La Belle et La Bête

"Through this shift in perspective, we seek to free Belle from the gaze that was upon her and give her back her power: that of a woman who, after being objectified, becomes

" Anne-Cécile Vandalem Born in 1937, Philip Glass is, along with Steve Reich and Terry Riley, one of the precursors of minimalist music, an artistic movement born in the United States in the early sixties.

Refusing any form of aesthetic or stylistic assignment, he explores many genres and regrets the distinction between so-called "classical" and popular music. Nevertheless – and despite all the conventions that determine him – Philip Glass has not given up writing opera.

Thus he created Einstein on the Beach at the Avignon Festival in 1976. Fruit of close collaboration with director Bob Wilson, this opera breaks with tradition, shaking the norms of narration and composition.

Working according to a cycle of three works, the composer chooses the scenarios of Jean Cocteau as librettos, when he begins his new trilogy.

And on June 4, 1994, at the Maestranza theater in Seville, the audience witnessed an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast in an unprecedented form: an opera-cinema. Of Georges Auric's original score, nothing remains.

Indeed, Philip Glass decided to synchronize his own composition with the film made by Jean Cocteau, so that the sung text would align with the actors' lips during the screening!

In taking over this tale, which became a film, then an opera, the director Anne-Cécile Vandalem will have questioned the work in general and the character of Belle in particular. From now on, it is from the perspective of the heroine that this story is told.

Thanks to the camera, on stage, Anne-Cécile Vandalem develops a device offering a critical look at the history of cinema and literature. Without ever obliterating anything of the