For the past few years, the Châtelet Musical Club has been the must-attend event for musical theatre enthusiasts. Enthusiasts—because the CMC (as insiders call it) brings together those with a passion for a wide-ranging repertoire, performed in song and dance by dedicated and talented artists aged 7 to 77! The Châtelet Musical Club is also a big family, uniting students from the finest musical theatre classes across Greater Paris, alongside future professionals and experienced performers who mentor them.
Coming to the Châtelet Musical Club means rubbing shoulders with professionals, sharing in emotion, reconnecting with performers and… greeting the mistress of ceremonies, Jasmine Roy, who hosts –and occasionally sings!– like the lead in an art-house cabaret revue. The Châtelet Musical Club takes shape as a succession of acts, evoking both Le Petit Conservatoire de la chanson by Mireille and The Judy Garland Show. But the CMC is firmly rooted in the present day and refuses to be confined –whether by genre, format, or style.
Eclecticism is its guiding thread, not out of convenience but because anything should be possible. It bears repeating: here, an opera singer must be able to perform Nina Hagen, rock vocalists should try their hand at operetta, and a Monteverdi duet might well be delivered like a Broadway musical.
And when it comes to dance, performers must be free to move from armchairs to tap shoes, from hip-hop to waltz, from pas de deux to large ensemble numbers –all with the same energy and the same goal: to share a joyful moment together, around a repertoire that is both varied and skilfully curated.
This season, the Châtelet Musical Club will have surpassed its 30th performance – without ever slipping into routine.
Not least because the events take place both at and beyond the theatre’s walls, with the launch of CMC performances at the FAST cultural quarter theatre in Romainville.
More than ever, the Théâtre du Châtelet affirms its identity: a crucible of musical theatre, open to everyone – as long as you’re joyful, discerning, and keen to share an hour or two of music and dance in good company.
