For the past few months, the walls of the Théâtre des Mascarons, in Môtiers, have been resonating in rock’n’roll agreements. About fifteen actors-singers repeat “a story of rock” signed Jérôme Jeannin, Romain Jeanneret and Camille Semenzato. The show aims to show “how rock’n’roll crystallized the revolt of youth, the emancipation of blacks as well as the liberation of bodies and the opening of minds. After a summer break, rehearsals resumed this week. The show will be presented to the public from December 5.
Coming from a double frustration, the project was initiated by Jérôme Jeannin, director accustomed to the mascarons: “During the pandemic of Covid-19, I had a lot of time, I was going to say to kill, but especially to take an interest in many things, including the history of rock, because I often hear songs without knowing that sing, which annoys me a lot. I documented myself, I discovered mind -blowing stories, social concerns, and I thought it would make a great show. »»
A 600 -page book as a source of inspiration
Support for the design and text by Romain Jeanneret, accustomed to the plates of the mascarons and co-author, in 2018, of one of his cabarets-revises, as well as by Camille Semenzato, professor of Greek who is used to adapting pieces in French for the ancient university theater, Jérôme Jeannin admits that if the exercise of writing was exciting, ” A 600 -page book, we had to sort and tell, it was a great experience, the three of us are quite complementary. »»
The show canvas consists of seven independent paintings from each other and which each tells a chapter in the history of rock. “We start before Rock’n’Roll, at the time when the music was segregated – black and white did not mix – and we offer a kind of 70 -year -old photograph of American and English society. “French rock has been deliberately excluded from this show,” because it would be necessary to dedicate another to it, on its own! »»
Subjective choice
On stage, fifteen comedians-singers and four professional musicians will give life to these paintings. They will perform seventeen songs “emblematic of a certain era, of a certain genre or which have marked a moment of caesura in the history of rock. By preparing this show, we wondered what remains of rock today and where we stop. Chronologically, the last song we decided to interpret is Nirvana is old! »»
The obviously subjective choice of songs thus includes pieces of Elvis Presley, Paul Anka, Rolling Stones, Love, Pink Floyd, David Bowie and Queen. /AES