#starmania meta

[melancholic-cinnamon-roll]

"Sadia et Cristal, au premier regard, c'était comme le feu et l'eau"

Qui est le feu, et qui est l'eau ? Même si l'ordre dans la chanson laisse penser que sadia = feu et cristal = eau, pour moi, c'est plutôt l'inverse (et mis dans cet ordre là uniquement pour la rime)

Sadia, c'est plutôt l'eau, déjà de part son code couleur (elle est associée au bleu de par ses cheveux, et dans le spectacle actuel, beaucoup de lumières bleues sont utilisées pendant travesti), mais aussi, de par son comportement. Si on découvre l'histoire, on pense que Sadia, même si très imprévisible, est du côté des Étoiles Noires : elle est à leur tête, et semble s'entendre avec Johnny. Mais au dernier moment, on découvre qu'elle travaille pour Zéro Janvier. Comme l'eau qui monte doucement, au point où on ne se rend pas compte de sa dangerosité, jusqu'au moment fatidique, où elle détruit tout sur son passage. Si on ne se méfie pas assez d'elle, on en subit les conséquences.

Cristal, de son côté, est associée au feu, avec ses tenues dorées et ses cheveux blonds (sa tenue bleue est beaucoup moins iconique que la dorée, je pense, donc je ne pensais pas l'évoquer, mais elle rentre techniquement dans le code couleur des flammes, donc pour moi ça passe). Elle est chaleureuse, pleine d'entrain, réconfortante, comme un bon feu de cheminée en plein hiver. Mais dès le moment où elle est libre, elle s'embrase, détruisant elle aussi tout sur son passage, jusqu'à se consumer complètement. Quand Sadia dit à Johnny "tu joues avec le feu", c'est pour la prévenir du caractère de Cristal, qui semble au premier abord belle, calme impossible à toucher et pourtant si attirante, mais qui, une fois lâchée de toute emprise, va se déchaîner, et ne plus obéir à aucune personne.

#j'y ai beaucoup trop réfléchi en étant bloqué sous la tempête #j'y pensais vite fait avant mais là j'ai vraiment analysé les éléments et les métaphores #c'est sûrement complètement claqué mais intéressant à réfléchir #my post #starmania #starmania 2022 #sadia #cristal #starmania meta

[starmaniamania]

hellooo je suis arrivée sur ton blog après avoir vu le show à la Seine Musicale il n'y a pas longtemps, et être tombée dans un rabbithole Starmania lmao merci de nourrir la fandom niche sur tumblr! J'ai lu ton post sur le fait que tu trouvais la version de 2022 la plus optimiste et je suis d'accord sur ce qui est de faire exploser Zero Janvier, mais je suis pas sûre d'avoir vu la même chose pour ce qui est de la relation Johnny/Cristal! (1)

Justement j'ai été hyper choquée de la scène après l'interview, j'ai vraiment eu l'impression de voir Cristal se faire agresser sexuellement par l'ensemble du gang qui se jette sur elle, puis se faire traîner par Johnny contre son gré, pour ensuite lui prendre la main et tomber amoureuse de lui?? J'avais pas du tout l'impression que c'était consensuel & cette séquence m'a mise super mal à l'aise et m'a un peu gâché tous les autres numéros avec eux après (2) Mais après en écoutant/regardant la version 1979/1988, j'ai beaucoup plus été touchée par leur rencontre/coup de foudre, surtout avec Un enfant de la pollution originellement chantée par Johnny & le passage à la fin où Cristal dit qu'elle le comprend et qu'ils sont pas si différents finalement, et je comprends bcp plus leur connexion! (et puis ils se tournent autour, y a de la tendresse c'est un peu mims koi) Je ne sais pas ce que tu en penses?? Mercii (3)

Hello hello, merci ! :D Bienvenue !

Alors, c'est une grosse question comme souvent avec Starmania et qui n'a pas de réponse simple :p

Pour moi, dans Starmania, personnage n'est censé être tout bon ou tout méchant. Tous les persos ont leur part d'ombre plus ou moins prononcée. A la base, le personnage de Cristal est basé sur l'enlèvement de Patricia Hearst, le fait divers des 70s qui a popularisé l'idée (maintenant debunked, mais bon) du Syndrome de Stockholm. Patty Hearst a vécu des trucs horribles aux mains de ses kidnappeurs avant de se "ranger de leur côté." Evidemment c'est une idée hyper problématique, mais très courante dans la fiction : la femme qui tombe amoureuse du méchant qui l'a violentée parce qu'en vrai elle était pas vraiment contre. (Après de manière générale l'oeuvre est traversée de trucs limites sur le thème du fantasme de viol en particulier, cf Stella. Venant de 2 créateurs homme ça me fait toujours un peu tiquer, c'est pour ça que je suis pas du tout mécontente qu'on ait évacué "Sex Shops," mais c'est une autre histoire.)

Donc l'origine de l'histoire de Cristal et Johnny, c'est ça - c'est pas censé être consensuel au début, et je comprends que ça puisse refroidir parce que de nos jours ça détonne vraiment.

(Ca va être long donc je coupe :p)

Après, les différentes versions de Starmania ont toutes interprété l'histoire un peu comme elles voulaient/pouvaient en accentuant certains aspects par rapport à d'autres.

En 79, Michel Berger était assez réticent aux idées les plus cash de Plamondon (comme le fait que Sadia puisse vraiment être un homme travesti), et France Gall refusait de "salir" son image familiale pour ne pas choquer son public (par exemple elle refusait de brandir une arme sur scène.) Du coup, est-ce que ce qu'ils ont fait en 79 est vraiment ce qu'ils voulaient, ou juste ce qui a été faisable vu les circonstances ? Comme on a pas la trace complète du spectacle, on ne sait pas vraiment comment ces séquences étaient mises en scène. En plus, j'ai l'impression que l'image positive et "good guys" de France Gall et Balavoine a un peu effacé les aspects les plus edgy du show (on voit bcp de gens qui disent qu'ils sont fans de Starmania depuis les 70s qui ont l'impression de découvrir le message politique ou la violence des actions des Etoiles Noires en 2022 et se demandent même si ça a été rajouté pour moderniser l'oeuvre - version positive - ou par "wokisme" - version débile.)

