Joséphine Baker, Le Musical

For a night out that will feel très parisienne may I suggest a visit to Rue de la Gaiété in the 14th arrondissement? Hop off metro line 13 at the Edgar Quinet station and you are at one end of this bustling little road where excited chatter fills the air. The cafés are full to bursting with people, many of them enjoying pre-theater drinks.  You may think that if your French is shaky or non-existent then a visit to a Paris theater is not for you. But you are wrong, at least currently, because an excellent evening awaits you at the Théâtre Bobino, where Josephine Baker Le Musical is playing every Wednesday evening until the end of January. 

It’s a chance to relive a little piece of Parisian theatrical history. The Bobino, named after a popular Italian clown, opened in 1873 and soon began drawing large crowds for musical-hall entertainment. After World War I, it gradually became one of the city’s top musical venues, its stage graced by many big names including Édith Piaf, Dalida and George Brassens. Its late 20th century history was a little chequered, but since 2010 it has gone from strength to strength under new management.          

To see a musical about Josephine Baker here is particularly poignant, for it was in in this theater that she gave her very last performance on April the 8th, 1975. Fifty years after first delighting audiences on the Bobino stage, she returned for a “comeback tour” at the age of 68 and gave a memorable opening performance featuring Me revoilà, Paris (Paris, I’m back) and a host of songs which had been special to her during her long career. Sadly, she died just days later, having been found unconscious in her bed, surrounded by glowing reviews of her new show in the Paris press.  

The current show has been described as a musical biopic. It tells the story of her life from, as script and song writer Jean Hadida puts it, Missouri where she was born in 1906, to the Panthéon, where she was entombed in 2021. The tale is a complex one. The little mixed-race girl with the enormous talent overcame many obstacles to take the Paris theater world by storm and went on to show courage in the Resistance in World War II, then humanity and compassion in the fight against racism in the 1960s and 70s.   

The singer and dancer Nevedya plays the title role, leading the cast through a succession of scenes, many uplifting, others heart-rending. There’s music a-plenty, including songs made famous by Josephine herself, such as Les deux amours and La Tonkinoise, plus specially written music and dance numbers which, together with the dazzling costumes, fill the house with an exuberance which passes straight to the audience. The dialogue is almost all in French, but the music and dance speak to all and if you know the outline story you will surely be swept up in the energy of the performances and be able to follow the action. 

As the show opens, a lone trumpet player is gradually joined by a host of musicians and dancers until a raucous version of When the Saints Go Marching In is in full swing and the scene of Josephine’s American birthplace is unmistakeably set. A change of tone depicts her difficult early life in St Louis, Missouri, neglected and exploited as an overworked servant in a wealthy household which has her lamenting “I’m so sad.” In the local dance troupe she outshines everyone and soon Broadway beckons, depicted in a lively Charleston scene, danced to Yes Sir, That’s My Baby, and popping with color and energy.

Another opportunity beckons when Josephine is recruited to leave the U.S. for Paris. Her astonishment is expressed in words you will surely understand, even if you speak no French: Paris? Moi? La Tour Eiffel? Ok! This section illustrates her almost immediate success as a dancer through the famous danse sauvage – literally, the “wild dance” – that is her banana skirt routine, performed here to a live African drumbeat and plenty of audience clapping-along. She also performs her hit song, J’ai deux amours, mon pays et Paris (“I have two loves, my country and Paris”) and we follow her through the city, seeing snippets of her life: mixing with the 1920s in-crowd at La Coupole, falling in love with the artist and theater designer Paul Colin, acting alongside Jean Gabin in a film made at Studio Pathé. 

There’s a dark side too, not least the racism she faced, for example when her employer, who’s making big money from the crowds Josephine draws to her theater, complains to a companion that she finds her new star vulgar. The serious point is cleverly underlined when the black waiter serving her responds by “accidentally” tipping champagne all over this objectionable woman. There’s a moving scene showing Resistance members gathering during the German occupation of Paris when Josephine explains simply and bravely why she must join them: “France has made me. I’m prepared to give it my life.”  

To follow the later scenes, it will help to know a little about Josephine’s life after the war, especially her commitment to the struggle against racism. She lived it personally, buying a château as a home for her “rainbow tribe,” the 12 children of many nationalities she adopted. She also campaigned tirelessly, as illustrated here in her appearance at the side of Martin Luther King as he delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech with its simple statement that “We are all born equal.” All of this kept her away from the stage, but the grand finale of the show portrays the comeback she had planned to mark her half-century on the Parisian stage and to raise the money she needed to continue providing for her large, adopted family.   

The show ends on a sky-high note. Josephine, sparkling from head to foot in bright blue, flamboyant ostrich feathers forming her matching headdress, descends the central staircase to rapturous applause, just as she did on the night of April 8th, 1975. The cast, clad in gold, fill the stage to perform their high-energy finale. Then the spotlight is back one last time on Josephine as she leads the audience in La Vie en Rose, most famously sung by Edith Piaf, but recorded too by Josephine Baker.   

Reviewers have labeled the show “marvellous,” “amazing” and “unmissable,” but the director and cast must be happiest of all with the comment from Brian Bouillon Baker, one of the adopted sons from Josephine’s rainbow tribe: “Excellent. This is a show worthy of my mother.” If you’re not familiar with the story of this brave and inspiring woman, this show is an excellent way to put that right. If you are, you will surely love it too, for the razzamatazz and colour, for the music and dancing, for the little bursts of humor and the underlying messages of equality and compassion.  

The 50th anniversary of Josephine Baker’s death falls in April, making this show a timely and fitting tribute to one of the 20th century’s most exceptional women, a star, a campaigner, a humanitarian and the first black woman to be inducted into the Panthéon in Paris.

DETAILS

Josphine Baker Le Musical will run on Wednesday evenings at the Théâtre Bobino throughout January. Check ticket availability here.  

Two other shows on the Théâtre Bobino’s current program are also suitable for English speakers: 

1. Black Legends

A tribute to African American music. Selected dates until April 26th, 2025. 

2. La Vie en Rose

An evening of ballet performed by the Italian company, Le Ballet de Milan.

February 4th – 9th 2025