Lesson plan
Phi-Phi
Phi-Phi is an opérette légère in three acts with music by Henri Christiné and a French libretto by Albert Willemetz and Fabien Solar. The piece was one which founded the new style of French comédie musicale, the first to really use the latest rhythms of jazz (one-step, fox trot) along with a plot which emphasised comedy – with risqué dialogue of puns and anachronisms – more than the romantic style, which had predominated before. The story concerns a sculptor, his wife, and their attractions to, respectively, a model and a prince, as well as a disastrous gambling loss by the sculptor's secretary. The piece opened in 1918, running for three years. Its success of the piece prompted imitators in Paris such as Le petit Phi-Phi (3 March 1922) and Les amants de Phi-Phi (13 March 1923). It also led to a spate of similarly titled stage works: Clo-Clo, Dédé, You-You and Pan Pan. A 1922 London production, in English, was also successful.
Article summary
Phi-Phi is an opérette légère in three acts with music by Henri Christiné and a French libretto by Albert Willemetz and Fabien Solar. The piece was one which founded the new style of French comédie musicale, the first to really use the latest rhythms of jazz (one-step, fox trot) along with a plot which emphasised comedy – with risqué dialogue of puns and anachronisms – more than the romantic style, which had predominated before. The story concerns a sculptor, his wife, and their attractions to, respectively, a model and a prince, as well as a disastrous gambling loss by the sculptor's secretary. The piece opened in 1918, running for three years. Its success of the piece prompted imitators in Paris such as Le petit Phi-Phi (3 March 1922) and Les amants de Phi-Phi (13 March 1923). It also led to a spate of similarly titled stage works: Clo-Clo, Dédé, You-You and Pan Pan. A 1922 London production, in English, was also successful.
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Discussion questions
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