Theatre / Le voyage dans la Lune

A voyage of epic proportions

Le Voyage Dans La Lune, aka “A Voyage To The Moon,” is an 1875 French play written and co-directed by Jacques Offenbach, of “Can-Can” fame. It is a very loose adaptation of Jules Verne’s “From The Earth To The Moon” and “Around The Moon,” with the basic premise of moon travel being the only remaining factor alongside the form of travel from the novel.

The play centers around a young prince named Caprice, who dreams of one day going to the moon to meet his sweetheart instead of taking the throne. His father, King Vlan, cares greatly for his son and, with the help of his royal wiseman Microscope, sets out to make this happen. They end up building a massive cannon that will fire themselves to the moon via a bullet shaped rocket, and the three blast off into the heavens. There they meet a strange lunar society, strange moon weather, and witness a Lunarian bridal auction and get arrested for their efforts to stop it.

The play was one of the first depictions of science fiction outside of literature, and played an important role in the lives of both Verne and Offenbach. Not only that, but elements from this play were a major influence for the French film pioneer Georges Méliès in the making of his film “A Trip to The Moon”. Such things include a group of astronomers, who share the same names in both the Offenbach play and the film, some tricks such as the astronomers stools transforming into telescopes, a snowstorm on the moon, the famous zoom in on the moon which was achieved on stage via a magic lantern projection, and much more.

It fell into obscurity until it was performed in 1986 at Le Grand Theatre De Genève, and subsequently recorded for television. A German run was also performed around this time, however this one was much shorter. It also received a recording in 1956, and several smaller performances over the years. Besides his most famous work, Orphee Aux Enfers, it is one of his other most famous plays with the overture being featured in various works over the years, such as the jukebox musical Moulin Rouge!

For the Jules Verne story, see here

For the Méliès film see here

The 1986 revival can be watched here in its original French version.

The musical provides examples of:

