This festival, hosted by Melcha Coder, is one of the must-attend events of the cultural season in Nice. The first meeting at the Nice Opera on the 26th and 27th of September invites us to discover for the younger audiences and rediscover for the older ones, the American musical comedy “No, No, Nanette,” created in 1925 with music by Vincent Youmans, inspired by the play “My Lady Friends” from 1919, a big success on Broadway. We are in the Roaring Twenties, after the First World War, where there’s a longing to say “phew!” and have fun.
In October at the Conservatory, there will be a retrospective of the ’60s with their wild exuberance on the 24th and 25th of October. A festival always has a conclusion, a curtain fall, it’s always emotional and sad to mention.
On the 21st and 22nd of November, the festival pays tribute to Francis Lopez with “Andalousie,” created in Paris on the 25th of October 1947 with Luis Mariano. Certainly the highlight of this program, which will conclude at the Nice Opera. One cannot resist mentioning Francis Lopez, born by a twist of fate on June 13, 1916, in Montbéliard. After the First World War, he returned to his Basque country in Biarritz, became an oral surgeon, and it was in Paris that he became known for his lyrics, songs, and operettas, including “Andalousie.”
Year after year, this festival grows and becomes one of the highlights of Nice’s lyrical and cultural season.
Thierry Jan, writer
