Madame Angot's Daughter

We're in the Directoire period, that brief political lull following the French Revolution and Robespierre's Terror. But one event could well make the inhabitants of Paris's Halles district regret the cannonades: Clairette, daughter of the redoubtable Madame Angot, is about to get married! Can we dare hope that the young lady will behave like a respectable fiancée?

Or are we more likely to fear that she has inherited her strong character from her mother - the famous fishwife who took the ideals of 1789 to the barricades?

Bubbling, irreverent, idealistic and determined, youth has always been a symbol of political and social regeneration. This brilliant portrait of a period marked by uncertainty, conceived at a time when another dark page in French history was being turned - that of the Second Empire and the Paris Commune - is no exception to the rule, and uncompromisingly magnifies their dreams of freedom and their rejection of convention. Is this why director Richard Brunel chose to continue his journey through the ages, adorning this clever production with the colors of spring 1968?

A worthy heir to Jacques Offenbach, composer Charles Lecocq's La Fille de Madame Angot is a virtuoso score of gaiety and mischief. Through a gallery of picturesque characters, he paints a vivid portrait of working-class Paris, providing a radiant backdrop for the adventures of his mischievous heroine. Much more than mere entertainment, it's an ode to hope and renewal.

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