[AH OUI et j'ai oublié un truc: "Enfant de la pollution" chanté par Johnny, c'était censé être une réponse ironique à ses questions ! Faut le comprendre, hein... lol]

En 88, le but de Plamondon et Berger était de rendre l'histoire claire et simple à comprendre en 1h30, de faire quelque chose "qui se regarde comme un film" (citation directe de Plamondon). Et du coup, pour moi, ça se traduit par une (sur)simplification de l'intrigue, une (sur)explicitation des motivations des personnages, et le fait d'avoir mis "l'histoire d'amour" de Johnny et Cristal, un peu aseptisée, au centre de l'intrigue, comme dans un film hollywoodien. Par exemple, l'apparition (en tous cas en France, je sais pas si elle était dans les versions québecoises intermédiaires) de la reprise de "Monopolis" en duo. Confession : j'aime pas du tout ce moment 😅 Justement je trouve que ça donne un côté eau de rose qui ne va pas avec le contexte général de l'oeuvre, ça m'ennuie, enfin y'a rien qui va pour moi.

Dans les années 90/2000, ils sont partis dans l'autre sens. Lewis Furey a accentué l'aspect sexuel des relations entre les persos (dès la rencontre de Sadia et Johnny ils se foutent littéralement la main au paquet) et le côté hyper glauque de l'enlèvement. Cristal est littéralement attachée les jambes écartées pendant que Johnny la caresse en chantant "j'ai toujours rêvé de rencontrer un ange" et elle répond "on se ressemble bien plus..." à moitié en pleurant, genre elle lui dit ce qu'il veut entendre pour qu'il lui fasse pas + de mal... BEURK.

Du coup, pour moi, 2022 c'est un peu la synthèse de tout ce passif. Ils ont fait le choix de rendre les Etoiles Noires menaçantes pour de vrai (et pas juste de laisser la possibilité au public de penser que toutes leurs exactions sont de la propagande des médias, bien que évidemment cet aspect là est présent aussi dans un show qui parle autant de manipulation médiatique.) Pour moi, "Quand on arrive en ville" avec Johnny qui bute des gens de manière aussi théâtrale, c'est le raccourci narratif qui évite d'avoir 15 JT qui énumèrent leurs actions comme en 79 (ils ont attaqué un péage, ils ont fait sauter une banque, ils ont fait ci et ça etc etc.) Ca nous rappelle bien, au cas où on avait gardé l'idée de Balavoine un peu nounours en tête, que Johnny c'est pas juste un gentil mec de gauche mais qui est rejeté par la méchante société sans aucune raison. Personne n'est gentil dans Starmania. C'est nécessaire d'appuyer cet aspect violent, parce que ça rend son évolution d'autant plus marquante.

Par contre, effectivement pour la rencontre, Cristal se fait bousculer en arrivant, et ça a parfois un aspect sexuel (une main glissée sous la jupe, en général, mais sinon ça reste + soft je crois, genre ils lui touchent les cheveux ou la reniflent.) Par contre le coup de foudre me semble réel. Au départ, le Johnny désabusé et nihiliste de "Quand on arrive" s'amuse clairement avec Cristal et laisse les Etoiles Noires la chahuter, mais rapidement il commence à vasciller entre jouer au dur avec elle et la protéger des Etoiles Noires. Pour moi, à partir du moment où ils quittent la scène, ils sont en fuite ensemble. Elle trébuche, il revient en arrière pour la relever, il lui ouvre la porte... Tous ces petits gestes d'attention me font penser qu'il a vraiment changé d'attitude.

Et toute la partie de la fuite qui est super stylisée (genre au début ils sont clairement dans les coulisses d'une salle de spectacle, ils utilisent les fly cases, ensuite la voiture part vers le ciel, à la fin ils sont "dans les étoiles" pendant la partie "Coup de foudre" etc.) pour moi c'est une ellipse narrative. La convention théâtrale nous fait avaler que 2 persos qui viennent de croiser le regard l'un de l'autre peuvent tomber fous amoureux en 2 secondes, mais ce passage là pour moi, il se déroule sur un temps plus long. C'est Johnny et Cristal qui s'enfuient ensemble et qui apprennent à se connaître, pas juste sur les 4 min de Banlieue Nord mais sur la période dont parle Marie-Jeanne dans son interlude suivant, quand elle dit que ça fait 1 mois qu'on a pas de nouvelles de Johnny et Cristal. A ce stade, je peux totalement croire que leur amour est sincère même si les débuts ont été chaotiques et pas toujours 100% réglo du point de vue du consentement.

BREF, tout ça pour dire que je comprends bien que ça puisse être gênant car c'est une intrigue qui cherche à nous faire nous poser des questions sur nos propres limites. Qui est-ce qu'on veut ou peut aimer dans cette histoire ? Pourquoi ? Qu'est ce qu'on est prêts à excuser ? Par exemple moi je suis 100% ok avec les meurtres au parpaing mais je suis intimement convaincue que Johnny n'est pas vraiment un violeur et que cette réplique LA en particulier est donc une exagération des médias 💁‍♀️ Mais c'est un arrangement que je fais avec l'histoire, ses origines douteuses, son arc narratif bizarre, incomplet et désorganisé, et ma propre conscience :p

Voilà, bon je sais pas si j'ai répondu à ta question au final 😅 mais n'hésite pas si tu as une vision différente des choses !

