"Théâtre du Châtelet" Top 5 Page for this destination Châtelet - Les Halles Tip by Nemorino

The opera I saw at the Théâtre du Châtelet was a concert performance of Le Chateau de Barbe-Blue (Bluebeard's Castle) by Bela Bartok (1881-1945), which I remembered from a staged production in Frankfurt am Main in 1994 and 1997.

Since this is such a short opera (only one hour) they always try to find something to combine it with to make a full evening. The solution in Frankfurt was to sing the same opera twice but have the action run backwards, so to speak, on the second time through. The seven ominous doors in Bluebeard's Castle were all gradually sealed up with bricks during the first showing, and the bricks were gradually removed during the second, with the character of Judith reacting accordingly, getting helplessly trapped the first time and emancipating herself the second. At the time I liked this idea, and I went to several performances, but it didn't fill the house.

The solution in Paris was to precede Bluebeard with Daphnis et Chloe by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) for orchestra and chorus but without the dancers, the connection being that both works were composed at about the same time, around 1911.

The big attraction of this program, and the reason all three performances were sold out weeks in advance, was that the great Jessye Norman came out of retirement, so to speak, to sing the role of Judith in Bluebeard. Which she did exceedingly well. She is sixty years old, but still at the height of her powers.

Second photo: Entrance hall.

Third and fourth photos: Inside the Théâtre du Châtelet.

Fifth photo: Out in front of the theater after the performance.

Address: 2, rue Edouard Colonne 75001 Paris
Directions: Vélib' 1002
Métro: Châtelet, Les Halles
Website: http://www.chatelet-theatre.com/