© David Raynal

Imagine a world without Sun… Where tired, he would have stayed in bed. Plunging, forever, the light into an eternal slumber. What would happen? Under the dreadful yoke of “La Grande Nuit”, the animals remember that in the world before, only a rooster with a clear and powerful crowing animated the Sun. The legend names him Chantecler. Yes, but now, Chantecler has a broken heart and a broken voice. All this because of Aztuc the Grand-Duke and the worshipers of the great night who fomented a plot to dethrone the celestial-voiced rooster. Since then, Chantecler has disappeared and the Sun no longer rises. Nelly, the mouse who has never known the light, decides to go looking for him. Will she be able to find him? Will Chantecler make the Sun rise? » Freely inspired by the work of Edmond Rostand, Cocorico get up Chantecler is a musical, intelligent, refreshing and humorous show, which is aimed at all audiences from 5 to 105 years old, as its magnificent poster with shimmering colors says, produced and illustrated by the brilliant @pierredraws. Originally, the epic and grandiose Chantecler of Rostand had a considerable number of actors, more than 70 characters, 195 costumes which had required the author of Cyrano de Bergerac, more than 35 hours of work...

Passion of a rooster

From the outset, Pandora's Web bet was not to make a strict adaptation of the play, but rather an original writing based on the legend of Chantecler. A modern allegory that takes up the idea that thanks to the love and passion of a rooster for his profession, the sun, an indomitable star, agrees to rise every day. "Rostand's Chantecler, conceived as a "dialogue poem" is very little played because of its many characters, its length and its colorful alexandrines. The transition to rewriting allowed us to preserve the poetic and virtuoso spirit that Edmond Rostand's Chantecler offers us, while updating it through modern language, an unpublished story and endearing characters. Beyond the simple tale that appeals to the imagination of childhood and the marvelous, we wanted this piece to question as much as it entertains. Even if the characters present themselves to the spectators in the guise of animals, the challenge was to offer an accessible piece, which appeals to both children and adults alike” emphasizes Juliette Raynal who notably interprets a masterful Jeanne the pheasant and who wrote the adaptation and directed the show with the talented and spirited Rémi Custey.

© David Raynal

Original music and songs

The young troupe therefore chose a score with three actors who alternately play several characters and bring more than ten to life, thanks to the use of masks and shadow puppets. The video projection and the voiceover, allow the immediate adherence to the story, install the characters and the situations. The plot is thus never "capped". It is intended to be light and playful, but the specter of oppression, rampant totalitarianism, violence against women and the climate emergency with the disappearance of the sun and the arrival of darkness, are all themes addressed in this tale. who nevertheless wants to be a good child. The other challenge, musical this one, was to compose original music and songs, catchy and collective, which can appeal to both adults and children, while advancing the story. "We have chosen a musical and participatory theater where each character sings and does the chorus, a nod to the original and versified text of Edmond Rostand's Chantecler" explains Rémi Custey, director and composer of all the songs and music for the show. The action taking place on a farm, there are borrowings from country music, but also flights in the form of a nod to gospel and American blues. For the accompaniment music, which is not sung, the composer composed themes inspired by the world of old Disney films to which the poster also refers, Sleeping Beauty, but also the great classical composers, in particular Stravinsky. with his Firebird. And what about this charming and incongruous little reference to Welsh rock star Bonnie Tyler on the melody, made soft, of Holding Out for a Hero, when the fallen rooster, tickled by the little mouse Miss Nelly, hones his resentment and his pain.

Variable valve timing

In this 70-minute piece, the cast is as twirling as it is variable geometry. Juliette Raynal, whom we had already noticed in the previous piece offered by the Toile de Pandore, The Last Night of Don Juan, again by a certain Edmond Rostand, is as perfect and distinguished in Jeanne the pheasant, as she is judgmental and prophetic. in Aristotle the blackbird. Thomas Bousquet makes the sinister drawings of Aztuc the Grand Duke fly high in the sky, but he also knows how to be hilarious when he plays Gigi, the oldest hen in the henhouse who keeps her coquette gazette. And then there is of course his ladies' rooster, masterfully interpreted by Baudoin Sama, singing and cocky, by turns sure of himself, well at ease on his spurs, then deeply endearing and moving as a rooster lost and reclusive in his cave. The three actors embellish us with a wonderful number of actors, when they perfectly endorse the mimicry of this magnificent bestiary. The cockerel with outstretched beak, the pheasant snort with consummate elegance in a parade of high culture, the hen quacks and chatters like the blackbird, before cackling in rhythm with the rump.

© David Raynal

animals of creation

In terms of costumes, Claire Malbos offers the whole colorful palette of creative animals: a flamboyant rooster, then plucked with a hanging crest, an Aztuc in all its Grand-Duke blackness, a Patou as a British dog with a thick, damp coat, faithful subject of her majesty of the henhouse, a Jeanne as a beautiful golden pheasant, helmeted, with a tapered silhouette, or even a Nelly the mouse, as a small, narrow-minded and determined rodent. The decors imagined and created by Pierre Custey are still full of discoveries and stick perfectly to the dreamlike atmosphere of the room. Will Chantecler save Jeanne the pheasant from Aztuc's evil claws? Will he find his place as king of gallinaceans in his beloved barnyard? In the end, all's well that ends well and in song in the kingdom of farm animals, since love finally triumphs over tyranny. Cocorico get up Chantecler, a show as funny as it is moving, led by an enthusiastic and friendly troupe, which will know how to soften your child's heart, but also that of parents or grandparents...

Morvan Yann

Pratical information

Every Saturday, September 24, 2022 to October 29, 17:00 p.m.

Sundays October 23 and 30, 2022 14 p.m.

Wednesday, October 26 at 14:00 p.m.

Montmartre-Galabru Theatre: https://theatregalabru.com/cocorico-leve-toi-chantecler

Ticket reduction: https://www.billetreduc.com/300795/evt.htm

Montmartre Galabru Theater

• 4 rue de l'Armee d'Orient - 75018 Paris
• Opposite 53 rue Lepic

Metro

• M° Blanche (line 2) or Abbesses (line 12)
• On foot 8 min (600 m)

Bus stop

Tourlaque (line 40) or Damrémont – Caulaincourt (line 80)

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