Ignace
Operetta in 3 acts. Book and Lyrics by Jean Manse. Music by Roger Dumas.
First produced Théâtre de Variéties, Marseilles (1935). Transferred to Théâtre Lyrique National, Paris.
(orginally 2 Acts but reworked for 3 acts for a revival presentation)
Synopsis
In a garrison town of the 1930s, Colonel Romuald Durozier, a man of dignity, loses his when he sees Loulette, a ravishingly beautiful actress and cast-off of Baron Gidéon des Orfraies, or Chouchouille, as she has nicknamed him.
The Colonel's wife has the character of a shopgirl. The Baron, a hypocrite and scoundrel of a man, pays her court in private. Monique, an 18 year old beauty and the daughter of the "father of the Regiment", is in love with a dashing young lawyer named Serge de Montroc. There is also the maid, Annette, who enjoys looking after the colonel's young officers, amongst whom we find Ignace Boitaclou, a recent recruit, who witnesses the plots, muddles and intrigues whilst behaving as everyone's confidant.
Comic and sentimental songs, duets and choruses punctuate the goings-on. In short, it is a military musical with little subtlety but much good fun: it is entertaining and ends happily.
Musical Numbers
- Ouverture
- Couplets de Monique "Un mari"
- "Pour faire un bon avocat" (Serge)
- Duet: "Je n'aime que vous" (Serge-Monique)
- Chanson d'Ignace
- Duet: Ignace-Annette "Pour être ordonnance"
- Finale Acte I
- Reprise - des danseuses (Orchestre)
- Duet "Redis-le me" (Ignace-Annette)
- Chanson de Loulette
- La Mexicana (Serge)
- Romance de Monique "Lequel des deux"
- "Quelle famille" (Ignace)
- La lettre de Monique
- Final Acte II
- Orchestre
- "Java des petits galons" (Ignace)
- "Lequel des deux" (Ignace)
- Finale
Cast
- Ignace Boitaclou
- Serge de Montroc
- Baron des Orfraies
- Colonel Durozier
- Capitaine Boisdelisle
- Philibert Le Gérant
- Colonelle Durozier
- Annette
- Monique
- Loulette