With his Barbe-Bleue, which premiered at the Théâtre des Variétés in 1866, Offenbach turned to derision Charles Perrault’s famous, cruel tale with a libretto by Meilhac and Halévy. The three of them threw themselves into the task, turning their idle, blathering Barbe-Bleue into a caricature of the parvenus of the Second Empire. Which did not prevent, and even aided, the Parisian public’s enthusiasm and the opera’s worldwide success.

Fantastical, caustic, tending towards offbeat comedy and visual gags, Laurent Pelly's style, derived as much from the cinema and graphic novels as classical culture, marvellously shakes up the great composers, and is a perfect match for the fantasies of Offenbach.