After the success of several musical shows, the house of Molière ventures further on the field of the song with the release of his very first album, in which his residents reinterpret classics of Serge Gainsbourg.
By Grégoire bevel
They are necessarily a little annoying since they are beautiful, talented and friendly. They are called Sébastien Pouderoux, Stéphane Varupenne, Yoann Gasiorowski, Benjamin Lavernhe, Noam Morgensztern and Rebecca Marder. They are between 27 and 42 years old and do not just be actors in the Comédie-Française, they sing, play several musical instruments and have just released their first album: a reinterpretation of several classics by Serge Gainsbourg drawn from Their musical show, the Serge (Gainsbourg Point Barre). A first in the history of the house of Molière.
It is not yet quite a real music group, but it is a little more than a collective, that everyone nicknames, here, “the Serge”. Thursday, February 2, three of them are there, at the home of the actors of the Venerable Institution of the Palais-Royal: the two leaders (Sébastien Pouderoux and Stéphane Varupenne) and their drummer, Yoann Gasiorowski (who also serves as keyboard and singer).
This is the big day: their album, the Comédie-Française sings Gainsbourg, has just landed on the platforms. We feel the little thrill of the first times, this mixture of not wanting to take himself seriously, while caressing the ambition to be noticed. They are actors, they would like to say that they are also musicians. “We are 45 fans on Spotify. It starts to climb hard,” laughs Yoann Gasiorowski, eyes on his laptop.
Bob Dylan then Serge Gainsbourg
It’s been a few years since the Comédie-Française sings. At least since Murielle Mayette Holtz, the previous general administrator (2006-2014), launched several musical cabarets. There was Ferré, Brassens, Barbara. But, so far, his actors had never produced music. It started in 2015 with like a stone which…, a exciting show where Sébastien Pouderoux embodies Bob Dylan recording the song like a Rolling Stone. Already his friend Stéphane Varupenne is there too, on the guitar.
In the process, Eric Ruf, the new general administrator, suggests that they put a show around Serge Gainsbourg. None of the two is really a fan or a big connoisseur. But the character inspires the two actors. “The fact that he is not for us an idol gave us great freedom,” comments Sébastien Pouderoux. The duo brings together the rare actors of the troop who play an instrument. The Serge were born.
After a year of rehearsal, their creation, in 2019, is a success. Followed a DVD shot at the Ferber studio in 2020, then the resumption of the show, at the end of 2022 (with Marie Oppert to replace Rebecca Marder, who left the French since). And finally an album. However, the idea of this disc did not even come from them but from the companion of Sébastien Pouderoux. “Probably by humility, we had forbidden to think about it,” breathes Stéphane Varupenne.
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