Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its shorter length, the operetta is usually of a light and amusing character. It sometimes also includes satirical commentaries.
Les deux aveugles is an 1855 one-act French bouffonerie musicale (operetta) by Jacques Offenbach. The libretto was written by Jules Moinaux and was a condensation of his 3-act Les musiciens ambulants.
Alain Vanzo was a French opera singer and composer, one of few French tenors of international standing in the postwar era. He, along with such singers as Henri Legay and the Canadian Léopold Simoneau, represented a traditional French lyric style during a period when larger Italian and German vocal styles had become popular.
Chilpéric is an opéra bouffe with libretto and music by Hervé, first produced in Paris on 24 October 1868 at the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques. A burlesque of the medieval, Chilpéric starred Hervé in the title role.
Lucien Fugère was a French baritone, particularly associated with the French repertory and Mozart roles. He enjoyed an exceptionally long career, singing into his 80s.
Jean (Alexis) Périer was a French operatic baryton-martin and actor. Although he sang principally within the operetta repertoire, Périer did portray a number of opera roles; mostly within operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giacomo Puccini. His career was almost entirely centered in Paris and he had a long association with the Opéra-Comique. He sang in a large number of world premieres, most notably originating the role of Pelléas in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande in 1902. In addition to his opera career, Périer appeared in several films between 1900 and 1938.
Willy Clément was a French baritone who was noted in light baritone roles and operetta.
Achille-Félix Montaubry was a French musician and operatic tenor, active in Paris; later a theatre director. His brother was the conductor and composer Édouard Montaubry (1824–1883).
Fanély Revoil, born Marseille 25 September 1906, died Annonay 31 January 1999, was a French singer who had a major career in opera and operetta between the 1930s and 1989. She was married to theater director Robert Ancelin from 1937 to 1942.
Édouard-Théodore Nicole, known as Léonce, was a 19th-century French actor and singer.
André Gaston Baugé was a French baritone, active in opera and operetta, who also appeared in films in the 1930s.
Edmée Favart was a French soprano who had a varied and major career in opera and opéra comique and left many recordings of songs from roles she performed on stage.
Francis Chassaigne was a Belgian-born French composer of operettas, songs, and numerous pieces of dance music for piano. The English-language versions of his operettas, Le droit d'aînesse (1883) and Les noces improvisées (1886) became very popular in Britain and the United States. Chassaigne was married to the Swiss-born operetta singer Louise Roland.
In 1862 during Haussmann's modernization of Paris, the Théâtre de la Gaîté of the boulevard du Temple was relocated to the rue Papin across from the Square des Arts et Métiers. The new theatre, built in an Italian style to designs of the architects Jacques-Ignace Hittorff and Alphonse Cusin, opened on 3 September.
Jean-Vital Jammes was a French opera singer. During a stage career spanning 40 years, he created many leading baritone roles, including Zurga in Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles and Ourrias in Gounod's Mireille. Born in Le Passage d'Agen near the town of Agen, he was largely self-taught and made his stage debut in 1841 at the age of 16. After singing in several provincial theatres, he was engaged by the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris and later by the Opéra-Comique. Following his retirement from the stage, Ismaël lived in Marseille where he died at the age of 68.
David Serero is a Moroccan-French baritone opera singer. He has played more than 1,500 concerts worldwide, and lead roles in opera, theater and musicals such as Cyrano (Cyrano de Bergerac), Shylock, Othello (Othello), Nabucco (Nabucco), Don Quixote, Richard III, Napoleon Bonaparte, Escamillo (Carmen), Enrico, Amonasro (Aida), the title roles of Don Giovanni and Rigoletto and starred in more than 100 films and TV series. He has toured in America, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Russia. In 2017, David Serero was honored in Marquis Who's Who for outstanding achievement in the entertainment world and for his contribution for the betterment of contemporary society. He is a member of the Recording Academy (Grammys) and the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences (Emmys), for which he is both a voting member. In 2019, he is named one of the top most influential Moroccans by airline Royal Air Maroc, and received the 2019 Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, he receives the Award for Diversity by the Unesco. He wins the 2020 BroadwayWorld Awards for Best Performer of the decade, Best Producer of a Musical of the decade, Best Producer of a Play of the decade. The Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, awards him with the Certificate of Recognition for his contributions to the City of New York.
The Beauty of Cadiz is a 1953 French-Spanish musical comedy film directed by Raymond Bernard and Eusebio Fernández Ardavín and starring Luis Mariano, Carmen Sevilla and Jean Tissier. It is an operetta film, based on the 1945 operetta of the same title.
Sim Viva was a Belgian soprano singer and actress prominent in operetta and film in the 1920s and 1930s. She made several recordings on the Ultraphone, Pathé, and Odeon labels..
Lina Dachary was a French soprano born in 1922 and died in 1999. She was particularly noted for her prolific radio appearances in operetta.
Anna Tariol-Baugé was a French operetta singer and theatre actress. She is known for her performances in Offenbach's operettas.
