Grau French Opera Bouffe: La vie parisienne

“There will be no performances at the Theatre Francais this week. This decision has resulted from Mr. Grau’s desire that Offenbach’s new opera-bouffe, ‘La Vie Parisienne,’ should be produced with a perfection of interpretation and stage costume that can only be secured through rehearsals as carefully conducted as actual representations. Some of Mr. Grau’s artists, too, are indisposed, and sadly need rest. Six nights of comparative leisure will, it is hoped, enable them to recuperate, while the recess will afford Mr. Grau every facility for bringing out ‘La Vie Parisienne’ in unexceptionable style.”

“Will be performed for the first time in America, the Monday of Easter week, 29 March.”

“Testimonial-Benefit to Mr. J. Grau.

The following correspondence explains itself:

New-York, March 8, 1869.

Jacob Grau, Esq., Director of the Theatre Francais, New-York City:

Dear Sir: We cannot permit the present theatrical season to close without some expression of our appreciation of your past efforts and present success in the management of the Theatre Francais.

You have presented the works of the most popular authors of the day with a lavish expense, hardly before known in this country. You have so altered the theatre at your own cost, as to render it not only one of the most attractive but also one of the safest places of public amusement in the City. All these efforts are fully appreciated by the general public as they are by ourselves. And in view of this creditable management we beg to tender you a testimonial in the substantial form of a benefit at such time as you may name, and we are, yours truly,

[Long list of names, beginning with August Belmont].

New-York, March 10, 1869.

Messrs. Belmont, Hutton, Duncan and others:

Gentlemen: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your very flattering favor of the 10th inst., [sic], tendering me a testimonial benefit as an evidence of your appreciation of my efforts to secure for the Theatre Francais an unrivaled position among the theatres of New-York.

Permit me to thank you most sincerely for this expression of your satisfaction, and to assure you that it will always be my ambition to deserve your approbation.

Although it has been a rule with me never to accept benefits, I cannot in courtesy decline a compliment offered by the very liberal patrons of the Theatre Francais, and one which I shall ever think of as a most gratifying souvenir of your good-will. I, therefore, beg to name Easter Monday, March 29, as the date of the proposed testimonial, to take place at the Theatre Francais, on which occasion I shall have the honor to produce, for the first time in America, Offenbach’s ‘La Vie Parisienne.’

Believe me, gentlemen, to remain yours, most sincerely, J. GRAU.”

“Manager Grau will be the recipient of a grand testimonial benefit on Easter Monday evening, at the Théâtre Français, upon which occasion Offenbach’s ‘La Vie Parisienne’ will be given, for the first time in this country. This complimentary testimonial tendered to Mr. Grau by the stockholders of the Théâtre Français and by a number of our most influential citizens, as an acknowledgment of their appreciation of the creditable manner in which he has catered to the amusement-loving portion of our community during the past season. There will be a full house at the Théâtre Français upon Easter Monday.”

“Mr. Grau selects the occasion of his benefit on Monday next to bring out Offenbach’s opera bouffe of ‘La Vie Parisienne.’ The work was written before ‘La Grand Duchesse,’ and the music in many dance forms, has already become popular. The story is of the present time; the situations are extremely ludicrous, and the dialogue is pretty broad. These are reasons why the work should succeed. For the rest, Mr. Grau has bestowed on it a distribution which includes every leading member of his company. The scenery and costumes are new.”

“The reopening of the French Theater on Monday next is to be made the occasion of a complimentary benefit to Mr. Jacob Grau. This little testimonial is offered by certain prominent citizens as a mark of appreciation of Mr. Grau’s services in elevating public taste, purifying public morals, and refining dramatic representations; also in spending a good deal of money for alterations in the building. At this interesting festival Offenbach’s ‘La Vie Parisienne’w ill be presented for the first time.”

“Mr. Grau’s benefit take places at the French Theatre on Monday, when ‘La Vie Parisienne’ will be produced for the first time in America. It is casté to the full strength of the company. We are glad to hear that Mr. Grau, who has been severely indisposed, is on the road to recovery.”

“‘La Vie Parisienne’ will be produced at the Theatre Francais to-night. It is an amusing work, and the music is as light and gay as any that Ofeenbach [sic] has written. The occasion has been selected by Mr. Grau—who has been very ill—for his benefit. The double attraction will, we hope, fill the house.”