#answering things #starmania canon #meta #cristal #johnny rockfort #starmania 1979 #starmania 1988 #starmania 1993 #starmania 2022

[extremelynormalblog]

Random queer Starmania thoughts

1. Bon, of course, Ziggy and Sadia, but that's canon.

2. The Underground Café as a queer space, especially now that a non-binary singer is Marie-Jeanne. Like, Ziggy hangs out there, Sadia hangs out there, and the gang of made-up, “not manly” dudes hangs out there? Also does anything scream “queer bar” more than Johnny’s “Got on the first metro to the city at 15 to flee my bad family, found this place where I sometimes sleep at night and that’s where I acquired my found family?” Come on.

3. I mean the Etoiles Noires are Queer Rage that’s not up for discussion.

4. Sadia/Johnny/Cristal: in “Communiqué de l’évangéliste et Marie-Jeanne” MJ says:

Je n'ai pas revu Johnny ni Sadia / Depuis ce fameux jour-là / Il paraît qu'ils s'cachent quelque part / Dans un vieux hangar / Ils peuvent difficilement s'montrer / Avec leur petite amie Cristal / Qui doit pourtant nous préparer / Un joli scandale

And like sure, ‘petite amie’ is a Quebecism BUT that won’t stop me from wanting to read 100K about their unhealthy obsessive jealous relationship and how it, how you say... blows up.

6. Ziggy // Johnny, non? Like, I’m obsessed with the fact that “Un enfant de la pollution” was originally Johnny’s song and then they gave it to Ziggy?

7. I hate to say it but even Zéro fucking Janvier, like. Confirmed bachelor suddenly needs a beard wife so he can make it in politics, but secretely he always yearned to reject the trappings of traditional masculinity (success, money, power) and be an artist so he could “reinvent his own life” and shit? And then he picks like, the Gay Icon-est of them all? Cough.

#starmania #meta #queerness #in french please #i made this

[cto10121]

Wilkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome: Tag Masterpost

Cto10121 is finally doing a personalized tag masterpost!!! It’s about damn time. Anyhoo, hopefully this will make it easier to find most everything of interest in my blog.

Me, Myself, and I

Cristina Reviews: General tag for my reviews of books, movies, musicals, and TV shows.

Cristina Reads: General tag for books with text, quotes, and screenshots.

Cristina Opines: My cold takes.

Cristina Has An Unpopular Opinion: My hot takes.

Cristina Is Silly: Technically I have a sense of humor.

Cristina Memes: Badly, but she does.

Cristina Metas: General tag for my nerdy griping.

Icon Fun: I had tons with those icon memes of yore.

Ask/Reply

I Come Anon: For anonymous asks.

Books & Literature

Cristina Is An English Major: Main tag.

Popular Fandoms

Twilight Meta: Meta on Twilight.

Anti Anti Twilight: This is a pro-romance blog above all, but honestly it doesn’t deserve it.

Twilight Clownery: Tumblr’s hatred of Twilight has much to do with hate, but more with love clownery.

SAB Meta: Very critical meta on Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone. See also: Anti Malina, Mal Me Cae Muy Mal

Darling Dorkling Darkling Done Dirty: I originated this tag and don’t you lot forget it! Defense of The Darkling from Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone.

HP Clown Takes: Harry Potter clownery is real and so I eat it.

Shakespeare

R&J Meta/RJ Meta: Meta on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The Struggle Is Real for both Shakespeare and Presgurvic meta. I also did a read-through on Arthur Brooke’s version.

R&J Clown Takes: It’s a whole series by this point. See also: RJ Clown Takes, RJ Clownery, R&J Clownery.

Romeo Hate Dumb: So much material that I literally had to create my own tag for it. Thanks for nothing, world.

Hamlet Meta: Meta on Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Hamlet Clownery: I foresee this will be a thing.

Shakespeare Meta: Meta on Shakespeare’s plays in general.

Shakespeare Clownery: Might as well create this tag because I know I’m going to need it.

Life of Will: Meta on Shakespeare himself and his life.

Musicals

Romeo et Juliette: General tag for Presgurvic’s musical. Also Roméo et Juliette.

RetJ Meta: I like to talk about this musical way too goddamn much.

RetJ World Domination: The whole purpose of this blog by this point.

Original French RetJ

Revival RetJ

Takarazuka RetJ

Hungarian RetJ

That Production That Must Not Be Named: You lot know exactly what I mean.

Idaho RetJ: This exists.

Notre Dame de Paris: General tag for the Plamondon/Cocciante musical.

Elisabeth: General tag for the Kunze/Lévay musical. Also with the das.

Rebecca: General tag for the Kunze/Lévay musical. Also with the das.

My Writing

That’s kind of my main thing. I still have my AO3 and Fanfiction.Net accounts, as well as a sister blog here, technically.

Lyrics and Translations

The agonies of a certain English translation of RetJ has driven me to a life of crime lyric writing, beginning with RetJ. I also uploaded whole scripts to my lyrics website; those are more or less the latest versions.

My Lyrics: My general tag for all my translations, including pop and world music.

RetJ English: English lyrics for Presgurvic’s Roméo et Juliette, de la Haine à l’Amour.

Notre Dame de Paris English: English lyrics for Cocciante’s and Plamondon’s Notre Dame de Paris.

Elisabeth English: English lyrics for Kunze and Lévay’s Elisabeth.

Starmania English: English lyrics for Plamondon and Berger’s Starmania.

Tanz der Vampire English: English lyrics for Kunze and Steinman’s Tanz der Vampire.

