The Bridgerton Chronicles, Don Quixote in opera, Aki Shimazaki’s novel…Madame Figaro Culture Week

Serial Marriages in the Bridgertons

Chronicles of Bridgerton keeps his line. In the middle of a Netflix catalog where news and thrillers flourish, the Bridgerton family comes across as a comforting confection. London’s most coveted high-society family returns two years after their last escape and returns to duty with two married daughters, including Francesca, played by a young and promising Hannah Dodd. But it’s also on the siblings’ third son, Colin (Luke Newton), that all eyes are on in this third season. Having just returned from a familiarization trip to Europe, the young man decides to help his friend Penelope Fetherington (Nicola Coughlan) find a good match. Secondary characters also strive to establish themselves or to produce an heir in order to advance in society and find refuge. If the new intrigues of this season, which are available in 8 episodes, do not torment the audience for their complexity, then the costumes and powdered sets, as well as pop hits remixed with a violin version, will have the merit of introducing a little softness. this world (television) raw. M.G.

Chronicles of Bridgerton season 3, created by Chris Van Dusen and Shonda Rhimes. The first part was broadcast on May 16 on Netflix, and the second part on June 13.

Don Quixote, epic and poetic

It’s back to the Bastille stage after a twenty-year absence Don QuixoteOne of Jules Massenet’s last operas (composed in 1910 for the Russian singer Fyodor Chaliapin), whose music was in the spotlight this season. Cinderella . The libretto from Cervantes’ picaresque and rich novel has preserved only a few symbolic episodes. the beauty’s necklace, the fight against the windmills, his death next to his servant Sancho Panza (Etienne Dupuis)… The salvation of the world and the fight against injustice are the foundations of Don Quixote in Jules Massenet’s version. His chivalrous love for Dulcinea will never come true. It is not important. man is between reality and fiction in his imagination. “From this observation,” explains Damiano Micchieletto, the director of this new production, “I imagined the opera as a day in the life of a lonely person who has lost touch with reality.” He lives in his dreams, through his art. he is a writer, a poet, who is reliving his past and traumas. The poetry and suffering of Don Quixote will be revealed under the musical direction of Mikhail Tatarnikov. L.K.

Don Quixotefrom May 10 to June 11 at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, directed by Damiano Micheletto, musical director by Mikhail Tatarnikov. operadeparis.fr:

Fine repair

Aki Shimazaki was born in Japan and grew up in a village. Nature always occupies an important place in his novels, as well as family. she has three sisters. As a child, he already invented stories and wrote them. At the age of 26, he moved to Canada, learning English and French. He has been living in Montreal since 1991. He writes short novels in French that take us deep into the heart of Japanese families with extreme delicacy. The form is original because they are quintuplets, five novels that can be read separately but that take place in the same family, the same story, each time seen by different characters: the mother, the daughter, the grandmother… See five points where the word is about love, friendship, time, flowers, trees, art, pottery. Were The weight of secrets, In the heart of Yamato, The Shadow of Thistle And Call without applausewhich ends today Urushi In Japanese, the lacquer tree and the lacquer itself, which allows you to repair broken ceramics with gold dust, or the art of flexibility, kintsugi. At the center of this story we find Suzuko. His mother is dead, he lives with his aunt, father and adopted brother, Toru. There is a lot, a lot of love in this blended family. Suzuko is under the spell of Toru, a karate champion with a perfect body. But little by little there is an insidious poison, a secret that can break this beautiful harmony. So Suzuko takes kintsugi lessons. Can gold dust mend a broken heart? All of Aki Shimazaki’s art is to make everyday stories tinged with poetry and infinite tenderness… Aki Shimazaki is a magician. BB:

Urushi, by Aki Shimazaki, Éditions Actes Sud, 144 p., €16. Other titles are published in paperback format by Éditions Babel.