lagdm

I'm taking my 15 year old daughter to Paris in November (first time). We live in a city with very few opportunities for teather/music so every time we travel we try to see as much as we can. We will be there November 17 to 22.
So far I have found these options:

La Flute enchantée (Fura del Baus production) and Tristan and Isolde at Opera Bastille.

The Lion King …maybe is a silly question, but … Does this performance is in French?

Le marriage de Figaro at Comedie Francaise

La flute enchantée. Lucernaire - Theatre Noire

I think the Opera Bastille is a must, but I’m concern about which opera will be best for her. I’m inclined for Fura del Baus production… What do you think? If you have other suggestions I will love to hear them. It is my daughter birthday present and I want to make this trip memorable!

Nikki

I will be in Paris in November also. I have bought tickets for the Magic Flute at the Opera Bastille and the Mariage de Figaro at the Comedie Francaise.

I have ordered a copy of the Mariage de Figaro in French to read before I go so that I have a chance of understanding what I am seeing. You do realize that this is the original French play by Beaumarchais, and not the opera, right? Do you and your daughter understand French?

There are several interesting musical, theatrical and dance performances under the umbrella of the Festival d'Automne at http://www.festival-automne.com/en/p...-liste.php#dan.

yk

Definitely a NO to Tristan and Isolde - it's a Wagner opera which is over 5 hours long. Unless you and your daughter are huge Wagner fans, I think it'll make your daughter NEVER to see another opera in her lifetime!

yk

BTW, the opera MagicFlute should be fun at Opera Bastille - but I imagine it'll be sung in German with French surtitles. So, ditto what Nikki said, unless you and your daughter are fluent in French, it's crucial to know the synopsis well before you go see the opera. Or better yet, go to your local library and borrow a MagicFlute opera on DVD and watch it at home before your trip.

The story of Magic Flute is quite complicated.

StCirq

Don't know about the Lion King, but obviously translating musical lyrics into another language is a serious challenge, so I'd assume not.

Ditto to the Opera comments. My dad took me to see Wagner when I was about that age, and I've never been back since.

Check out www.whatsonwhen.com and find something FUN and appropriate for her to do.

caroline_edinburgh

The shows I've seen by La Fura dels Baus have been pretty outrageous, X-rated and taking place in disused warehouses ! I can't begin to imagine their version of The Magic Flute but it should be exciting and is the one thing that might make me go to another Mozart opera. (Ooh, wonder if it's on when we are there ? Must check.) OTOH personally I'd travel especially to see Tristan and Isolde.

I think that for the opera, much depends on what music you both like. Do you like Mozart ? Do you like Wagner ? How's your French / German ? Do the theatres have multi-lingual surtitles ? I'd have to know something pretty well, or it to be very short, to go when I don't have a good grasp of the language it's being sung in or (preferably) surtitled in.

Keren

You could also try Mozart's Così fan tutte, which will be performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. The playing of the ensemble will be superb, it's one of the best in France, and the cast is strong; Veronica Cangemi in the title role is a truly fantastic singer. The rest of them are also well known.
http://www.theatrechampselysees.fr/c....php?m=2008-11

lagdm

Nikky.- Hi ! I haven’t realized it was the play. I do speak French, but my daughter doesn’t so the play is a definitive no…opera is different; you can enjoy even not knowing the language. When I was a child I used to hear my father’s discs of Opera and not knowing the language I started to love it.

Sorry to say the reviews I have found of the « Magic Flute » are not very good.

“ la plus mauvaise Flûte enchantée de ces dernières années mise en scène par la Furia del Baus.... »

The title of another review:

« Quand l'innovation tue la magie”

So I think that is another no.

Not too much for our dates in the Festival calendar…We will probably stop at the projection of José Damasceno


YK.- Thanks! 5 hours of Warner is too much even for me… I want something my daughter would love and make her go back!


Caroline.- Are you from Edinburgh? We spent some time during the summer in Scotland, fantastic!
In this case the taks is difficult because it is trying to introduce a teen to something new…so, not knowing the language, plus a long show could be disastrous

Karen.- ‘Cosi fa tutte” could be a good idea. I will check the web page you provided and see if I can find the plot in English or Spanish and give it to may daughter to read in advance

StCirq.- Great website! I have to check it more calmly, to start with I found November is month of Photography and that is one of my daughter main interests.

lagdm

StCirq.- It there a way to find out if the Lion King would be in French... In Spain and Mexico they do translate.

