Offenbach: Gaite Parisieene

Offenbach: Gaite Parisenne (1962) - Parliament Records

Hello Friends,

Cranking out the classics on another hungover Sunday.

This recording of Jacques Offenbach's 1938 ballet about a wild and crazy night out at some Parisian cafe is waaaaaay too manic for be appropriately dealt with in our current state!

Here's the description of what's going on from the liner notes:

The action of the ballet takes place in an elegant cafe in the course of a single evening. As the curtain rises, waiters are preparing tables for the evening's trade. A dainty flower girl sets up her stand . A half dozen Bohemian students and their blowsy girls clatter... A pretty glove seller sets out her wares. She is followed by a foreigner - a South American - rich, rather pathetic, ready to be fleeced. He tries his luck with the disdainful glove seller, and then hopefully with the flower girl. The cafe grow more crowded. A Austrian baron struts in, his eye wandering to the glove seller; she lets him waltz with her. The South American is so obviously eager to spend money in good company that the girls abandon their student escorts ad oblige him by drinking the champagne that he so generously provides. This pleasant state lasts until a jaunty officer and some soldiers swagger into the cafe. The girls switch allegiance to the soldiers and each dances off with her man. Once more, the South American is alone. His hopes rise momentarily as a glamorous lady in red makes a flashy entrance, but she has a duke in tow... the pointless evening finally fizzes out. To the strains of a barcarolle the clientele departs - the girls with the soldiers, the beauty with the officer, the duke with the flower girl, the baron with the glove seller. As these last two leave, one figure - un-partnered and desolate - watches enviously. It is the South American. The gayety on close examination proves to be merely noise to ward off boredom; the romance is nothing more than greed, vanity, hope of gain, or an effort to avoid loneliness.

Cool, I guess?

RATING: 2.5 sexy glove sellers out of 5