13/12/2022 - Brussels (Belgium), La Monnaie - Richard Brunel (staging), Etienne Pluss (set design), Bruno de Lavenère (costumes), Jean-Sébastien Bou, Jodie Devos, Julien Behr, Sophie Pondjiclis, Jérôme Varnier, Tibor Ockenfels, Orchestre symphonique de la Monnaie, Bassem Akiki (conductor)
Opera in 1 act, libretto by Richard Brunel, based on Georges Feydeau's On Purge Bébé !
I'd read On purge bébé ! even before I composed Pinocchio. I said to myself: "This is a wonderful play... but it's impossible to turn it into an opera". And if I say something like that, it means that I'm going to do it - it's like I'm setting myself a kind of challenge! I liked a lot of things in this play. It's rather malicious, as it presents an image of a smug, pretentious, and uneducated petty bourgeoisie and their complete dishonesty. I don't think anyone has ever done an opera based one of Feydeau's plays - at least, not that I know of. People don't think of turning Feydeau into an opera...
Philippe Boesmans
Opera filmed on December 15, 2022 at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels
ARTE Concert, Opera
Duration: 89 min
Available: from December 12th, 2022 to February 28th, 2023
www.arte.tv/fr/videos/112635-000-A/philippe-boesmans-on-purge-bebe
