Maurice Yvain: Yes!

Maurice Yvain’s operettas were immensely successful in the 1920s. The fantasy of the ‘swing’ music, the catchy songs and the perfectly oiled rhythms were all the rage in the Paris of the Roaring Twenties. But the success of these comedies, with their caustic humour, also owed much to the fabulous texts by Albert Willemetz, considered as one of the fathers of modern operetta in the twentieth century. Yvain and Willemetz’s numbers were hummed in the streets and charmed all who hear them – and still do, even a century later! Les Frivolités Parisiennes set out to revive this music, which is still as young as ever. Yes! was premiered at the Théâtre des Capucines on 26 January 1928 and was an immediate hit: this story of a complicated marriage, moving between Le Touquet and London, was to remain on the bill for years to come. The version presented here by Les Frivolités Parisiennes is as close as possible to the spirit of the work’s premiere, and includes all available musical material. With the exceptional participation of Clément Rochefort as narrator.