Aladdin and the Awakened Beauty

Jane Vieu, a pupil of Massenet, achieved great success on the Parisian stages of the Belle Époque. Also a soprano, she performed La Belle au bois dormant (1902) and Aladin (1904), in which singing alternates with spoken passages. The result of her collaboration with writer and painter Lucien Métivet, these tales were highly acclaimed at their premiere at the Théâtre des Mathurins. The action of Sleeping Beauty, accompanied by "nineteen luminous tableaux", is transposed to the contemporary world: the prince arrives by bicycle! With humor and fantasy, it offers a reflection - more topical than ever - on the consequences of modernization. Originally conceived as a shadow puppet show, Aladdin takes place in China (not in the Persia of its origins) and teaches us that the marvellous lamp may not have disappeared...