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His new spectacle, A la Recherche de Joséphine,
is about Josephine Baker, the much-loved American singer-musical forms or genres." target=_blank>dancer of
mid-century Paris. It is great fun -- a blend of blues, jazz and musical forms or genres." target=_blank>dance
with history and politics thrown in. The show, which stars Nicolle
Rochelle, a New Yorker, is also Savary's swansong. (Rochelle's blog)
The director, a large-then-life fixture of Paris show-biz for
decades, is being forced into retirement since he is turning 65 and the
Opera is a state post. For a farewell, he has returned to his roots as
jazzman and founder of le Grand Magic Circus, a company which staged
anarchical musical happenings in the 1970s. I have to admit having been
a big fan of Circus, with its animals and acrobats. Savary's show is un hommage to Baker, who became a huge
star in France in the 1930s as well as muse to Picasso and the cubists
and a decorated resistance agent in world war two. She was the first
black woman entertainer to become an international celebrity although
she was never really embraced in her homeland. In his usual eccentric
way, Savary sets half his show in the devastation of New Orleans after
the 2005 hurricane. The story is as much about the US civil rights
movement and the history of jazz as about the woman who made her name
dancing in La Revue Nègre in Paris dressed only in a skirt of
bananas. But it works, thanks to the energy of Rochelle and a young
troupe of black singer-musical forms or genres." target=_blank>dancers whom Savary recruited in the USA. Savary
directs the bi-lingual show like a conductor, from the side of the
orchestra pit which is occupied by a band from New Orleans. 
We had a glass of champagne with Savary [below with his star] in his
office during the interval. The place, packed with books and clutter,
is full of history. Savary likes to remind visitors that the Opéra
Comique (Light Opera) was always meant to be provocative and not a
museum for old chestnuts. "This is where the director called in
Georges Bizet and ordered him to rewrite the final act of Carmen,"
Savary said of his office. Bizet refused to delete the death scene as
ordered and his opera caused a scandal on its disastrous opening night
in March 1875. No-one clapped and the authorities condemned Carmen it as debauched and superficial.
Savary was long ago admitted to the serious Paris artistic
establishment but a few purists still see him more as over-the-top
showman than opera direct.
 
He says that he returned to the spirit of his Magic Circus for his
final show, putting together a troupe with an average age of 20 and
casting Michel Dussarrat, his old ring-master, as MC of the Josephine
cabaret. "I had always wanted to do a show about Josephine Baker. I
put everything I love into it -- Jazz, a troupe like a family." Jazz
was one of the biggest revolutions of the 20th century, "like Picasso's
cubism, it was born of l'art nègre," he says.
Some critics have found the show a little lightweight. Perhaps I'm
too middle-aged and middle-brow, but I loved it. And it's great to see
jazz -- albeit in light form -- getting a showcase like the Opera
Comique at a time when the old jazz clubs of Paris are struggling to
survive.
Charles Bremner is Paris Correspondent for The Times and has previously reported from New York and Brussels
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