One Woman's French Foly

Right upfront it has to be said that this is farthe following evening in St Etienne, a less than
from being a hard-hitting news piece. And what'sfashionable city in central eastern France better
more it'll probably only have a limited appealknown perhaps as the former capital of this
bearing in mind that among the roll call of namescountry's bicycle industry and for its soccer team
are those that will only be familiar to the French,which in the 1960s and 70s dominated the French
or French ex-patriots, Francophiles, Francophonesleague.
and France-watchers.A most unlikely venue for some of the past and
There again there are some that will strike apresent greats of the French music and film world
chord around the globe, so forgive theand certainly not a place international stars would
indulgence. And if you're in the slightest bitput high on their list of performance dates.
curious keep reading to discover an account of aThe scene set, Foly used the "audition" as a
rollicking good evening spent watching avehicle for some spot-on satire, political and social
performance that had the audience proverbiallycomment and some belting good songs - never
"rolling in the aisles", whooping with laughter andletting the audience forget that not only can Foly
grinning from ear-to-ear for more than two solidhold a tune as herself, she can do it as a host of
hours.other people too.
All right it was probably a public easily won overAs France Gall she warbled some French
and which had come to see the launch of a veryevergreens and as Sylvie Vartan she flounced
special sort of one-man show. Or perhaps betterabout the stage, dangling a wandering microphone
said, a one-woman show, performed by Lianeand flicking her non-existent lavish blonde locks
Foly.Actress Jeanne Moreau growled, the late Serge
She's no stranger to the French and it's as aGainsbourg's English-born wife, Jane Birkin, sang a
singer that the 45-year-old has made her nametribute to her husband in her much-beloved and
over the years, releasing her first album in 1988heavily accented French, Canada's very own
and following it up with a string of hits and theMylène Farmer intentionally left
occasional appearance in films made for television.everyone wondering exactly what she was
But in her one-woman show "La Follesinging about as she pirouetted mindlessly around
Parenthèse" Foly makes her first realthe stage and had her ethereal music mocked for
venture into another area of entertainmentits incomprehensibility. Madonna went in for a
entirely as an impersonator and she pulls it offtouch of S&M just for a change.
with professional aplomb.Carla Bruni-Sarkozy flirted with the pianist as
In it she single-handedly assembles some of thethough he were the incarnation of her "Nicolas"
greats - past and present - of the French musicand to the strains of la Marseillaise and huge
scene, with some international artists thrown inapplause on strode last year's defeated Socialist
for good measure along with politicians, televisionpresidential candidate,
stars, and actresses.Ségolène Royal,
The 19th centurypromising not to talk politics and then proceeding
Théâtre Marigny justto do just that.
off the Champs Elysées in Paris,Into the mix Foly threw Christophe Willem - a
with seating for over 1,000 was packed to theformer winner of France's answer to American
rafters every night of Foly's recent opening runIdol and the voice of music producer Orlando.
as she sang, strutted, croaked and danced herAfter performing non-stop for just over two
way through 30 plus characters, interspersing herhours, Foly was dragged back for the inevitable
performance with rapier wit and wicked social andbut hugely welcome encore to perform as two
political comment.icons of French music no longer around - Barbara
Whether it was as a swooning parody of France'sand Dalida.
first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, or as a majesticallyAnd then, just when you thought there could be
strutting Socialist politician,no more, France television's own very dippy and
Ségolène Royal, Folyoften inappropriately-dressed 50-something
slipped effortlessly from one imitation to the nextmeteorologist, Catherine Laborde, came on to
with a minimum of costume changes, nogive us an update on what weather would lie
gimmicks, and a simple mimic of gesture andahead for tomorrow, the night of the "real"
mannerism to convince the audience that sheperformance.
really had brought along a whole cast ofFoly's run at the sumptuous
characters.Théâtre Marigny in Paris
Accompanied by just two musicians - the pianistended at the weekend and she'll now be taking
Jean Yves d'Angelo and his brother, Pierre, on theher show on the road around the country for the
saxophone and percussion - Foly presented arest of the year - ending up back in the French
simple plot to hold everything together.capital in December for an encore at Olympia.
She bantered as the gravel-voiced actressesIf any of the names here have meant anything
Muriel Robin and Line Renaud, and later as Celineto you, and you're planning a trip to France at
Dion in her rapid-fire French, with the imaginarysome time this year, this is one act - or a
Pedro somewhere at the back of the theatre.multitude of them - that you would be well
Pedro wanted her to provide a possible line-up ofadvised not to miss.
improbable stars for a cabaret to be performed