#about me #cto10121 #i humbly request not to reblog this #i will be making changes ofc #trying to tame this beast of a blog #clean up the tags #also it’d make navigation a lot easier

[melancholic-cinnamon-roll]

WIP wednesday

je copie @capitaletele pour partagez un wip - j'ai commencé ça ce soir, avec un peu de chance ça sortira d'ici ce weekend, c'est une sorte de fic/analyse sur la rencontre entre cristal et johnny, leurs attentes envers l'autre, et leurs déceptions. du coup ici c'est le pdv de cristal, et j'écrirai plus tard celui de johnny.

Certes, ce n’était pas grand chose, mais elle espérait donner sa chance à n’importe qui avec Starmania, et essayait de faire passer le plus d’inconnu dedans. Mais ses producteurs ne semblaient pas vraiment d’accord, car des interviews de personnes plus connues rapportaient bien plus d’audiences. C’est d’ailleurs pour ça qu’elle avait dû interviewer Zéro Janvier, même si elle n’en avait absolument pas envie. Mettre en avant des personnes comme lui, c’est aussi mettre en avant ce qu’elle voudrait dénoncer - et le politicien en avait bien profité, car elle doutait grandement de la sincérité de ses paroles. Elle aimait de moins en moins la direction que prenait son émission, et se demandait si elle n’allait pas l’abandonner. Mais après, sûrement que quelqu’un prendrait le relai, et ne prendrait même plus la peine de faire passer le plus de classes sociales différentes, donnant juste la parole aux puissants qui l’avaient déjà bien assez. Elle se sentait tiraillée, inutile, ne pouvant rien faire pour améliorer les choses. Mais aujourd’hui, peut-être que tout changerait. Peut-être qu’en parlant avec Johnny Rockfort, elle arriverait à changer au moins un peu les mentalités, et que les choses évolueront pour le mieux.

je poste ce passage aussi car je pense beaucoup à starmania en tant qu'émission, et comment cristal est passée de présentatrice à rebelle, quelles pouvait être ses motivations, pourquoi dire que n'importe qui peut devenir une star puis interroger Zéro Janvier - qui n'a clairement pas besoin de se genre d'exposition pour être connu, sauf pour bien se se voir du public.

bref i have a lot of thoughts about this rock opera

#my post #my fic #starmania #starmania 2022 #cristal #meta #?

[starmaniamania]

SOOOOOOOOOOOO Season 2 is ON!!!

Last night was just incredible, the whole creative team was there, including Plamondon who got a massive ovation, and the musicians being back makes SUCH a difference!

There are also a bunch of small changes in the staging (nothing drastic), lighting and costumes (mostly for background characters during the Naziland tableau). I'll catalog everything on here as soon as my feet touch the ground again.

The biggest change is that a lot of musical arrangements have been tweaked -- beyond the new musicians, who obviously play things their way, too. There are some fairly major changes to the ending of Besoin d'amour, for example.

And performances!! Côme and Lilya were ON FIRE last night, they both seemed to really let go and do a bunch of stuff pretty differently than usual. Côme's SOS was super different from usual! 🤯 I'll try to make a little compilation at some point. Some others were a bit more subdued, perhaps still getting into the swing of things or stressed by the return and all the VIPs in the room (Thomas Jolly, Raphael Hamburger, Thierry Suc, Victor le Masne, Plamondon as previously mentioned). There were a couple of lyrics snafus which I'm sure most people didn't notice :p

But THE SHOW IS BACK and it was SO GOOD and the audience was SO INTO IT, and god, it is so good to be in that room again!!! <3 <3 <3

#season 2 #meta #reviews #starmania 2022 #video #audio #côme #lilya adad #johnny rockfort #cristal

[starmaniamania]

One-hour, 5-episode podcast series with lots of new(ish) archive material and things we haven't heard a thousand times before! \o/ Also interviews of David, Maag, Alex, and even Tim Rice! Will report back when I've heard it all.

#in the press #starmania 2022 #starmania 1979 #starmania 1993 #tycoon #maag #alex montembault #david latulippe #luc plamondon #michel berger #tim rice #fabienne thibeault #starmania canon #meta

[starmaniamania]

In case you missed it - Starmania 2022 - Acte 1

ACT 2

There are many little details and references in the 2022 version/staging of Starmania that I noticed over the many many time I was able to see it (some obvious, some not) so I thought I'd try to make a complete list and see if 1) you also spotted them or 2) you spotted other things!

This will be in 2 parts because it'll be too long for one post. I'll put a link to the other part once it's done! (TUMBLR DON'T YOU DARE EAT THIS AGAIN)

It'll also be interesting to have a record and be able to compare if anything maybe changes during the second season come November!

Ouverture

Obviously the empty white grand piano is a tribute to Michel Berger

In season 1, dancer Matys Kaibo was sitting at the piano at the beginning and pretending to play it; the sound actually came from the live pianist (in Paris) or the soundtrack (on tour).

Some of the male dancers who represent Monopolis inhabitants are wearing skirts

The person who runs across the stage is usually Jeanne Jerosme (the maid) unless she's playing Stella that day. Her maid costume is actually the same costume with a little white collar added.

Monopolis

If you're sitting smack in the middle, the shoulder/sleeve details + wig that Cristal is wearing make her silhouette look like a golden star (ok, you have to squint a bit lol)

The placement of the characters in the structure reflect their position in Monopolis society: Marie-Jeanne and Ziggy at the bottom, Stella and the Gourou higher (but with Stella going down), and Zéro at the very top. Cristal is moving through the levels, and Johnny and Sadia are absent (probably because they're supposed to be outcasts?)

Quand on arrive en ville

The first of Johnny's victims spits out "blood" (but I think it's water) onto the stage when she gets hit; the second one has a blood stain around the collar.

Some of the Etoiles Noires are smoking electronic cigarettes, you can see a red "cherry" as well as smoke

Not really a staging detail, more of a goof, but I will never not laugh at the Etoiles Noire dragging in the 2nd victim while also carrying a cinder block under his arm, but when Johnny grabs the block it becomes the Heaviest Object on Earth. Poor little Johnny skipped arms day!

