Will be born next month.
Appearance:
Old hat.
Tricorn:
Let's not prejudge it.
But I thought Napoleon was long dead?
You are confusing the man and the musical.
The musical!?
'Fraid so. Les Misérables has a lot to answer for.
I thought it was rather good.
Indeed, but it has given West End producers the idea that we are aching to see an endless succession of gallic blockbusters - Martin Guerre, Lautrec, Notre-Dame de Paris, and now Napoleon.
And are we?
Non: so far we have voted with our pieds. Martin Guerre and Lautrec quickly met their Waterloo, and the critical bells failed to chime for Notre-Dame.
Dare one ask how Napoleon's epic life is being treated?
As a love story, of course - yes tonight Joséphine, and twice on Saturdays. The show plots "an improbable romance that is to bloom into one of the world's most passionate, tempestuous and heart-breaking love stories".
How does that fit historically?
It's a bit like making a musical about Hitler and concentrating on his relationship with Eva Braun.
All About Eva. I see it now - the burgeoning love affair in the 30s, the embattled chancellor, marriage in the bunker as Berlin burns, the final kiss before...
No doubt the German blockbuster's day will come.
Was Napoleon a great lover?
Unlikely. He spent most of the time marching across Europe subjugating other countries. In any case, he eventually dumped Joséphine, who had failed to produce an heir, so he could marry an Austrian princess.
At least he was a great revolutionary.
Non-sens! He was a counter-revolutionary, destroyer of the republic, founder of an empire and, worst of all, had the most ridiculous haircut.
Not to be confused with:
Boney M.
Do say:
"C'est la guerre, mais ce n'est pas magnifique."
Don't say:
"I really think the Dreyfus case has musical potential."
