La Vie parisienne (operetta)
La vie parisienne (French pronunciation: [la vi paʁizjɛn], Parisian life) is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, composed by Jacques Offenbach, with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.
This work was Offenbach's first full-length piece to portray contemporary Parisian life, unlike his earlier period pieces and mythological subjects. It became one of Offenbach's most popular operettas.
In 1864 the Théâtre du Palais-Royal presented a comedy by Meilhac and Halévy entitled Le Photographe (The Photographer), which featured a character called Raoul Gardefeu, the lover of Métella, trying to seduce a baroness. Two years earlier, a comedy by the same authors La Clé de Métella (The Key of Métella) was played at the Théâtre du Vaudeville. These two pieces presage the libretto of La vie parisienne which can be dated from late 1865.
It was first produced in a five-act version at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris, on 31 October 1866. The work was revived in four acts (without the original fourth act) on 25 September 1873, at the Théâtre des Variétés, Paris.
The Théâtre des Variétés revived it in 1875 with Dupuis, Grenier, Cooper, Berthelier and Bouffar, Berthal and Devéria; it was rarely absent from the Parisian stage for many years with Dupuis returning repeatedly to his role and singers such as Jeanne Granier, Baron, Albert Brasseur, Germaine Gallois, Anna Tariol-Baugé, Max Dearly and Mistinguett taking part in the revivals.
In 1958 a notable production was mounted at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, with Jean-Pierre Granval, Jean Desailly, Pierre Bertin, Jean-Louis Barrault, Jean Parédès, Suzy Delair, Madeleine Renaud, Simone Valère, and Denise Benoît. The Théâtre national de l'Opéra-Comique mounted the work in 1931 and then in 1974. Later Paris productions included the Théâtre du Châtelet in 1980 with Michel Roux, Daniele Chlostawa and Patrick Minard, and the Théâtre de Paris in 1985 with Gabriel Bacquier, Jane Rhodes and Martine Masquelin.
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