Théâtre du Châtelet: The Tidings Brought to Mary Tickets | Event Dates & Schedule | GoComGo.com

The Tidings Brought to Mary Tickets

Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, France
L'Annonce faite à Marie
L'Annonce faite à Marie
L'Annonce faite à Marie
L'Annonce faite à Marie
L'Annonce faite à Marie
L'Annonce faite à Marie
L'Annonce faite à Marie
L'Annonce faite à Marie
L'Annonce faite à Marie
L'Annonce faite à Marie
L'Annonce faite à Marie
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Available Dates: 28 Jan - 3 Feb, 2026 (4 events)
Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Paris, France

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Cast
Performers
Choose the date to see the peformers
Creators
Composer: Philippe Leroux
Director: Célie Pauthe
Librettist: Raphaèle Fleury
Overview

The Tidings Brought to Mary is more than just a tale of a miracle, more than a love story, and more than a study of morals: while it questions both the intimate contradictions of the author, the characters, and the audience, it also challenges amorality, with Claudel arguing, in his exalted text that leaves no one indifferent, that, in and of itself, being Christian does not amount to being a good person.

Summarising The Tidings Brought to Mary would be both futile and pointless, because for more than half a century, Paul Claudel lived with his own characters, whom he described — in an interview with La Croix magazine in 1948 as “a handful of disgruntled tenants who populate the basement of my conscience, never giving me peace.” And, as early as 1912, after several years of writing at his desk, the author was already describing his work as “an opera of speech” in a letter to Lugné-Poe.

Through both the music and the staging, Philippe Leroux and Célie Pauthe have brought the author back to the heart of his writings. While one draws on the codes of medieval illumination by placing the opera’s set in a world that blends the sand pits of the Tardenois region with the writer’s studio, the other plays with voices by combining Paul Claudel’s voice, synthesized and projected through loudspeakers, with those of the singers on stage, thanks to a score that restores the full autobiographical dimension of the text. The Tidings Brought to Mary is a “chamber opera” composed for six voices and a mixed music ensemble, where the musicians of the Ensemble intercontemporain are accompanied by electronics. And here, once again, Paul Claudel is never far away: his calligraphy was used to generate rhythm and harmony. Nevertheless, and because the composer is also an opera enthusiast, the vocal music is, at every moment, in the service of the intelligibility of the text.

Premiered in October 2022 at Angers Nantes Opéra

Co-production: Angers Nantes Opéra, Opéra de Rennes, Ircam-Centre Pompidou

History

L'Annonce faite à Marie (The Tidings Brought to Mary) is a "mystery" in four acts and a prologue by Paul Claudel created on December 22, 1912by the troupe of the Théâtre de l'Œuvre ( Malakoff Hall ) in a production by Aurélien Lugné-Poe in which Claudel himself participated. Although it was not the first play by the author of Le Partage de midi , it was the first play performed. The play was recreated in a new version in 1948 at the Théâtre Hébertot.

Synopsis

In a "conventional Middle Ages," Violaine, daughter of Anne Vercors and engaged to Jacques Hury, meets the architect Pierre de Craon, who once desired her and has since contracted leprosy. Violaine agrees to give him, out of compassion and charity, a farewell kiss. But the scene is overheard by her sister Mara, in love with Hury, and she will do everything in her power to harm her rival. It is at this moment that Anne`s father announces his sudden intention to abandon the prosperity of the family estate to go to the Holy Land, leaving Jacques the patronage of the house and Violaine's hand in marriage.

Following the kiss given to Pierre de Craon, Violaine also contracts leprosy and, denounced by her sister, she finds herself disowned by her family and abandoned by her fiancé, who sends her to a leper colony and marries Mara. She retreats into the sick forest to devote herself to God. But then the child born from Mara and Jacques's marriage dies. Desperate, Mara goes to beg the leper in her cave on Christmas night: she doesn't love her, but she has faith in the virtue of her holiness, which can obtain a miracle from God. Violaine joins her in her prayers and resurrects the child, whose eyes then take on the color of Violaine's blue eyes, whereas they were black like Mara's.

In the following act, Violaine is killed by Mara, still jealous, and before dying, she obtains the forgiveness of her father and husband for the latter. And, while Pierre de Craon's leprosy has been mysteriously cured, Mara finally finds peace in forgiveness, to the sound of the Angelus bells, the first verse of which gives the play its title: Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae ("The angel of the Lord brought the news to Mary"). The story of this young girl Violaine gradually becoming a saint, assimilated to the Virgin Mary, finally gives the meaning of this mystery: the "possession of a soul by the supernatural," as Claudel himself described it.

Venue Info

Théâtre du Châtelet - Paris
Location   2 Rue Edouard Colonne

The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the Place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and 1862. Originally named the Théâtre Impérial du Châtelet, it has undergone remodeling and name changes over the years. Currently, it seats 2,500 people.

The theatre is one of two apparent twins constructed along the quays of the Seine, facing each other across the open Place du Châtelet. The other is the Théâtre de la Ville. Their external architecture is essentially Palladian entrances under arcades, although their interior layouts differ considerably. At the centre of the plaza is an ornate, sphinx-endowed fountain, erected in 1808, which commemorates Napoleon's victory in Egypt.

The Théâtre Impérial du Châtelet was built for Hippolyte Hostein's equestrian company, the Théâtre Impérial du Cirque, whose previous theatre, the Cirque Olympique on the Boulevard du Temple, was slated for demolition by Baron Haussmann to allow the construction of the Boulevard du Prince-Eugène (now the Boulevard Voltaire).

The site for the new theatre was acquired by the City of Paris in October 1859, and construction took place between 1860 and 1862. The interior designers included Eugène Carrières and Armand Cambon, and the curtain was created by Charles Cambon.

The theatre originally seated 2,200 people, although Haussmann claimed it held 3,600. The repertory, fixed by a decree of 20 September 1862, included military works and féeries in one or several acts, as well as dramas and vaudevilles.

For a time it was mainly used for opera performances and concerts. The Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France have played there. In 1993 the Philharmonia Orchestra of London began an annual residency period.

In 2004, Jean-Luc Choplin became artistic director of the theatre. He de-emphasized classical music and dance performances and introduced more lucrative productions of Broadway musicals, including Kiss Me, Kate, Singin' in the Rain, 42nd Street, and An American in Paris.

Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Paris, France

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

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