Phi-Phi is an opérette légère in three acts with music by Henri Christiné

Henri Christiné

Henri Marius Christiné was a French composer of Swiss birth.The son of a French Savoyard watchmaker, Christiné was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He began by teaching at the lycée in Geneva, while pursuing his interest in music and playing organ in a local church...

 and a French libretto by Albert Willemetz

Albert Willemetz

Albert Willemetz was a French librettist.Albert Willemetz was a prolific lyricist. He invented a new type of musical, with a humorous and "sexy" style...

 and Fabien Solar. 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

One-Step

The One-Step was a ballroom dance popular in social dancing at the beginning of the 20th century.Troy Kinney writes that One-Step originated from the Turkey Trot dance, with all mannerisms of the latter removed, so that "of the original 'trot' nothing remains but the basic step".The 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. The 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

Dédé (opérette)

Dédé is an opérette or musical comedy in three acts with music by Henri Christiné and a French libretto by Albert Willemetz. It marked an important milestone in developing the career of Maurice Chevalier.-Performance history:...

, You-You, Pan Pan... A 1922 London production, in English, was very successful.

Performance history

Phi-Phi opened on 12 November 1918, directly after the end of the First World War, at the Bouffes-Parisiens. After about three months it became a major hit, running for three years. A Paris revival was very successful in 1979-80.

An English-language production premiered at the London Pavilion

London Pavilion

The London Pavilion is a building located on the corner of Shaftesbury Avenue and Coventry Street on the north-east side of, and facing, Piccadilly Circus in London...

 on 16 August 1922. It starred Stanley Lupino

Stanley Lupino

Stanley Lupino was an English actor, dancer, singer, librettist, director and short story writer.-Early career:Lupino began his career as an acrobat and made his stage debut in 1913 and first became known as a music hall performer and played in pantomimes at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane...

, Evelyn Laye

Evelyn Laye

Evelyn Laye, CBE was an English theatre and film actress.-Early years and career:Born as Elsie Evelyn Lay in Bloomsbury, London, Laye made her first stage appearance in August 1915 at the Theatre Royal, Brighton as Nang-Ping in Mr...

, Arthur Roberts and Clifton Webb

Clifton Webb

Clifton Webb was an American actor, dancer, and singer known for his Oscar-nominated roles in such films as Laura, The Razor's Edge, and Sitting Pretty...

. The translation was by Fred Thompson

Fred Thompson (writer)

Frederick A. Thompson, usually credited as Fred Thompson was an English writer, best known as a librettist for about fifty British and American musical comedies from World War I to World War II. Among the writers with whom he collaborated were George Grossmith Jr., P. G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton and...

 and Clifford Grey

Clifford Grey

Clifford Grey was an English songwriter, actor, librettist and Olympic medalist. His birth name was Percival Davis, and he was also known as Clifford Gray, Tippi Gray, Tippi Grey, Tippy Gray and Tippy Grey.As a writer, Grey contributed prolifically to West End and Broadway shows, as librettist and...

, and the score included additional songs by Herman Darewski

Herman Darewski

Herman Darewski was a British composer and conductor of light music. His most successful work was perhaps The Better 'Ole, which ran for over 800 performances in its original London production in 1917...

, Nat Ayer

Nat Ayer

Nathaniel Davis Ayer was a British-U.S. composer of popular music, including the hits Oh, You Beautiful Doll and If You Were the Only Girl . He was the father of actor Harold Ayer , who lived in California, and Nat Ayer Jr. Nathaniel Davis Ayer (August 5, 1887 in Boston, Massachusetts -...

 and Cole Porter

Cole Porter

Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...

. This became a hit, playing for over 1,000 performances in London.

A French film version was made in 1926, and it is still revived from time to time in France. It was recorded for French Radio in 1956.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 12 November 1918 (Conductor: -)
Phidias Phidias Phidias or the great Pheidias , was a Greek sculptor, painter and architect, who lived in the 5th century BC, and is commonly regarded as one of the greatest of all sculptors of Classical Greece: Phidias' Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World... , sculptor (Phi-Phi)	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	André Urban
Le Pirée, his servant	bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...	Dréan
Pericles Pericles Pericles was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age—specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars... , a statesman	baritone	Michel Barré
Ardimédon, a foreign prince	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Ferréal
Madame Phidias	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Pierrette Madd
Aspasie	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Alice Cocéa
First dancer	-	Yvonne Vallée Yvonne Vallée Yvonne Vallée was a French actress.She was born Marguerite Yvonne Vallee in Bordeaux in 1899.Vallée was the wife of Maurice Chevalier from 1927 to 1933.She died in Vallauris, France in 1996, aged 97....
Second dancer	-	Luce Wolter
First model	soprano	Biana Monti

Act I

The sculptor Phidias (Phi-Phi) has received a commission to create a group representing 'L’amour et la Vertu fondent le Bonheur Domestique' ('Love and Virtue are the Foundation of Domestic Bliss'). After having looked over many models for 'la Vertu', he chooses Aspasie, a charming girl whom he had met in the streets of Athens. The girl pays him a visit, and he gets overcome by her attractions. Protecting herself from his advances with her umbrella, she breaks the arms off the Venus de Milo

Venus de Milo

Aphrodite of Milos , better known as the Venus de Milo, is an ancient Greek statue and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. Created at some time between 130 and 100 BC, it is believed to depict Aphrodite the Greek goddess of love and beauty. It is a marble sculpture, slightly...

 and the head from the Winged Victory of Samothrace

Winged Victory of Samothrace

The Winged Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace, is a 2nd century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike . Since 1884, it has been prominently displayed at the Louvre and is one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world.-Description:The Nike of Samothrace,...

...

Madame Phidias enters and makes jealous comments to her husband. Aspasie leaves. Alone with Le Pirée, secretary and confidant of her husband, Madame Phidias, as a faithful spouse, tells him how she had encountered a handsome young man who has been pursuing her. This is none other than Prince Ardimédon, who now enters. Embarrassed, Madame Phidias leaves Le Pirée with the prince; Phi-Phi returns and after trying to sell him some sculptures (and his wife) engages the young man as the model for 'L’Amour'.

Act II

Le Pirée having lost money at the races using Phidias’s sculptures as wagers, the models agree to pretend to be the works of art. Pericles makes a visit to the sculptor and with Phi-Phi away, meets Aspasie; he too is overcome by her charms. (Her song imitates the refrain of "Je suis toujours tout étourdie" from Manon

Manon

Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...

).

Pericles leaves and Madame Phidias comes in. She quickly gets rid of Aspasie telling her that her husband has decided not to use her as a model. Madame Phidias believes that only she can truly represent ‘Vertu’, and reluctantly Phi-Phi agrees. Madame Phidias takes her place beside Ardimédon, but the sculptor is called away, and the prince leads his virtuous partner off to a room nearby.

Act III

Next day back in his studio Phi-Phi finds Ardimédon and his wife in each other’s arms. He commends them for finding such an ideal pose for his sculpture, and sets to work, all the while surprised that his wife has not asked him where he was all night.
Aspasie enters and tells Phi-Phi that she is to marry Pericles : which won’t stop her continuing her liaison with Phi-Phi which was consummated the previous night.

When Pericles arrives he demands that Aspasie is included as one of the models for the sculpture - as 'L’Economie' (thrift), and the work will become 'L’Amour et la Vertu, aidés par l’Economie, fondent le bonheur conjugal'. After some machinations by Le Pirée to recoup his financial losses, all ends happily.