“‘Life in Paris.’ What a theme for the poet, the painter, the historian, the philosopher, Italian, German, English or African opera, and the French opéra bouffe! ‘La vie Parisienne! All the world in a nutshell, and all Frenchy and in French! And this was the new sensation at the French theatre last night, the night set apart for the special testimonial to Manager Grau. It was the night of the vernal equinoctial, the night of the breaking up of the icy barriers of the Hudson, a stormy night, a bad night for the theatres, and yet there was a splendid house. There have been few better under Grau’s successful ‘administration of the bouffe.’ This piece, it appears, was ‘got up’ by Offenbach and Company for the great Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867, for the Théâtre du Palais Royal, where it had a run of 300 nights. The plot hinges upon the adventures of a Swedish baron and baroness, who, coming to Paris in search of adventures, are humbugged by a certain guide and his confederates, male and feminine, in a round of high life contrived for the special entertainment of the distinguished strangers, and which proves a great success. The cast embraced M. Carrier, as a Brazilian with more money than brains, as Frick, a funny fellow, and as Prospere, an alias for a special occasion; M. Beckers, as the Swedish Baron; M. Mussay (a new acquisition), as Robinet [sic] and the Swiss Admiral; M. Deligne (first appearance this season), as Raoul de Cardebon [sic] (the Parisian guide) and Urbain; Mme. Rose-Bell, as Gabrielle, Desclauzas, as the Baroness; Rizarelli as Pauline, &c.,. The piece opens with a chorus at the new railway station, and, after a variety of Parisian adventures, closes at Le Jardin Mabille with the pavilion de danse and a grand fête. There are some pleasing bits of Offenbachian music scattered through the play, and a number of lively choruses, nearly all of which were encored, and the Tyrolienne was three or four times repeated. In the course of the evening Mr. Grau was very emphatically called for by the house, but, as he was still confined to his room from sickness Mr. Juiguet (Régisseur) appeared in his behalf, and in a few very neat and appropriate remarks recognized the compliment and promised a continuance of Mr. Grau’s best efforts to please the public at any sacrifice. The testimonial was a substantial success, and with some pruning of the exuberant dialogues &c., this opera of ‘Life in Paris’ ought to have a prosperous life in New York in closing up, with other attractions, the present season of the French company at this house. See our amusement advertisements.”

“A happy, combination of attractive circumstances drew together last evening, as if by enchantment, a most brilliant and numerous audience at the French Theatre. It is seldom that Easter Monday bears to us upon its wings such a casket of musical sounds, and such a charming array of aristocratic-looking and gorgeously-dressed people. The whole house, indeed, looked almost like a June landscape, set with human figures.

What with the advent of a new opera by the popular Offenbach and the well-deserved benefit of Mr. Grau, the esteemed coryphees of the opera itself, it was natural to suppose that the lovers of music and gay life would crowd the theatre. Two such magnets were irresistible. Milliners, dressmakers, greenbacks, taste and, in fact, the whole machinery of aesthetics were put in motion to meet the requirements of this great musical and beneficiary occasion.

Never did a triad of words ‘Life in Paris’ produce a more stinging curiosity, a greater anxiety to see and to know. The imagination is generally too prone to create much out of nothing, but it is supposed, when it flaps down on Parisian life, it has more than a feast.

Need we wonder, then, if—after weeks of preparation, of repeated rehearsals, with new and rich costumes, and the most alluring scenery—the curtain rose last evening before a large and fashionable audience, feverish to see Parisian life dramatically and musically laid before them?

A perfect battalion of leading and subsidiary artists, numbering over one hundred and fifty persons, figured on the stage. The plot, though coupled with innumerable ludicrous, lascivious and scandalous entanglements, peculiar to misdirected passion, is purely domestic, and turns upon the time-worn fact of an old Baron marrying a pretty young girl. It is the old story of May and December. There is, however, a savory piquance about all the tangled incidents of the plot which electrifies the audience and intoxicates their senses.

The music—that real moonlight in every gloomy night of life—as Richter says, is light, graceful, sparkling and vivacious, typifying the dashing current of incident as it unfolds itself in the opera. With the exception of the beautiful duets—‘L’amour, c’est une echelle immense’—between Pauline (Rizarelli) and the Baron (Beckers), the whole of the music is rather in the playful and comic vein. As an instance of this, the Tyrolienne, ‘Auf der Berliner Brück,’ as sung by Gabrielle (Rose-Bell) excited unbounded applause and merriment, and is destined to become a great favorite. In the closing act the tableau of the Jardin Mabille gave the audience a memorable glimpse into French life and its doings. There was a rakish dash and abandonment about the whole thing that might well throw a Puritan into spasms. It was a perfect carnival of riotous blood, and provoked the risibility of the whole audience.

