Phi-Phi

Entrance to Phi-Phi's studio, from the 1922 London production

Phi-Phi is an opérette légère in three acts with music by Henri Christiné and a French libretto by Albert Willemetz and Fabien Solar.[1] The piece was one which founded the new style of French comédie musicale, the first to really use the latest rhythms of jazz (one-step, fox trot) along with a plot which emphasised comedy – with risqué dialogue of puns and anachronisms – more than the romantic style, which had predominated before.[2] The story concerns a sculptor, his wife, and their attractions to, respectively, a model and a prince, as well as a disastrous gambling loss by the sculptor's secretary.

The piece opened in 1918, running for three years. Its success of the piece prompted imitators in Paris such as Le petit Phi-Phi (3 March 1922) and Les amants de Phi-Phi (13 March 1923). It also led to a spate of similarly titled stage works: Clo-Clo, Dédé, You-You and Pan Pan.[3] A 1922 London production, in English, was also successful.

  1. ^ Gänzl, Kurt. "Henri Christiné" in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.
  2. ^ Traubner, Richard. Operetta, a theatrical history. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1983.
  3. ^ Brinde-Jont-Offenbach J. L'opérette. In: Cinquante Ans de Musique Française de 1874 à 1925. Les Éditions Musicales de la Librairie de France, Paris, 1925.