Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology of Plays Discussed
- List of Illustrations
- Act One The Back Story
- Act Two The Agon
- Act Three The Comic Relief
- XI Blessèd Laughter
- XII Classic Routines
- XIII Musical Comedy
- XIV The Bones of Farce
- Act Four And Leave 'em Laughin'
- Notes
- Works Cited and Consulted
- Index
XIV - The Bones of Farce
from Act Three - The Comic Relief
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology of Plays Discussed
- List of Illustrations
- Act One The Back Story
- Act Two The Agon
- Act Three The Comic Relief
- XI Blessèd Laughter
- XII Classic Routines
- XIII Musical Comedy
- XIV The Bones of Farce
- Act Four And Leave 'em Laughin'
- Notes
- Works Cited and Consulted
- Index
Summary
Les Fourberies de Scapin
as directed by Jacques Copeau
as acted by Louis Jouvet
as directed by Louis Jouvet
as acted by Jean-Louis Barrault
as translated by Lady Gregory
In 1671, Molière and Armande, although again living together as man and wife, went their separate ways on stage. The last play in the cycle of musical collaborations was Psyché, an ambitious and expensive baroque court spectacle written by Molière in collaboration with Pierre Corneille and Quinault and for the last time working with Lully as the composer. It opened for the king's pleasure in Paris at the Salles des Machines at the Tuileries in January. The vast production cost Louis hundreds of thousands of francs. It was a mind-boggling extravaganza that lasted five hours and gave Armande the opportunity to do the thing she loved to do: wear many sumptuous costumes and be admired for her comedic talents. Virginia Scott quotes the ambassador from the Court of Savoy, who reports on the last scene:
It is the most astonishing thing, for, in an instant, more than 300 persons appear suspended in the clouds and making the most beautiful music in the world with violins, theorbos, lutes, harpsichords, oboes, flutes, trumpets, and cymbals.
Armande was the star, reigning above it all, almost as radiant as the Sun King himself.
A few months after Psyché opened, Molière chose to come down to earth and tread the boards of his newly remodeled Palais-Royal in a three-act, prose, bare-boned farce, letting Armande stay on dancing through the heavens in her very own hit as the appealingly lovelorn Psyché.
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- Molière on StageWhat's So Funny?, pp. 137 - 154Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2012