Just before the fourth act of the opera M. Juignet presented himself and said that Mr. Grau had been confined to his hose for two weeks by illness, and that he was requested to act as his interpreter, and to thank the public for their kindness to him and for their testimonial benefit on this occasion.”

“Offenbach’s opera of ‘La vie parisienne’ was produced here last evening, and with evident indications of complete success. The piece has not got the picturesque interest of ‘Genevieve.’ It deals with the present time, and has to contend modern costume, more or less tempered by extravagance. The dialogue and plot, however, are extremely funny, and there is ‘go’ in the music—the last two acts being by far the best. The performance last night displayed the full strength of Mr. Grau’s company, and was admirable in every respect. There were many encores; not only the finale to the second act, and the inevitable can-can of the third. The honors of the evening were borne off by M. Carrier, who sang and acted with rare spirit. Mlle. Rose-Bell and Mlle. Desclauzas were also very good. Of the performance we shall speak hereafter. It was nearly mid-night when it terminated. The house was entirely filled—the occasion being Mr. Grau’s benefit.”

“The pleasure of making acquaintance with another folly of Offenbach’s and at the same time of offering a compliment to the manager who has devoted himself, with the greatest singleness of heart and lavishness of hand, to the interpretation of that oracle of Parisian nonsense and naughtiness, drew of course a large audience last night to the French Theater; and we presume that Mr. Grau’s complimentary benefit resulted therefrom in the most satisfactory manner. Musically ‘La Vie Parisienne’ offers less opportunity for remark than any of the works of the same class that have preceded it in New-York. The music is very scant, an unusually large proportion of the play consisting of spoken dialogue. What little there is seems to have been constructed on the old familiar themes, and constructed more carelessly than is Offenbach’s wont. The ghosts of the ‘Grand Duchess,’ ‘La Belle Helene,’ and other loose dames, haunt the score, and remind us at almost every measure of the tunes we have heard day and night for the past two years. Nobody goes to the French Theater, however, for the sake of the music. So long as the dialogue is broad, the action suggestive, and the dancing free, most of the audiences ask no more; the gods of the gallery have peculiar notions of enjoyment, and the ladies in the boxes could blush just as well to the air of ‘Old Dan Tucker; as to the choicest melodies of Auber and Rossini. For those who want to blush we are bound to say ‘La Vie Parisienne’ affords sufficient opportunity. It is a picture of the adventures of a Swedish baron and baroness who visit Paris on a tour of pleasure, and live a few hours in an atmosphere of fashionable infamy. The scent of the bagnio infects every scene. Incipient Anonymas flaunt across the stage, and toss their feet skyward at restaurant revels. Husbands and wives run away from each other to the arms of strange lovers, and almost every woman in the play is at least one man’s mistress. It is not a wholesome entertainment, and we are utterly at a loss to understand how, to persons of average refinement, it can be, except in a few isolated scenes, even tolerably amusing. In several of these exceptional scenes it is certainly as funny as anything we have yet seen in the way of opera bouffe. Most of the laughter is provoked by M. Carrier. He assumes several disguises in the course of the evening, and is droll in all of them. He is a rich Brazilian, with the face of a baboon and the fiery manners of a gorilla. He is a German shoemaker. He is a knavish servant. He is a fat and whiskered major. He is a dilapidated diplomatist. His make-up in several of these characters is marvelous. M. Genot in a double part bears him good company. The principal female part is assigned to Madame Rose Bell. She acts with sufficient vivacity, looks pretty, and sings well; nearly all the little good music there is falls to her share. Mlle. Desclauzas has a part, but a small one, and she hardly does it justice. M. Beckers, as the Swedish baron, is a prominent character, and except for a tendency to exaggeration and a lack of spontaneity in his fun deserves commendation. The minor parts were filled by Mesdames Gueretti, Rizarelli, and Bageard, and M. M. Mussay and Deligne. The play affords no excuse for elaborate scenery or decorations, and does not require a large chorus. These departments, however, were satisfactory, as they always have been under Mr. Grau’s management.”

A bitter dispute between Gabel and Carrier makes the former leave the company and sail back to France.