If ever a musical froze a time and place, it's the one about the prostitute idealizing love in an era when women were either supposed to be mamas knowing best or stirring with thoughts of becoming independent. In `50s Paris, Irma the fille de joie of Montmartre, used what society deemed immoral means to become one of its moral members. She gave France its first international musical hit, though naughtier in Paris than later on Broadway or in Hollywood. The show remains -- like Irma -- funny and sexy.
Surprisingly, the production stresses the men who surround and get her "involved," as only two supporting women play everything from scantily- dressed tarts to cherubic nurses. Just as director Savary has been economizing with the number of musicians, here he uses scenery and effects to rival the multi-level interiors/exteriors of "Sunset Boulevard" while having actors play multiple roles. When Irma sings "Je cherche" on a bridge, isn't the whole Seine below? In a way, doubling deepens the irony of the plot, where Irma's lover goes on trial for killing her rich client who disappeared. (It was really himself in disguise, since he gave her money at each rendezvous which he was bound to get back from her "after work.")
The raunchiest scene is the comic "dance of death" in the tropical prison, with decidedly up-to-date sexual mimicry. A special treat for Anglophones involves a British (great white?) headhunter and natives speaking pidgin English who make possible The Great Escape. "Irma's Song" by a very pregnant heroine is overheard when lover Nestor returns, plays for the police the lover who disappeared, and bribes his own way to freedom. Irma delivers on Christmas Eve, brought in like a Bouffe de Noel.
The holiday ending is Savary's icing on this musical fruitcake. It's full of good cheer and winning good cheers.