Johnny's jacket has a long rectangular outside pocket on the left breast which he can use to tuck his mic into; his t-shirt has a little bit of chain hanging at the front like a necklace, except it's sewn into the neckline. (He's got the same thing in his final black costume).

Petite musique terrienne/Johnny & Sadia/La complainte

The sound effect/lighting after "Quand on arrive" evoke an elevator going down into the underground parts of the city

The Undeground Café has an Etoiles Noires aesthetic moodboard/collage, featuring punk and anti-nuclear imagery, a picture of Zero Janvier with his eyes scratched out and a target around his head, and the current casts' "good luck" motto: "Ahhhh merde!"

Whoever isn't playing Zero Janvier that day (David or Aurel) sits at the Café's piano (an upright one, not the grand piano from the beginning) and pretends to play throughout most of that scene

Stella is sitting at a table (incognito, she's wearing a big black coat and sunglasses and sometimes a scarf on her head) drinking ("Moi ma drogue c'est l'alcool"); she makes a discreet exist once the Etoiles Noires show up.

Sadia is having a blue drink at the bar

When the Etoiles Noires show up, Johnny jumps up to sit on the bar next to Sadia and usually interacts with Marie-Jeanne (at least when it's Côme) either by grabbing a bottle out of her hand and drinking from it/dumping it on his head, or by touching MJ in some way (on the face; I saw him kiss her hand once), cementing the fact that they know each other quite well.

Sadia kicks a glass with her foot during her initial pitch to Johnny; the glass is almost always picked up by a helpful Etoile Noire rather than by Marie-Jeanne :p

Johnny stops the Etoiles Noires from going after Sadia when she starts addressing him, miming things like "Let it go, she's crazy." When she says "Si tu me suis tu seras quelqu'un" though, you can see him physically start paying attention.

At the end of their duet moment, Sadia runs a hand down his arm/front, suggesting that she's trying to seduce him and not just ideologically.

Travesti

Obviously, the double-wig reveal of the "chevelure d'un bleu azur" under the initial black wig with a blue streak

A bunch of extra Etoiles Noires show up for the "line-up" moment (the singers like Jeanne for example) and then disappear again to leave the floor clear for dancers and their acrobatics

During the line-up moment, the Etoile Noire who's propping up Sadia's leg also runs his hand up her thing (she bats it away occasionally). Meanwhile Johnny is cocking his huge, hard machine gun at hip level in a very subtle way, and then he leans in towards her and nuzzles her neck/ear.

Btw only Côme wears the long black mafioso coat that hides his gun at the beginning; as far as I know William always wears the "Quand on arrive en ville" jacket for some reason.

Sadia used to wear flesh-colored shorts under the blue underwear; then this changed to a pair of thick opaque tights, at least when Ambriel is playing her, so you don't see her thigh tattoos as much. (I think Miriam wears them sometimes but not always.)

The Jaguar is a REAL car which REALLY DRIVES onto the stage, but with a very small modified electric engine which obviously cannot go very fast lol

Sadia's gun is blue too, that girl does like matching her accessories

Johnny always smells the white fur coat before putting it on (to the point that it had a pretty visible foundation stain on the lapels) -- generally speaking the Etoiles Noires smell people a lot lol

An Etoile Noire graffities the words "Stone" and some stars on the car every night during the number

Another Etoile Noire is seen "grinding" the car with an electric tool in the background to show that they're gutting it (for the next numbers where the roof has gone) but it's actually just a button that makes sparks. She then dumps the tool into the back of the car -- there's no rear windshield

Il se passe quelque chose à Monopolis

Obviously the "going up the stairs" metaphor symbolizes Zéro Janvier trying to rise to the top

On the sentence "et ses buildings de verre qui filtrent la lumière" the backlighting of the stairs gets this really cool filtering effect, always one of my fave moments

Thomas Jolly mentioned in a podcast that he'd moved this song after Travesti and given it to Zéro to make the link more obvious between Sadia's violence with the Etoiles Noires and Zéro's quest for power. The song does take on a very sinister vibe when he's singing it!

Mass médias

The lyrics were changed from "ma cravate rouge ou ma cravate bleue" to "ma veste noire ou ma veste bleue" because this Zéro does not wear a tie, red or otherwise

The newspaper that Zéro is reading has Stella on the front page as well a few easter eggs, like picture of Berger and Plamondon, an ad for Naziland and an ad for a florist on the back (as well as the weather for France lol)

On the inside I think you can make out more pics of Berger and Plamondon, and I *think* a picture of the show by Dorfmann and the silhouette of the Seine Musicale??

Starmania Starmania

This is obvious but it took me embarrassingly long to realize because you can't see them depending on where you're seated, and they're sometimes fully in the dark -- there are 3 "backup singers" at the back of the stage on the left, doing vocals and a little choreography!

Cristal doesn't have her mic with her up in the air as she comes down from the rafters, a dancer brings it to her while two others unfasten her (she's suspended at the hips by a harness worn under the dress)

The light periodically draws black stars behind her, which engulf the entire stage at the end

L'interview de Zéro Janvier/Le blues du businessman/Jingle de Cristal

Pretty straightforward staging-wise. The Blues was going to be Zéro standing on top of the tower at some point, and then they realized it was too static and came up with the lighting thing.

Un garçon pas comme les autres

The little stage that Marie-Jeanne sits on is being pushed by a crouching tech, who then sits behind it during the whole song. If you're sitting at a certain angle you can see them, which I always find weirdly moving.

Ziggy is apparently waiting inside the stairs during the song; that must be where the elevator is, that pushes him to the top in time to start his "oops, didn't mean to overhear that" exit attempt. (As far as I know, it's the first time in the various productions that we know Ziggy has heard the song, which does interesting things to the Ziggy/MJ dynamic!)

