The one who was the icon of filmmakers and fashion designers dreamed of being a dancer. It is today, through the magic of this classical dance show. This sparkling variation, created by François Mauduit, a former Béjart dancer, was worked on in Toulouse at the Académie Carole Massoutié, and we saw it in preview at La Cigalière in Bollène.
In Audrey’s Eyes enchants audiences, and Hepburn is no stranger to her magic. On stage, the iconic actress from Roman Holiday remembers her past in a succession of flashbacks which evoke the key moments of her life – her youth, her Oscars, the stage, Hollywood… We revisit with great finesse and of delicacy the completely exceptional journey of this actress who was destined for dance, and whose smile lit up the 1950s and 1960s.
Here is a show superbly executed by around twenty artists who put classical technique in the spotlight. They are accompanied by an eclectic soundtrack that mixes Édith Piaf, Grieg, Sibelius, or even Léo Ferré and Gershwin. We are drawn into a whirlwind of dance which, sometimes, for a moment, stops as if to emphasize the passage of time. Three different Audreys embody the star at the three ages of her life. Always with the same leitmotif of grace and elegance that her clothes designed by Givenchy illustrated so well. “Elegance is the only beauty that never fades,” she said, adding “life is a party, dress for it.” That’s what this show highlights so well.
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, in Paris, April 23, April 27 in Châtel-Saint-Denis, June 22 in Sens.