Discover the vibrant world of 1920s Paris in a live radio broadcast with Claron McFadden and Claire Chevallier.
Ada Beatrice Queen Victoria Louise Virginia Smith, also known as Bricktop, was an American dancer, jazz singer and vaudeville artist who was also the owner of the famous nightclub Chez Bricktop in Paris. The club was a hub for French artists as well as African Americans who had moved to Paris to escape racism in America. Through Bricktop's story and their interviews, soprano Claron McFadden and pianist Claire Chevallier recreate the musical atmosphere of Paris Montmartre, then known as the Harlem of Paris. Director Luigi De Angelis conceived Chez Bricktop as a live radio programme that superimposes the atmosphere of a century-old club with an audience and special guests.
“The performance is a beautifully played and sung sequence of American and French songs and compositions, all born from the interaction between African-American musicians who escaped systematic racism in America and looked for a safe haven in Paris.”
Kester Freriks, Theaterkrant - 18/04/2024
“The performance, of which the scenography is conceived as a radio show, also has a social aspect to it. Life for African-Americans during the interwar Paris was not easy. Racism was always lurking.”
Koen Van Boxem, De Tijd - 8/03/2024
Credits
- A "live" radio broadcast • with Claron Mc Fadden, Claire Chevallier and guests
- Concept • Claron McFadden / Claire Chevallier
- Direction | Scenography | Light design • Luigi De Angelis
- Dramaturgy • Chiara Lagani
- Musical advice | Jazzarrangements • Janelle Gill
- Music • Tcha Limberger / Vilmos Csikós / Benjamin Clement
- Vocals • Bertrand Belin
- Styling • Perrine Philomeen
- Sound technique • Pieter-Jan Buelens
- Light • Anne Van Es
Music by Scott Joplin, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Erik Satie, Thomas 'Fats' Waller, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Django Reinhardt
| Location | Dates | Hour | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chassé Theater (Breda) +31 76 530 31 32 www.chasse.nl Show on map | 31/5/2025 | 20:30 |