Starmania (partially found footage of French rock opera; 1979)

Album cover of the complete live audio recording released in 1979, from renditions of the show's first version, performed between April 10th and May 3rd, 1979..

Status: Partially found

Tags: France 1979 Starmania rock opera musical show

Starmania is a rock opera by Michel Berger, with libretto by Luc Plamondon, first performed on April 10, 1979 at the Palais des Congrès in Paris. Originally recorded in studio and released in 1978 as "Starmania Ou La Passion De Johnny Rockfort Selon Les Évangiles Télévisés" ("Starmania Or The Passion Of Johnny Rockfort According To The Televised Gospels"), featuring rising stars of the time, the album sold over 2.2 million copies in France alone -the show was a great success, attracting 100,000 spectators in just three weeks. It was so successful that the rock opera was completely revamped in 1988, 1993 and more recently in 2022. It even saw an English adaptation in 1992 by Tim Rice under the name "Tycoon", though this was never officially performed on stage by the original cast.

Availability

The show was a great success and its triumph was widely covered by the French press, being the subject of numerous newspaper articles and TV reports. There are still some public television archives available on the Internet, showing extracts of rehearsals for certain scenes, and sometimes even scenes performed during the show itself.

On December 6, 1979, the complete audio recording of the show, made from various recordings recorded throughout the 3 weeks of performances, was released in a 4-disc vinyl box set, with a booklet containing a brief description of the scenes and plot, and a collection of photos (a box set with 2 cassettes was released simultaneously). The album was remastered on CD in 1991 and again in 2009, with a new booklet featuring new photos and exclusive interviews.

Yet, despite this success, no video recording of the show seems to have been made, either for television or for a future release on home video (certainly because VHS became popular during the 80s) - even though future versions of the show have all been captured and released on video.

Research and clips

Very few research efforts have been made to find videos of the original show, due to its marginal status (this first version was quickly forgotten in favor of the other newer versions, which were shorter, simpler and therefore more accessible). However, over time, documentaries and reports on the history of this work, a few very short extracts from the performances have appeared here and there, often from amateur archives.

In 2017, the documentary "Starmania, l'opéra-rock qui défie le temps" ("Starmania, the rock opera that defies time"), directed by Olivier Amiot, presents for the first time some previously unseen footage seeming to come from both amateur and official archives. Indeed, it has long been rumored that a Warner executive filmed the show in its entirety - it's highly likely that this is the case (it's not uncommon for staff to film the shows they're involved in, even if it's not authorized), although no proof has ever been found.

In December 2018, Youtube user Marc Allart published France Gall's performance of "Besoin d'Amour", apparently interpreted during an evening, or rehearsal: this is the most consequential archive to have come down to us so far. However, as we have no way of contacting them, we can't find out if they have any more extracts from the show. However, the clean cut of the video (which begins and ends exactly when the song starts and ends), the quality of the framing (the person filming seems to be outside the audience) and the good quality suggest that this extract is taken from a longer recording, or that the person filmed other key moments in the show.

Videos

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