• Absent-Minded Professor: Microscope to a certain degree. His actions are at times rather clumsy, but when getting something done he’ll most often times do it. Almost. See Alcohol-Induced Idiocy.
• Adaptation Distillation: Subverted, as the play became far less known than the Jules Verne books it was based on.
• Adaptation Expansion: Adds more elements that were merely glanced upon in the original Verne stories such as aliens, life on the moon, lunar weather, and so on.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: During the bridal auction Microscope is sent to outbid the other bidders for Caprice. He is then given lunar wine to drink, and proceeds to get wasted and pass out.
• All Musicals Are Adaptations: One of, if not, the earliest example of this trope. Offenbach would later go on to adapt another Jules Verne story in the form of “Doctor Ox.” Jules Verne himself would also adapt some of his more popular novels such as Around The World In 80 Days, Michel Strogoff, and others.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: In the form of snowflakes that perform a ballet.
• Archnemesis Dad: King Cosmos starts off this way with him getting fed up with his daughters antics and sends her to a bridal auction, that is until he is given a swig of spiked wine that has apple juice in it thus making him more loving and caring.
• Auction: One of the bridal variety. On the moon, single men bid for a woman to be their mate and is a major plot point of the play. This is due in part to the citizens of the moon having no romantic feelings for one another, that is until everyone discovers a magical fruit that makes them fall in love with one another and the auctions fall apart. See Tempting Apple.
• BFG: The size of the cannon, in the original stage version, is so massive that it rises above an entire village and beyond.
• Bittersweet Ending: The original play ends with the characters being sent to a volcano to wither away, until they find their original rocket and blast off for earth. The play doesn’t say whether they made it back or not, as it ends with the lunar chorus singing one final song as the curtains close.
• Big Beautiful Woman: Popotte, Microscope’s Lunar Love Interest.
• Bold Explorer: Caprice, as evidenced by his character building song early on. He says how he’s seen the world and everything in it, and now longs to go for the moon.
• Braving the Blizzard: Except this blizzard dances.
• Chekhov's Volcano: In the third act, one serves as the cannon to fire the group of humans, including Princess Fantasia, back to earth.
• Cloudcuckoolander: The denizens of the moon are a bit odd to say the least.
• The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Needless to say the astronomers at the academy look quite dumb after the characters arrive in the lunar kingdom.
• Cool Starship: The bullet-shaped rocket
• Court Jester: King Cosmos has one in the form of Cactus.
• Crowd Song: The revival features a song called “Time Is Money,” sung after a rich Lunarian wins the auction for Princess Fantasia.
• Curtain Call: Happens alongside the can-can dance in the revival.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: In the form of the bride auction. The main characters are horrified to learn such a thing exists, but thanks to Caprice introducing the love-inducing apples, the auction tanks in attendance.
• Exactly What It Saysonthe Tin
• Fanservice: A ballet of anthropomorphic snowflakes in skimpy tights comes towards the middle of the play. Of course there are also can-can dancers at the end.
  • The 1986 revival goes even further by including full frontal nudity at certain points, but only the breasts.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: King Cosmos
• Farce
• The Good Chancellor: Microscope
• Human Aliens: The play originally featured humans in outlandish costumes as the Lunarians, with no other masks or makeup. The 1986 performance subverts this as some of the aliens are shown to be green Rubber-Forehead Aliens.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Microscope, when he isn’t passed out drunk...
• Interplanetary Voyage: One of the first stage versions of this trope.
• In Name Only: The only things carried over from the Jules Verne story are the cannon, rocket, and Triptothe Moon Plot.
• "I Want" Song: Caprice sings one halfway through act I.
• Lunarians: One of the earliest examples of this trope, and predates the H.G. Welles story by 25 years.
• Medley Overture: The overture features an instrumental version of the song “Li Neige”.
• Melancholy Musical Number: Being an operetta and therefore early musical, this play had a few of these.
• Modest Royalty: Subverted in that King Vlan does often proclaim his place on the throne, but his costume in all versions of the play say otherwise. Instead of a crown he wears either a tall pointy hat, or has his hair in knots.
  • Played straight with Caprice, as he wears a grey jacket with white shirt, matching pants and black boots.
• No Ending: The original play has this, but the revival Averts this entirely as there is an epilogue included to end the story.
• Pop-Star Composer: The fact that this play is known at all these days comes purely from the fact that it is an Offenbach production. Had he not been involved with it, it probably would’ve fallen into obscurity and been lost forever.
• Punny Name: The astronomers all have names based around scientific and mathematical terms such as Cosinus, Parabase, and Omega.
• Rebel Prince: Caprice
• Robe and Wizard Hat: The astronomers wear this in the original version.
• Scenery Porn: The original sets◊ designed◊ for the play look absolutely gorgeous, and sadly only sketches of the backgrounds and stereograms exist today.
• Science Fantasy: Falls more in the direction of fantasy, as the science fiction aspects are mainly a stylistic choice.
• Signature Scene: The play features several:
  • The Casting of The Gun
  • The Firing of The Gun
  • A scene involving a live camel
  • The auction scene
  • The snowflake ballet
  • The volcano eruption at the end
• Space Is Cold: Played straight, as the moon frequently has snowstorms on its surface. There is even a whole song about it. (In French of course…)
• Spectacle: The play was a product of the “Feerie” genre, a style of play with lavish sets, costumes, effects, and props to tell a fantastical story.
• Steampunk: Zigzagged
• Steel Mill: We see the cannon being constructed in one towards the end of act I.
• Stupid Scientist: The astronomers of the Royal academy scoff at the princes ideas of building a rocket to the moon, and subsequent life on the moon, and deny them help in the project. They are then fired from their positions shortly thereafter.
• Tempting Apple: A major plot point of the play is that on the moon, the inhabitants have no romantic attractions to one another. That is until it’s discovered when Princess Fantasia, Caprice’s love interest, takes a bite of an apple that causes her to fall in love with him. Soon after the whole kingdom becomes overrun with lovebirds, and the king puts his daughter in one of their bridal auctions out of frustration.
• Upper-Class Twit: Quipasseparla is a rich entrepreneur who wins Fantasia at the auction. He is shown to be a snobbish and terrible person.