In 1960, six friends meet on the prestigious liner France during its inauguration: this is the starting point of the musical I will love you, which is played from May 20 to June 19 at La Seine musicale, in Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine). It revisits 25 of Michel Sardou’s greatest songs, with 12 artists and a company of dancers.
I will love you tells the story of the six protagonists: their sometimes failed dreams, their parents, their children, all in France, North Africa or the United States… Constructing a narrative was essential for the director and author of the show. “I’m not a big fan of musical shows, that is to say shows with one song behind the other, which more or less tell a story but where the songs are not always justified. They are rather numbers musical”, explains Serge Denoncourt. When he was offered to put on a musical around Michel Sardou, he therefore hesitated.
“I said yes, it was great but at the same time I didn’t see how to make a musical with such disparate songs, which have nothing to do with each other.”
Serge Denoncourt, author and director of the showat franceinfo
The click is done next: “Suddenly, I had this flash of starting on the inauguration of France with six friends and following their destiny over forty years. From there, I started to find the songs that could allow me to do evolve these destinies.”
On stage, the twelve singer-actors are surrounded by a troupe of professional dancers. “When I started to dissect the titles to interpret them, I found it super interesting”says Emji, who plays Louise, a bubbly young girl who goes through 40 years of history, from sexual liberation to a more orderly life as a lawyer. “For the song ‘I’m going to love you’, for example, I was listening to the tune and I knew the chorus but I hadn’t necessarily focused on the heart of the verses. In fact, we realize that it Rather, it’s a love song in a passionate and sexual sense.”
If all the songs performed in the show are not hits, there was still a must: Connemara lakes. Yes “everyone was categorical” about the fact that the song should be included, she gave Serge Denoncourt a hard time. “I couldn’t see how to put Connemara and Ireland into the show when I had six Frenchmen.” He finally relies on one of the characters, very assertive. “I I said: who are his parents? Maybe it’s that Mr. O’Connolly we’re talking about in the song? Why not flashback to 1947 at his parents’ wedding?”he recalls. The exercise was all the more complicated as the author is from Quebec.
“Strangely, Connemara is not at all a hit in Quebec. We don’t know!”
Serge Denoncourt, author and director of the showat franceinfo
Throughout the show, people sing and dance in colorful costumes, with scenery projected on video and on a pre-recorded orchestral soundtrack. At the end, the public is on their feet and some spectators even regret the absence of their favorite song by Michel Sardou.
“I’m going to love you” at La Seine musicale: report by Laurent Valière
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