Le coup de téléphone/Enfant de la pollution/Coup de téléphone 2

When Johnny and Sadia show up at the top of the stairs, Johnny is wearing the fur coat from Travesti (but that wasn't always the case!)

The Etoiles Noires often bother Marie-Jeanne behind her bar. Ziggy doesn't seem too intimidated -- I've seen him snap Etoile Noire!William's mask onto his eyes for example.

The phone that Sadia uses used to be black, now it's silver.

The Etoile Noire who operates the phone (Max Carpentier usually) stashes his weapon in a little pocket hung in the alcove of the Underground Café, where he brings the phone case back before becoming a Threatening Etoile Noire(TM) again for the interview

Of course, France Gall's voice is the one answering the phone ("Pour un scoop c'est un scoop...") we all know that now!

Interview de Johnny Rockfort/Banlieue Nord/Coup de foudre

When Cristal shows up at the Underground Café, she gets harrassed a bit by the Etoiles Noires obviously; a lot of it involves smelling her hair for some reason lol

If you're there on a Saturday afternoon (William and Gabrielle as Johnny and Cristal), you can sometimes spot Etoiles Noires!Côme and Lilya flirting in the background of that scene :p

Johnny does not have his own mic for this scene; he shares Cristal's at the beginning (apparently stemming from an incident during rehearsals in which someone dropped their mic, and they had to make do with one between two people) and then grabs hers to sing Banlieue Nord (she doesn't have one again until Coup de Foudre)

Obviously the live/recorded thing: the recording is live until Johnny and Cristal leave the stage, at which point it switches to pre-recorded footage with live sound from the wings. As far as I know, this is the only pre-recorded footage/live audio moment; other pre-recorded video moments all also have pre-recorded audio.

The footage was recorded in the bowels of the Nice venue they used for rehearsals. There are 4 alternates to cover every permutation of the two characters, with some small variations, for example in the Gabrielle/Côme version I think Gabrielle doesn't fall down at the end the way Lilya does (and according to my notes, Côme's jumpsuit has a big sweat stain down the back lol)

Thomas Jolly makes a cameo as an Etoile Noire in each of the versions I've seen (Côme/Lilya, Côme/Gabrielle and William/Gabrielle) just at the end of the tunnels part. In the Côme/Gabrielle version, Côme pats him on the stomach as they pass him.

Besoin d'amour

Once Cristal has stepped up onto the car and it's rotated, the dancers create a "diversion" a the front of the stage while she gets changed standing on the car hood. She gives Johnny her mic to ditch into the backseat of the car so she can get dressed. Her boiler suit unzips at the ankles so she can step into it while wearing her heels (although it doesn't always work, I've seen it go wrong at least twice lol).

And that's it for Part 1! :p Do let me know if you've got anything else or if I forgot anything or if you have any questions! In case you haven't noticed, I love talking about Starmania lololol

#starmania 2022 #meta #johnny rockfort #cristal #marie jeanne #ziggy #zero janvier #sadia #sets & costumes #lighting design #côme #lilya adad #gabrielle lapointe #william cloutier #adrien fruit #alex montembault #manet miriam baghdassarian #ambriel #david latulippe #stella spotlight #maag #jeanne jerosme #aurel fabregues #my own shows

[starmaniamania]

Repeated melodies/musical themes

I was trying to list repeated melodies in Starmania and this is what I got:

Trio de la jalousie ("Maintenant ma petite il va falloir..." original & 2022) / Retour à la villa ("J'arrive de chez mon coiffeur...")

Zéro's theme : Le télégramme ("Vous entrerez dans Monopolis..." original & 2022) / Le meeting de Zéro (Payapapas & "PPPP parti pris pour le progrès...) / La victoire de Zéro ("Voici maintenant le moment de la victoire..." / "900 980 000 voix…")

Ouverture / Air de l'extra-terrestre (78) or Petite musique terrienne ("Y'a plus d'avenir sur la terre")

Stella's "Tididi" are repeated during the Procession du gourou and at the end of the Rêve

Johnny et Sadia ("Mais ça pourrait aller plus loin" specifically) / La complainte ("Mais faut bien que j'paye mon loyer")

If you push it a bit, the end of the "Jingle de Stella" ("Zéro c'est l'homme qu'il vous faut") sounds very close to bits of the Complainte ("J'ai pas d'mandé à venir au monde") which also sound close to some of the verses lines in Travesti ("Quand je marche dans la rue")

(Of course in 1988, all of Marie-Jeanne's interlude were boiled down to the same melody but we don't talk about that)

Anything else?

From @braimee: Mass Medias / the debate intro music

From @chocolateluma: the electric guitar riff in the middle of "Ce soir on danse" (just before "Je sais où sont les étoiles noires") / the second piano melody in the "fast" part of the Ouverture

#starmania canon #meta #starmania 1979 #starmania 1988 #starmania 2022

[starmaniamania]

oh hey

#starmania 2022 #johnny rockfort #cristal #côme #lilya adad #text posts #meme #fanworks #meta

[starmaniamania]

A bit of Côme's SOS (Lille, May 17, 2023)

That note that you can hear at the beginning and that breaks and dies -- for me, that's the beauty of Côme's performance on this song.

He gives an ego-less performance, which is not about showing off how hard and long he can go -- and he could. But the performance choices here are to let the emotion dominate and the notes break and the voice creak a bit, because this is a man who's sobbing his heart out, this is a man who's emotionally destroyed and who should not be doing crazy The Voice audition runs while crouched over the corpse of the only person he ever loved!!!

The SOS never, ever moved me before I heard this rendition, and every time I hear someone says "he can't do it" I wanna FIGHT.