Christina

I was just in Paris and saw the Lion King advertised a lot around town (Le Roi Lion). It IS in French, they translated the songs, and the entire cast is French, also.

Lots of musicals have songs translated into several languages. Les Miz is an obvious example, it originally was a French show.

lagdm

I did found out: it is in French

lagdm

Thnks Cristina, we post almost at the same time.

cova

I wonder if it is the version of "Die Zauberflöte" that they did a couple of years ago at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

Marc Minkowski was conducting, and Toby Spence was a great Tamino. The production wasn´t so outrageous as their own works are, but there was something that I didn´t like a lot. This opera has some lengthy spoken parts that not only explain the story but can also be really funny, and they substituted them by spanish texts that didn´t have anything to do with it (and were a bit boring, in my opinion).

I think it was this one :
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/27/style/flute.php

Rgds, Cova

Nikki

Lagdm, before reading your post, I hadn't known anything about Fura dels Baus, so I spent some time reading about them and about this production of the Magic Flute. While I did see the decidedly mixed reviews (and I didn't see the one about innovation killing magic, but I love the headline), my curiosity is piqued and I am perhaps perversely looking forward to the production more than before.

I am also going to the ballet of Enfants du Paradis at the Opera Garnier, but I believe that will not be playing during your visit.

Caroline, when are you in Paris?

yk

cova, Yes, it is the same Magic Flute production you saw at Teatro Real, but with different conductor and singers.
http://www.operadeparis.fr/Saison-20...le.asp?IdS=526

cova

yk, thanks. I was suspecting that. It wasn´t the worse I have seen ( vote goes for a Prague one, dreadful and too old-fashioned ) nor the best one ( Volksoper 10 years ago, very simple, great voices, full of fun).

It wouldn´t be my first choice. I would try to get tickets for "Cosi fan tutte".

Bye, Cova

lagdm

Hi Cova!
Nice to see you again! My first intention when thinking about the opera in Paris was to write to you directly but I couldn¡¦t¡¦ find your address¡K I remember you are an Opera lover.
Maybe you don¡¦t remember me¡K your advise and Maribel¡¦s to book our hotel in Madrid las July were invaluable. Unfortunately my daughter could not attend to the James Blunt concert because of her age and that was a big disappointment for her ¡Xand a relief for my husband and me after you told us about the venue¡X. The wine tasting was a perfect end to our trip especially after my husband lost his wallet in a taxi¡Kit was the perfect way to forget about the inconveniences of losing all you documents and cards..

Yes! I have decided to try to get the tickets for ¡§Cosi fan tutte¡¨

(The reviews about Magic Flute I read said something about added lines to the text, so it must be the same you saw)

I will talk to my daughter about the Lion King in French¡Knot knowing the plot won¡¦t be a problem in this case ƒº, and maybe a concert at the Saint Chapelle¡K lets see.

I have also send an e-mail to Galleries Lafayette for a reservation at their fashion show, for another kind of entertainment that can be appealing for a teen.

Nikki.- I understand your curiosity, at first I thought a Fura del Baus production would be a plus (more modern approach for a teen)¡Kbut I don¡¦t want to risks her first encounter with Opera¡Kƒº

caroline_edinburgh

lagdm, thanks for the review quotes - LOL ! Mind you I hate Mozart operas, so for me l'innovation would probably be a improvement Yes, I live in Edinburgh.

Hi Nikki ! I hadn't noticed it was you before. We are just going to Paris for one night, 22nd November, to see the Jeff Koons exhibition at Versailles (since I managed to get flights for £60 ) La Fura dels Baus MF is on that night but no tickets at present. Anyway, with only one night, we probably wouldn't want to impinge on our eating opportunities When will you be there ?

My first La Fura dels Baus performance is still probably the most exciting thing I've ever been to ! It was a promenade production in a disused warehouse in East London, a secret location which we got to by boat. The noise ! The music ! The blood and offal ! The water ! We were alternately swirling forward to get a better look and swirling back to get out of the way and it was fantastic ! A friend I saw there said afterwards he had to have his coat cleaned twice, while a couple I talked to on the boat had been before and were wearing head to toe waterproofs

kerouac

The musical Edward Scissorhands is currently at the Théâtre du Châtelet through the first week of November, if anybody is interested.

caroline_edinburgh

This is definitely a musical, is it - not Matthew Bourne's dance version (which is fantastic) ?

Makes me think, though, lagdm - wouldn't dance be a better bet, so there's no language barrier ?