Opera – Offenbach’s ‘The Dream Waltz’

Jacob’s music box – the one that played the waltz of his mother, who had passed away far too soon – has been broken. To rediscover this precious tune, the young boy embarks on an imaginary adventure full of twists and turns. What if this whole story were true? Director Barthélémy Fortier and conductor Guillemette Daboval drew inspiration from the life of Jacques Offenbach to create a lyrical spectacle sparkling with inventiveness, *La Valse rêvée*, in the style of an *opéra-féérie* pastiche.


It takes us through all the composer’s major works, from *La Belle Hélène* to *Le Roi Carotte*, via *Orphée aux Enfers* and *Les Contes d’Hoffmann*.


Just as children build a den in their bedroom, five singers erect a makeshift theatre on stage, transforming a basin of water into an ocean, a sheet into an ancient toga, and an origami figure into a sailor’s cap. Objects become puppets, bringing to life the stories of a shadow theatre.


A whimsical nod to Jacques Offenbach, to childhood, but also to the marvellous world of opera and theatre, to the magic of the stage and to the power of our dreams.


Currently available online only on the Colmar Municipal Theatre’s website as part of certain 2026/2027 season tickets for the Opéra national du Rhin.