To those who worry about the future of opera, predicting a slow agony in front of a rarefied audience, there is a scathing answer, a real elixir of youth: Charles Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet which blows your mind these days. a breath of fresh air at the Paris Opera (until July 15). First there is the effervescence of the staging – by Thomas Jolly, who has not stolen his star status -, the intensity of Shakespearean drama, wildly romantic music…

And the great joy of hearing two singers at the top of their game: Benjamin Bernheim, this Franco-Swiss tenor who combines beauty of timbre, dramatic power and delicacy of interpretation, and Elsa Dreisig (lyrical revelation of the Victoires de la musique 2016) , unforgettable Juliette who receives us in her dressing room to discuss this exceptional role and a career that is no less so.

Le Point: Tell us about Gounod’s Juliette…

Elsa Dreisig: She goes a long way in five acts and only twenty-four hours of action. With Gounod as with Shakespeare, life is accelerated! There is the excitement of the first outing at 14, Juliette is above all a kid who has the right to go to a party for the first time… and immediately the amazement in love, very strong decision-making, marriage, the poison…

Basically, for a singer, it’s already an opportunity to play Shakespeare. Vocally, the evolution is magnificent, from a light lyrical girl’s voice, coloratura, to the air of poison, where the register becomes dramatic. Juliette then appears as a woman of real maturity. Overall, I find this opera very beautiful despite a few more conventional passages – “bondieuseries”, we say between us! All the Romeo and Juliet duets are little masterpieces. And I’m lucky to have Benjamin Bernheim in front of me in Romeo.

How do you prepare for a role so steeped in mythology?

For a few years now, I’ve been working on the libretto for the opera with a theater teacher. I have a literary background, but I need more keys to grasp the depth of the text. I try to find the edge, the spine of the drama. I make extensive use of the proscenium which gives the libretto in its entirety and accompanies it with historical and critical texts. My goal is to build the character in depth without relying solely on the music. I’ve been to opera so much since childhood that sometimes I have too many “opera” reflexes, and I wish to fight them!

What do you mean ?

There is always the risk of portraying a stereotyped character, operatic in the most limited sense. The dramatic game must be there to achieve emotion. What I hate are guidelines that force you to overreact, to pretend and say, “don’t worry, it works.” If I don’t feel anything, it’s because it’s not working. You don’t always have to follow what the music says. Playing a little off can be much stronger.

Likewise, I expect the director to shake up tradition, to question things. When the father announces to Juliet that they want to marry her (when she is already secretly the wife of Romeo), it is a scene of unprecedented violence in Shakespeare, but, in Gounod’s opera, it there is a little light music… Thomas Jolly, with his very strong knowledge of the theatre, brought back the tension where the music risked making it disappear.

You came on stage at a very young age…

The strongest emotion of my life as a singer remains that day when I went on stage to sing one of the three children of The Magic Flute. It was at the Lyon Opera. And, later, when I made my first “Pamina” in Paris, London, Berlin… There, I realized a childhood dream, not only because I had seen my mother [the Danish soprano Inge Dreisig, editor’s note ] in this role, but because this opera transported me as a spectator. These days, I don’t sing Pamina so much anymore, nor the light lyrical roles that I associate with the women in my family. My voice is changing. I will sing my first Mimi from La Bohème in Norway next year…

What roles do you dream of in the coming years?

I would like to sing Manon et Thaïs by Massenet, Blanche de la Force du Dialogue des carmélites… I like to sing in French, diction is very important to me, and you always feel when the audience really understands what you are saying. The show only has more strength. When all the elements come together – the performers, the staging, the orchestra… – opera remains the most moving art there is.

Romeo and Juliet by Charles Gounod. Musical direction: Carlo Rizzi. Director: Thomas Jolly. With Elsa Dreisig (alternating with Pretty Yende), Benjamin Bernheim (alternating with Francesco Demuro), Jean Teitgen, Laurent Naouri, Lea Desandre (alternating with Marina Viotti). Until July 15. www.operadeparis.fr