Telling the small and big history of Chartres (Eure-et-Loir) in music, we had to think about it. Patrick-Gabriel Doussot, one of the designers of the musical “C’est Chartres dit-elles”, had good dispositions. At 74, this music fanatic, who has lived in the prefectural town of Eure-et-Loir for ten years, now dreams of creating the first musical comedy on the history of a town.
“One evening,” the retiree recalls, “while watching the scenographies of Chartres en Lumières, I wanted to put into music and song what I saw before my eyes. » For the past year, the project’s conductor has surrounded himself with great local talents, such as Philippe D’Aram, film music composer, to whom we notably owe the anthem for the Albertville Winter Olympic Games. (Savoy).
His team also includes Nicolas Lhoste, cantor of Notre-Dame de Chartres cathedral, Marie-Hélène Brisson, actress and amateur director, Philippe Debaud, art restorer, archaeologist and writer, and Antoine Delaunay, composer, arranger and jazzman. Recently, Virginie Lange, author, composer, performer and vocal coach, joined the adventure.
“Never have two thousand years of history been put into song. It’s an ambitious madness, but they were all excited by the project,” says the man who sets the music for this little troupe. Humor, stories, the show, “which will not be boring like a history lesson”, will go from Antiquity to the 21st century, including the Vikings, the Hundred Years’ War, the Liberation of Chartres or even the arrival of the railway.
In the twenty paintings, the public will meet great figures of the city such as Jean-Moulin, Soutine or Hélène-Boucher, Henri IV or Gabrielle d’Estrée. Several musical styles will carry the different scenes, from lyrical to folkloric through pop, rock and electro “to allow all audiences to find what they are looking for”, hopes Patrick-Gabriel Doussot. Digital images projected onto the stage will serve as decorations. “It would have been too complicated to create around twenty large sets. There will be no live musicians either,” specifies the producer.
In one year, the small team created the storyboard for the show. “It’s Chartres, they say” will have as its common thread, a love story, that of the hero, the little soldier Perticus, who crosses the centuries wanting to prove his bravery to Audura and finds himself an actor in major episodes of the life of the city through the centuries.
“The script is already written,” announces Patrick-Gabriel Doussot. Some songs too, fifteen in total. There will be no cover, I took out of my drawers certain melodies which were gathering dust. » Initially planned for the end of 2023, the show is now hoped for at the end of 2024, beginning of 2025. For volunteers, the first workshops will start at the end of September. Around thirty singers, choristers, dancers, but also little hands will be essential to the interpretation of the twenty paintings.
ociation Doux Saut De L’Ange Productions: [email protected] or tel. 07.88.88.76.90.