The night of Molières will try Monday evening to offer a more dynamic image, with the stage magician Alexis Michalik at the helm of the theater awards ceremony in France.
The 34th edition could be dominated by the Comédie-Française on the public theater side, with three of its members vying for the Molière for best actor (Denis Podalydès, Laurent Stocker and Christian Hecq). On the private side, nuggets created off Avignon last summer are in pole position.
The evening which will take place at the Théâtre de Paris could take a “demanding form”, against the pension reform, with the CGT Spectacle calling for a “welcome committee” to be reserved for the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak.
The ceremony will be broadcast on France 3 from 9:15 p.m., it rarely exceeds one million viewers, critics often calling it long, rambling and a bit old-fashioned. This year, the format is two hours and Alexis Michalik told AFP that he wanted to “bring rhythm and team spirit to the evening”.
The playwright, director and producer had collected many Molières in recent years thanks to his successful plays. Four of them are still played simultaneously in Paris.
In recent days, he has shared trailers on Instagram where he plays with his team of comedians the card of self-mockery on the difficulties of bringing the ceremony up to date.
A post shared by Alexis Michalik (@alexismichalik)
“We could invite Brad Pitt,” suggests one of the actresses, a nod to the Hollywood star’s surprise appearance at the César Awards in February.
“This year, I’m going to organize the wedding and I’m going to try to make people happy,” Alexis Michalik told AFP. He praised the fact that the nominations this year “reward inventiveness rather than budget”.
There is certainly the new version of the rock opera Starmania (two nominations), which has triumphed thanks to its flamboyance since its creation in November.
But “Starmania triumphed above all thanks to the genius and inventiveness” of the director, Thomas Jolly, who will also be at the helm for the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, supports Alexis Michalik.
Many modestly-budgeted pieces premiered at Off d’Avignon, the largest live performance market in France, in 2022 have received numerous nominations, such as Glenn, Birth of a Prodigy (6 nominations), on pianist Glenn Gould , I don’t run, I fly (5), Forget me (4) on Alzheimer’s disease or The Persian Dolls (4), a drama set in the midst of the Iranian revolution.
Note, three plays by director Johanna Boyé, who has won 7 nominations. “I think there’s a real trend today to encourage this format and this inventiveness to have long runs,” says Alexis Michalik.
The Court of Auditors was concerned in 2022 about the low distribution of shows across France and the difficulty of increasing the number of performances.
The house of Molière dominates the public theater with 11 nominations for 5 productions. Podalydès (King Lear), Stocker (L’Avare) or Hecq (Le Bourgeois gentilhomme) could win the Molière for best actor.
Two other members of the French, Benjamin Lavernhe (La Dame de la mer, by Ibsen) and Christophe Montenez (Le Roi Lear) are nominated for the supporting role. Boarder Marina Hands (King Lear) is nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
La Reine des neiges, the forgotten story, a show for young audiences created for the French, garnered two nominations. Still in the public, Isabelle Huppert is named for the ninth time as best actress in a public show, facing Isabelle Carré, Sara Giraudeau and Catherine Hiegel.
Florence Foresti, Laura Felpin, Manu Payet or Stéphane Guillon could be rewarded in the humor category.
