and a recipe for the hilarious satire of Jacques Offenbach’s Les Brigands! The Opéra Comique’s rollicking 2011 production took full advantage of the talents of stage directors Macha Makeïeff and Jérôme Deschamps (members of the wildly successful French comedy troupe Les Deschiens) and the accomplished music director François-Xavier Roth.

When Les Brigands had its 1869 premiere, Jacques Offenbach was Paris's reigning king of the operetta. Since 1855 he had made his living creating a brilliant musical satire about the Napoleon III and his Second French Empire, and reaped considerable rewards for his universally beloved work. Set to a libretto of Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy (who would later collaborate with Bizet to produce Carmen), Offenbach’s newest creation lampooned both the world of theater and French society with a cheerfully amoral plot: more complex than that of most Offenbach operettas, the story follows a band of brigands led by their chief, Falsacappa, as they attempt to steal the fortune of the Duke of Mantua. The new work was a great success, but the outbreak of the 1870 Franco-Prussian War was the beginning of the end of this happy phase of the composer’s career: his imperial connections and German birth would transform him into an enemy in the context of wartime, casting a shadow over the latter part of his career.

Photo: © Martin Fraudreau

Who is the bigger thief - a bunch of robbers or the prince's treasurer? Humorous opera about a place ruled by stupidity and foolishness. J. Offenbach's still living work from 1869 has found its place on the stage of the Opéra Comique in Paris. The cheerful production connects drama and singing. The stage becomes a palace, a crossroads of roads and an ordinary backyard and a thunderous rhythm. Treat yourself to the laughter that is so lacking in today's serious world.

Les Brigands Offenbach

Public

The Bandits

Approved

Production booklet

Further reading