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Chevalier Maurice & Me |
“Formidable ! You have realized the wildest dream, the most beautiful show to render homage to Maurice Chevalier ! It’s extraordinary ! Your interpretation of Maurice comes from your soul, it is neither an imitation nor a caricature, it is simply perfect. What ease, what charm is yours ! What quality your show. You are a great, a very great artist ! ! ! ! MERCI et BRAVO ! ! ! ! !” - François Vals |
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– Overture – |
As the theatre darkens an accordion plays a haunting tune, setting the stage with mesmerizing images of the streets of Paris and another time. |
Le Canotier / The Boater M. Petersen |
– Scene 1: Prologue – |
The curtain opens on a Las Vegas nightclub stage where Tony Sandler, the continental complement to the popular singing duo Sandler & Young, presents the opening monologue. |
Le Chapeau de ZoZo / Zozo’s Hat
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– Scene 2: 1888 through World War I, in Paris – |
Like a troubadour come to town, Tony illustrates a rags-to-riches story with humor, anecdote, and song, portraying the intimate and historic events that shaped the early part of Maurice Chevalier’s life. The story begins in Menilmontant, a poor workingman
’s district located on one of the seven hills of Paris, and leads to the French music hall stage that first brought Maurice
fame, then heads straight into the Great War (WWI). |
Sous Le Ciel de Paris / Under Paris Skies Hubert Giraud FOLIES-BERGÈRE Maurice Chevalier / Francis Lopez AH SI VOUS CONNAISSIEZ MA POULE/ Oh, if you only knew my beautiful baby Albert Willemetz / Charles Borel-Clerc Sons Of / Fils De Jacques Brel My Buddy Gus Kahn / Walter Donaldson HOW YOU GONNA KEEP ‘EM DOWN ON THE FARM Sam Louis, Joe Young / Walter Donaldson |
– Scene 3: 1920’S In Western Europe, L’Age de la Folie – |
In a French music hall, Tony recollects with gentle pleasure the brash antics of a young Maurice, whose obvious and heady popularity in Western Europe was fueled by the license of those crazy years that followed World War I. |
MA POMME / My apple, my world Georges Fronsac, L. Rigot / Charles Borel-Clerc VALENTINE Albert Willemetz / H. Christiné WHAT WOULD YOU DO Leo Robin / Richard A. Whiting |
– Scene 4: 1928-1935 in Hollywood, The Golden Years – |
In Hollywood, Maurice becomes a star of international proportions, achieving everything he could have possibly dreamed for. It is in this scene that the brash street kid from Menilmontant, now the Salesman of Sunshine and Love, reveals a very human heart that fame and riches cannot satisfy. |
Sur L’Ile de France / On the ship, ‘L’Ile de France’ J. Martin WAIT TILL YOU SEE “MA CHÉRIE” Leo Robin / Richard A. Whiting LOUISE Leo Robin / Richard A. Whiting MY IDEAL Leo Robin / Richard A. Whiting LILI MARLEEN Hans Leip, Norbert Schultze, Tommie Connor YOU BROUGHT A NEW KIND OF LOVE TO ME Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal, Pierre Norman |
– Scene 5: 1935, in Paris – |
A simple and intimate soliloquy at the height of Maurice Chevalier’s tremendous popularity reveals the compassion that fuels his mission in life, and why he returns to France and remains there at a most inauspicious time. He does not realize that his iconic status places him in mortal danger. |
Mon Plus Vieux Copain / My oldest friend Maurice Chevalier / François Vals / Fred Freed Adagio molto e cantabile, Symphony no. 9 in D-minor Ludwig Van Beethoven |
– Interlude – |
Blackout. The sound of an accordion advances the story into the midst of World War II. The sorrowful lament is drowned out by a strident drum cadence. The band strikes up a snappy march similar to those the occupying German forces frequently played “to build civilian morale.” But it is a hollow silence that opens the next scene. |
Les DésirS M. Petersen, E. Mazunik |
– Scene 6: 1940 – WWII in occupied Belgium, then France – |
Tony is caught in poetic memory of earlier times, of what really happened back then, with implications not always apparent in the history books, a history with which Maurice is inextricably entwined. Part of the web being woven for Maurice becomes bitterly apparent in this scene as he is given a “Hobson’s choice.” The scene closes as an audience of German officers watches Maurice perform for their pleasure. A musical cacophony underscores the next choice presented to Maurice. |
THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS Oscar Hammerstein II / Jerome Kern Im Abendrot, from Vier letzte Lieder / At Sunset, from Four Last Songs Richard Strauss La Vie En Rose (Life through rose-colored glasses) Edith Piaf / Louigy PROSPER (Yop la boum!) Géo Koger, Vincent Telly / Vincent Scotto Le Choix / The Choice M. Petersen, E. Mazunik |
– Scene 7: Nov. 1941, Altengrabow Prison Camp, Germany – |
The now beloved Maurice brings hope to an audience of 3000 French prisoners of war with his own brand of joie de vivre. For a while, the soldiers forget their pain and hunger, and know that they are not forgotten. |
NOTRE ESPOIR (This is our hope) Maurice Chevalier / Henri Betti çA FAIT D’EXCELLENT FRANCAIS Jean Boyer / Georges Van Parys MIMI Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers |
– Scene 8: Post War in France – |
The scene opens to upbeat music of the Glenn Miller band. The war has turned, the end is in sight. But the web of ambiguities tightens around Maurice, this time with no hope of escape. Amazingly, at the end of this scene, he turns his magic wand toward his public, giving to them the love and hope and compassion he most needs himself! |
In The Mood Andy Razaf, Joseph Garland SEPTEMBER SONG Maxwell Anderson / Kurt Weill TOUT VA BIEN POUR MOI / EVERYTHING’S HAPPY FOR ME P. Mills / Fred Freed |
– Scene 9: 50’s & 60’s World-wide Goodwill Ambassadorship – |
First in an elegant London theater, then back in the United States, this scene demonstrates the growing and enormous breadth of Chevalier’s career – the true-life odyssey of a legend promoting goodwill in a world torn by post-war strife and social unrest. |
YOU MUST HAVE BEEN A BEAUTIFUL BABY Johnny Mercer / Harry Warren C’Est Magnifique Cole Porter JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS Cole Porter Gigi Alan Jay Lerner / Frederick Loewe THANK HEAVEN FOR LITTLE GIRLS Alan Jay Lerner / Frederick Loewe |
– Scene 10: My Paris, My Inspiration- |
This is Maurice’s “Ode to Paris,” a personal reverie of all the memories and aspirations this city represents to him. Set at dusk in one of the many beautiful gardens of Paris, this homage is from a man who has discovered that the mysteries of life are never fully resolved, that the secret is in Love that burns brightly, always, in many hues. As Tony performs, the spirit of Maurice Chevalier seems to live on the stage. |
MON PLUS VIEUX COPAIN (My oldest friend) Maurice Chevalier / François Vals / Fred Freed LA SEINE Flavien Monod / Guy Lafarge JOLIES MÔMES DE MON QUARTIER Charles Aznavour |
– Scene 11: 21 October 1968, in Paris, at Le Théâtre des Champs-Elysées – |
It is a star-studded audience at Le Théâtre des Champs-Elysées that watches Maurice’s final performance. Through Tony, Maurice has said it over and over again, but now the message finds its mark. In his own way he says for the last time, “I cherish you, I love you,” and walks off the stage to live on forever in our hearts. |
PARIS, AU REVOIR – END OF SHOW – |