#starmania 2022 #video #audio #côme #johnny rockfort #Starmania in Lille #Starmania on tour #meta

[starmaniamania]

Starmania 2022: season 1 changes

Now that the first season is over, and I was lucky enough to see the show pretty early on, and then be there for the last one of the tour, I thought I'd do a little recap about the changes that I noticed between the beginning of the run and the end!

If you noticed anything else, do let me know! :D

Costumes: Lots of change! I'll dedicate a whole post to that at some point, but there were major costume changes in the Naziland scene in the first weeks; new dancers who joined the troupe when tour started got new costumes, and main characters had minor changes in hair/makeup and accessories (Sadia's shoes changed a bunch, Adrien's makeup as Ziggy in Naziland did too.) There was also a time when Johnny wasn't wearing the white fur coat (anymore?) during the Sadia/Ziggy/Johnny scene, but at the end he was again.

Blocking: There are a couple things which have been adjusted/revised.

Partway through the tour, "Coup de foudre" started taking place on the revolving part of the stage, while before that Johnny and Cristal were static and sort of slowly advanced towards each other.

The choreography from "Paranoia" also changed a bit, with Stella being a lot less active/integrated in the crowd and more "wandering around in a dazed state, being pushed away and scared off by the dancers." I think it introduces the next part a little more seamlessly and really shows that she's not in her normal state at that point.

Video: The "Interview/Banlieue Nord" video was modified a little; the static isn't as prominent anymore, and the cut from live to pre-recorded footage is a little/even more subtle now (it went from fade-to-white to fade-to-black, using one of the dancers' black shirts as a trick transition)

Acting: A lot of variations! Obviously it's hard to state definitively that some things *never* happened at the start, but I definitely get the impression that Johnny and Sadia got much closer over the course of the run; at least when they're played by their main actors (Côme & Miriam). There's a lot more touching, stroking, hugging, which really reinforces the Sadia/Johnny relationship. Over the last couple shows I also really noticed that Johnny and MJ's relationship seemed to have warmed a lot - I never noticed any interaction between them before, but in Nantes Côme!Johnny was really affectionate towards MJ, which I love because Johnny is supposed to be hanging out at the Underground Café all the time! MJ knows him for sure, and cares about what happens to him! So it was cool to see that explicitely, even though it was still a "blink and you miss it" moment. Miriam's Sadia also got a bit more unhinged than she used to be (screaming hysterically after she kills someone).

Music: This might just be me tbh, but I feel as if the score they used at the end of the tour wasn't exactly the same as the one they started with??? Or perhaps it's just that I forgot what it sounded like? I will investigate >.>

I'm already really curious to see which of these will make a reappearance once Season 2 starts, or if anything else will change!!! (IT'S GOING TO BE SO LONG THOUGH 😭)

#starmania 2022 #meta #sets & costumes #johnny rockfort #sadia #marie jeanne #alex montembault #manet miriam baghdassarian #côme #my own shows

[starmaniamania]

Hello ! C'est encore moi :] j'avais envie de poser une question car c'est fun hihi

Quel est le personnage dans Starmania que tu trouve le plus intéressant et complexe ? Et pourquoi ?

Ouiiiii j'aime trop répondre aux questions (même si ça peut prendre du temps :p)

(Et du coup je réponds en anglais parce que je pars du principe que tous les francophones ici comprennent, mais que les anglophones ne parlent pas tous français, bon, dites-moi si je me trompe lol)

Actually I've been thinking about this for a WHILE because I think "most interesting" and "most complex" aren't the same for me :p

I think probably the most complex character is Sadia, or maybe Stella (like, especially in 2022 -- what the hell is she doing at the Underground Café?? How much does she really know about the Etoiles Noires and Zéro?) I think they have the most potentially contradictory motivations -- like, what the hell is Sadia's whole deal? Does she love Johnny, was she always planning on betraying him, is it a power thing, what's going on with Naziland at the end? (Also, obviously, the characters who get the most different plotlines from version to version are the ones who become the most complex I guess because you get to see different facets of their characters!)

But that said, the character I am most interested in is... Well, fine, it's Johnny, just because his issues push all my buttons :p I wouldn't say he's as "complex" because I don't think it's too hard to understand the mechanism behind what he's going through, but his emotional journey from nihilistic murderer to "I've always wanted to have someone to love let's leave it all behind and run away together" back to "oh well nothing left to lose let's blow ourselves up" gives me serious emotional whiplash, and I can't stop poking at it! He loves Cristal so much! It's my kryptonite! 😭

So there you go :p What are yours??

#starmania canon #meta #answering things #johnny rockfort #sadia #stella spotlight

[starmaniamania]

Starmania d'hier à aujourd'hui - Wodrascka

Just finished this book! I found it... not good! lol Basically mostly gossip about who liked/didn't like whom, a compilation of interviews and fan site pages, and suuuuuper dated language about LGBT themes even though the book was only written in 2018.

But a few interesting facts & tidbits that I didn't know/didn't remember:

Michel Berger's father was a pioneer of kidney transplants and dialysis and would see international stars like Rita Hayworth at his home office (before becoming partially amnesiac after a lung procedure he insisted on staying conscious for (??) and leaving his family behind as a result)

His mother was a concert pianist and the family's home had two grand pianos facing each other in the living room

Between his pop tunes and Starmania, Berger composed a conceptual piano/symphony/rock instrumental album called "Puzzle" (1971)

He lived in the USA for a bit and met/hung out with Ira Gerschwin (George's brother)

Everyone in the original Starmania troupe seems to have 1) admired France Gall's talent and 2) HATED HER lol

She says she was deathly afraid of singing "Monopolis" every night because the song wasn't written for her vocal range and she thought she wouldn't make it

Diane Dufresne told Balavoine that "French people can't sing" and he was devastated

She seems to have hated her role? Apparently she thought or had been told Stella would be the main character, but then they kept cutting the part (she says she "fished the Adieux d'un Sex Symbole" out of the trash can), maybe because Berger thought it was too outrageous. She refused to go on tour after the 79 Paris run, which might have killed it (when 30k tickets had been sold in France and Québec)

Tom O'Horgan wanted everyone to be naked during the "Procession du Gourou" bit which signified an orgy, but only 3 members of the troupe agreed and they ended up wearing little togas instead (except of course Diane Dufresne who was topless.)

