Title   La Vie Parisienne Composer   Jacques Offenbach (1819 - 1880) Librettists   Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy Genre   Opéra-bouffe, comic opera (five acts). First performance   Théâtre du Palais Royal, Paris, 31 October, 1866. Time of action   Second half 19th century. Place of action   Entrance hall of railway station, Gare de l'Ouest, Paris At Raoul de Gardefeu's house At Mme de Folle-Verdure's home. As in II. The Café des Anglais. Main parts   Baron de Gondremarck baritone     A Brazilian millionaire tenor     Frick, a German bootmaker tenor     Prosper, servant tenor     Bobby de Bobinet tenor or baritone     Raoul de Gardefeu tenor     Urbain, servant bass     Baroness de Gondremarck soprano     Gabrielle, a German glovemaker soprano     Métella, a demi-mondaine mezzo-soprano     Pauline, servant (mezzo)soprano Prominence of chorus   Considerable.. Orchestra   2 flutes, 1 oboe, 2 clarinets, 1 bassoon, 2 French horns,                2 trumpets, 1 trombone, kettle-drums, percussion, strings. Special demands   Four sets of scenery - but nowadays moveable pieces plus lighting can do a lot. Full score and orchestral parts   Available. Level   Not at all difficult. If singers are also actors success ensured. Length   5 acts. About 2½ hours. Music   La Vie Parisienne is a real actors' piece: a play with (lots of) music. Of course the leading parts should be done by real singers, but quite a number of parts may be fulfilled by actors with acceptable singing voices. The work contains a good number of songs (Bobinet, Gabrielle, Baron, Urbain, Frick etc.), some spirited duets (Gabrielle and Frick), hilarious ensembles and glorious finales (I, "aussi vite que possible", i.e. as fast as possible; II with yodeling; III beginning quietly but getting faster and faster and ending in a rowdy cancan, and in V champagne-corks popping). Further remarkable numbers: Métella's wistful letter-aria and the Swedish baroness's air after she has been to the Italian opera. Story   A Swedish baron and his young wife have come to see Paris. They are taken up by Raoul de Gardefeu, a young man-about-town, who pretends to be a guide; because his mistress, Métella, has been unfaithful, he now wants to try his luck among ladies of rank and he is very much attracted by the young baroness. He takes the couple to his home, making them believe it is a hotel. In the acts that follow he organizes all sorts of outings, dinners and parties for the baron, meanwhile trying to get his way with the Swedish beauty. In this, however, he fails disastrously. After a great many complications the story ends in a boisterous party at a restaurant-a-la-mode, where at a certain moment things threaten to get out of hand, when knives are drawn. However, no blood flows; the only thing that flows profusely is champagne. Costumes   As to costumes, La Vie Parisienne tends to be rather costly, as the work is, in a way, a continuous dressing-up party. A cobbler dresses up as a major, a seamstress pretends to be a colonel's widow, servants disguise themselves as lords and ladies. The chorus also needs many costumes, as travellers, German hotel-guests, waiters, party-goers etc. But the play deserves some extra spending; it is one of the funniest works in the French repertoire. Note   If desired, we can furnish choral parts for the third act, which is really for soloists only. The rest of the company may, however, join in, maybe from the orchestra-pit or behind the scenes; this is musically very effective.