Offenbach : The Cat that became a Woman

Since Hoffmann and his Tomcat Murr, the operatic qualities of feline love affairs no longer hold any secrets for painters and musicians. As for the cats, their interest in the music of men reflects our own for feline music!

Offenbach and his friend Doré, each in their own way, presented a whole bestiary of which the comic opera La Chatte métamorphosée en femme, somewhere between La Fontaine’s fable and fantasy tales for young and old, is an example of uninhibited joyfulness and subtle musicality.

Four singers, including the feline Magali Léger, and sixteen musicians from the Pelléas Ensemble conducted by Benjamin Lévy come together for a gentle fantasy in the great tradition of humanised animals, a tradition in which Gustave Doré’s images herald Walt Disney’s animal characters.

 

Magali Léger, Minette
Pauline Sabatier, Marianne
François Rougier, Guido
Guillaume Andrieux, Dig Dig
Orchestre de chambre Pelléas
Benjamin Lévy, direction
Alexandra Lacroix, mise en scène
Jacques Offenbach
La Chatte métamorphosée en femme
sur un livret de Scribe et Mélesville d'après la fable de Jean de La Fontaine, opérette en un acte, 1858