[More under the cut]

The 1979 show's original stage was set at an incline, and opened up in the middle to reveal a 2-meter/6.5-foot deep pit which was the Underground Café -- and sometimes people fell into the pit.

It also made use of early laser technology, and the cast had to be careful not to be in the path of the beams because it would give you radiation.

Tom O'Horgan showed up in Paris with his full crew of stage techs and none of them spoke French. Berger & Gall had hired a very prim & proper translator who would very reluctantly translate the waves of insults he would shoot at the troupe, which he found unprofessional and bad.

If you believe Fabienne Thibault, she single-handedly cast all of Starmania and then saved it multiple times lol

President François Mittérand was a fan of the 88 version (which I knew) but comedian Coluche was too; he was petitioning Berger to have Johnny Hallyday record a version of "Stone." (Hallyday was going to be Johnny Rockfort in the original production but then Berger & Gall found Balavoine instead.)

Maurane famously left the 88 production in the lurch; she said she would only sign one-month contracts and renew them at the end of each month, but once she decided not to sign again she just stopped showing up instead of finishing her contract. Réjane Perry, who had never seen the show, was told she would have 3 weeks to learn the role and ended up having 2 days. She says she did her first show without rehearsing any of the duets or ensemble moments with the rest of the cast.

In 1988, Wenta as Sadia put out a cigarette into her hand during her jealousy fit over Johnny/Cristal; she had a thick band-aid in the palm of her hand to act as a protection but one night she missed it & burnt herself instead. She says she kept going and waited to be in her dressing room to scream "like a Tex Avery cartoon."

Fabienne Thibault says she hated the Lewis Furey version so much she was in tears by the end, and that it lacked vocal diversity: "On tombe dans l'uniformité canadienne, avec ces voix issues de la culture nord-américaine qui, à mon avis, distillent très peu d'émotion." "You end up with Canadian uniformity, with voices coming from that North-American tradition which, in my opinion, produce very little emotion." Tell us what you really think, Fabienne!

France Gall didn't authorize the Québecois lyrical versions of the show, which is why there's no official recording of them. Apparently she sicced her lawyers on Plamondon because of it.

The book ends with Plamondon talking about his new project, a 40-year anniversary revival which would be a "blockbuster" -- our 2022 production! :)

Onto my next book, which I think is Fabienne Thibault's own one and probably will tell me many more of her petty feelings towards France Gall lol

#starmania canon #starmania 1979 #book #meta #in the press #comédie musicale #musical theatre #rock opera #france gall #diane dufresne #daniel balavoine #starmania 1988 #starmania 1993 #fabienne thibeault

[starmaniamania]

Starmania alignment - EXPERT EDITION

#meme #meta #this one killed me with how good it is ;_____; #fanworks #starmania canon #Starmania 1988 #Starmania 1979

[starmaniamania]

Starmania characters explaining (their) names

Starmania seems like a pretty deterministic world where your name is definitely tied to your fate... I'm struck by how many times people's names are commented on -- by themselves or others -- to explain who they are and what's happening to them. Here are all the ones I could find (obviously, there's "Il s'appelle Ziggy" but oddly for all that the chorus is literally the guy's name, it doesn't actually tell you anything about him, except that he's dumb as a rock lol)

1 -- C'est ce jour là que j'ai rencontré le premier amour de ma vie, il s'appelait David Bowie / Sa musique a changé ma vie, moi j'ai changé mon nom pour lui (Ziggy in "La chanson de Ziggy")

Ziggy changed his name at 15, which changed his fate (not necessarily for the better but I guess that hubris for you lol)

2 -- Quand on s'appelle Cristal, on croit en son étoile (Cristal in "Le coup de foudre")

Cristal's name is precious and shiny, and that put her on the right path (to stardom.) Reminds me of typical nepo baby stuff, "it's easy to believe in your good fortune when you're me!"

3 -- Quand on s'appelle Zéro Janvier, on ne vit pas sur son passé (The choir in "Mass médias")

Zéro Janvier is a tabula rasa name: it's about resetting, starting fresh, new beginnings... but of course it's also about being empty and cold and erasing anything that came before it.

4 -- Je m'appelle Stella car j'ai rêvé un soir d'être une étoile éternelle (Stella in "Le rêve de Stella")

The line implies Stella, like Ziggy, is a stage name she picked for herself when she decided to be a star. And of course its meaning tracks with her tragic "gone to the big stage in the sky" trajectory.

5 -- Johnny, tu pourrais lui montrer ce que c'est qu'un vrai rocker / Tu pourrais lui montrer que tu t'appelles Johnny Rockfort (Sadia in "Le coup de téléphone")

Do we think Johnny Rockfort is a street name? It definitely sounds like a comic book name. It took me embarrassingly long, even after hearing this line, to realize that "rock fort" is not just a delicious French cheese but also a Québec-style translation of "hard rock" so I really appreciate the clarification lol

So in the end, only Marie-Jeanne and Sadia don't get in-text explanations for their names. I wonder if there ever was, in a draft somewhere! Arguably Sadia's final "Je suis le sexe démystifié, je suis la violence personnifiée" plays that role, with its allusion to Sade / sadism, as does Marie-Jeanne's "J'ai juste envie d'être bien," but it's much less obvious that the other characters'. What do you think?

#starmania canon #meta #ziggy #zero janvier #cristal #stella #johnny rockfort #sadia #marie jeanne #lyrics