Offenbach Barbe-Bleue comic opera to a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halävy. Directed 2019 by Laurent Pelly in collaboration with Christian Räth at Opéra de Lyon. Stars Yann Beuron (Barbe-Bleue), Héloïse Mas (Boulotte), Christophe Gay (Popolani), Christophe Mortagne (King Bobeche), Jennifer Courcier (Fleurette), Thibault de Damas (Count Oscar), Carl Ghazarossian (Prince Saphir), and Aline Martin (Queen Clemetine). Michele Spotti conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of Opéra de Lyon (Chorus Master Karine Locatelli). Dialogues rewritten by Agathe Mélinand; sets by Chantal Thomas; costumes by Laurent Pelly with Jean-Jacques Delmotte; lighting by Joël Adam. Directed for TV by Vincent Massip. Sung in French. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
This is the comic version of the Bluebeard story in which no wives are harmed. It’s often called an opéra bouffe or an operetta. We usually don’t cover operettas. Well, Richard Bratby gives this a 21-gun salute in the 2021 Awards issue of Gramophone at page 109. He calls this “Offenbach at his satirical Second Empire peak.” He goes on to applaud Héloïse Mas as Boulotte for a combination of “goofiness, innocence, and sensuality while singing as if she’s playing Carmen.” So we will take a chance on this as opéra bouffe. (Maybe we will have one day a Blu-ray of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle to compare to Barbe-bleue.)
Here’s a clip from Opus Arte:
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