I find it a shame when a venue ceases to be used for the purpose it became famous for, but I guess cabarets are on the way out. Not that I know anything about that sort of thing. There are a handful of rock bands here to discover, but investigate Gojira, Phoenix and Shaka Ponk as well if your Spotify list is crying out for my excellent taste…
Questions
Founded by Irish dancer Margaret Kelly, what is the name of the group of dancing girls that performed at Le Lido, a cabaret theatre that is located on the Champs-Élysées?
BLUEBELL GIRLS
Its brands including Mercure, Novotel and Ibis, which hospitality company took over ownership of Le Lido in 2021, subsequently turfing the Bluebell Girls out of the door as it temporarily closed the theatre so that a pivot could be made toward musicals?
ACCOR
A show called “Paris Merveilles” was brought to Le Lido by which Italian-born theatre director, who is credited with helping to develop “Cirque du Soleil” into the behemoth it is today? He was also behind the Celine Dion show “A New Day…”, which went on to become the most successful Las Vegas residency of all time.
FRANCO DRAGONE
French singer Hervé Vilard is best known for a song that contains the name of which island, with the song reaching number 2 in France and number 1 in Spain? The island is followed by “C’est Fini” in the title, this being influenced by a Charles Aznavour song of that name.
CAPRI (“Capri C’est Fini”)
Providing the voice for the villain Yzma in “The Emperor’s New Groove” and playing Catwoman in the 1960s TV series “Batman”, which American released the popular Christmas tune “Santa Baby” in 1953?
EARTHA KITT
Particularly popular during the ’50s and ’60s, Alice and Ellen are German twins whose work includes performing at Le Lido, singing at the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest and posing for the Italian edition of “Playboy”. What is the surname they share with an American astrophysicist?
KESSLER
Alain Delon featured on what repetitively titled 1973 hit for Egyptian-born singer Dalida, which topped the French charts after being released on her 40th birthday?
PAROLES, PAROLES
An actress of Hungarian descent, Mitzi Gaynor received a Golden Globe nomination for playing which Navy nurse from Little Rock in the film “South Pacific”, this character having been created by James Michener in his Pulitzer Prize winning short story collection “Tales of the South Pacific”?
NELLIE FORBUSH
Its prelude being heard before Eurovision events get into full swing, “Te Deum” is a 17th-century work by which French composer?
MARC-ANTOINE CHARPENTIER
Baroque French composer François Couperin is particularly associated with which instrument, having written four volumes of music for it as well as “L’art de toucher le clavecin” in 1717?
HARPSICHORD
A player of the viol de gamba, the Baroque composer Marin Marais was portrayed by both Gérard Depardieu and the actor’s son Guillaume in which 1991 film? It was adapted from a book by Pascal Quignard, who won the Prix Goncourt in 2002 with “Les Ombres errantes”.
TOUL LES MATINS DU MONDE / ALL THE MORNINGS IN THE WORLD
An organist at the court of King Louis XIV, Michel Richard Delalande is known for composing ‘Grand’ versions of what kind of musical composition that was originally performed ‘a capella’?
MOTET
Based on Jean Racine’s tragedy “Phédre”, the 18th-century work “Hippolyte et Aricie” was the first opera by which composer? Influenced by structures established by Jean-Baptiste Lully, he upset some critics when he put his own spin on things.
JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU
The source being a Georges Bernanos work of the same name, which opera by ‘Les Six’ member Francis Poulenc tells the story of a group of nuns who were guillontined in 1794 during the Reign of Terror?
DIALOGUE OF THE CARMELITES
Considered horrendously difficult to play, the Maurice Ravel piano pieces “Gaspard de la Nuit” were based on a collections of poems by which 19th-century Piedmont-born French writer, who unfortunately died of illness before their publication?
ALOYSIUS BERTRAND
A mentor of Jean Michel Jarre and a huge influence in the world of electronic music, which Nancy-born French composer coined the term ‘Musique concrète’, a type of music composition that uses recorded sounds?
PIERRE SCHAEFFER
The ‘Grand salle’ of the Philharmonie de Paris is named for which post-war French composer, who conducted the “Jahrhundertring” at the Bayreuth Festival in 1976 to celebrate the centenary of the first complete performance of Wagner’s “Ring Cycle”? His own original works include “Le marteau sans maître” and “Pli selon pli”, the latter using text written by Stéphane Mallarmé.
PIERRE BOULEZ
Providing the song “Les Lilas” for René Clair’s “Gates of Paris”, a film he also starred in, which French singer was also responsible for “Le Gorille”, where the title animal escapes his cage and ravishes a judge?
GEORGES BRASSENS
The song “Pépée” was a memorial to the pet chimpanzee of which Monégasque singer, who blamed its death following a fall on his wife? It will come as no surprise that they subsequently divorced.
LÉO FERRÉ
Going on to record the live album “Radio Bemba Sound System”, who was the lead singer of French band Mano Negra, whose albums included the suspicious sounding “Puta’s Fever”?
MANU CHAO
Taking their name from a 1953 film that starred Marilyn Monroe, which French rock band are known for the songs “Tchiki boum” and “L’amour à la plage”?
NIAGARA
Their work included “Singing in the Shower” with Sparks, despite water and electricity being a combination clearly to be avoided, which French band that contains a Guerlain perfume in their name hit number two in the French charts in 1984 with “Marcia Baïla”?
LES RITA MITSOUKO
With Jenn Ayache on vocals, which Roman sounding French rock band have seen their songs “Butterfly” and “Radio Song” featured in the “Fifa” and “Guitar Hero” video game series’ respectively?
SUPERBUS
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