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THE ALCAZAR
Synopsis
Paris, June 1st 1969: a warm spring night in St
Germain-des-Prés. The riots of 1968 are still going on, there is still
turmoil in the street where students roam and labor workers rebel.
The night is warm and the cafes are packed, including
the Alcazar - the famous music hall and Parisian cabaret - where all the
famous stars gather to be seen by night crowds.
Backstage, there is also turmoil. It's the beginning of
the show, last minute panics, screaming fits of the master of ceremony
(Jean-Noel Var.), the pre-show rituals of the gang, the artistes: Marina,
Colette, Francois Cantor, George Valentin, Karl Boris, Charley Girl, Mary
June and the others.
Further, backstage, near the dressing rooms, a woman (Mimi, one of the
dressers) is giving birth; the paramedics, swamped by the riots, are late
and the little Elfie is born at the Alcazar with the help of one of the
transvestites.
Her birth symbolizes the awakening of an era, Parisian
craziness of the seventies, the beginning of transvestitism, liberation of
taboos, the blooming of an entertainment troupe lead by a family purely
involved in the love of the art and who would rather laugh at life than live
its reality.
Los Angeles 2005: A woman tells the story of her
childhood spent at the ALCAZAR through her cabaret-theater performances on a
run down stage.
The film action at the Alcazar is built from Elfie's
memory, as seen through her eyes as a little girl in 1975, in the groove of
her emotions and the impact that the vibrant memory still has on her life.
The film will capture the ambiance of the exuberant and
laughable years, the fireworks of awakening nights, the extravagant taste
for entertainment and laughter, which had a handful of great artistes - Var,
Leo, Aklan - carrying with the dreams and souls this legendary Alcazar
melting pot. It will also capture the fragility and the vulnerability of a
woman exposed to too much too soon.
THE ALCAZAR
by
Elfie Weiss and Violette Villard
In the heart of St. Germain-des-Prés, facing the Pont-Neuf at 62 Rue
Mazarine: stands the Alcazar.
Jean-Noel Var, the founder of the Alcazar used to say: “we are going against
the current of fashion", against the current of common jokes and pale
conventions, at the Alcazar the sun was rising at midnight .
It was joy, laughter, and subversion taking over, the contrary of a serious
spirit. A breath of fresh air for entertainment. The appetite and the
temptation to always play and enjoy, without interference, inhibition, in
the extravagances of pleasure and with the desire to be on stage. The
Alcazar incarnated in the middle of the 1970s a non-conformist spirit of
constant derision, a delirious and tumultuous atmosphere. it was the
avant-garde of café-theater, the melting pot of stand-up comedy reviewed by
Fellini. It was mostly an atypical venue, a springboard for young talents,
and a hotbed for famous stars (Lisa Minelli, Jerry Lewis), who while in
Paris, often got on stage to rehearse or perform their famous songs.
Inspired by the cabaret of the 1930s and Hollywood's musicals, the Alcazar
gave back nobility to cabarets. With a constant circulation of clients who
didn’t hesitate to go on stage from time to time as well as its Bar; the
Alcazar witnessed an incessant procession of talents and frenetic
experiments from different backgrounds, tastes, identities. At the Alcazar,
the real stars were men dressed as women. Those transvestites re-invented
each night with corrosive eroticism the mirror of sexual liberation.
"Marina, Colette, Clara".
At the Alcazar, you could have dinner, drink, and sing, dance, and scream,
laugh at the political figures of the time. At the Alcazar you could do
anything with only one rule: to have fun, in derision and with constant
invention of news performances, mixing parodies from scenes of mythical
movies and impersonations of famous stars, as well as satires of social
mores of the time.
Stars used to come to celebrate their birthdays: on November 20th 1969 for
the 70th birthday of the "Duke", Maurice Chevalier got on stage and sang
"Happy birthday" for him. The Alcazar had become the flagship of
all-important events.
It wasn't a typical French music hall or a revue full of feathers, rows of
legs going up and down, the Alcazar was a kaleidoscope of dance, mime,
transvestitism, performances taking from farce, buffoonery, vaudeville.
You'd come across journalists, writers such as Antoine Blondin, Marguerite
Duras, businessmen such as Onassis, and Baron de Rothchild who used to love
to go on stage to imitate Frank Sinatra. Directors, Francis Ford Coppola,
Roman Polanski were regulars, and also Salvator Dali, Louis Aragon, Romy
Schneider, Charles Bronson, or Bob Fosse who was inspired there in 1970 to
create later on his "Cabaret".
CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS
Of
‘THE ALCAZAR’
Jean-Noel Var: 40/45 years old attractive, salt and pepper hair,
furiously charismatic and a Don Juan, notorious for his bad moods and
politically incorrect behaviour. Owner and master of ceremony of the
Alcazar. Crazy about stage and women. Bisexual. Over playing with his life.
In excess and constant representation. Smoking 80 Gauloise cigarettes per
day and drinking one liter of J&B before getting on stage. A fanatic of
sports and of the aestheticism that Hollywood of the 1930s represented.
Married to Monique, father of 2 little girls Lily and Vivian. Nicknamed "The
magician of the night"
Elfie: Born June 1st 1969 at the Alcazar of Paris, red hair. A woman
with the ways of a little girl, mutating into a femme fatale. An amazon,
free. Non conventional beauty. Daughter of Leo. She was born and spent her
childhood at the Alcazar. Has the moral necessity to testify about her
"sentimental education" via the Alcazar.
Marina: 35 years old man, dark hair, angular face features with an
ambiguous and visceral beauty. Transvestite, brilliant in his imitations of
Joan Crawford or Jean Harlow. Invents each night new costumes out of
nothing, rags that he finds in the trash during morning drifts. Fucked up in
his sexuality, shacking up with the "yellow"(his Chinese lover) and Var.'s
favourites.
Colette: 40 years old man, manly, unrefined compared to Marina. In
rivalry with Marina. Transvestite and also a comical imitator. Initially he
was a waiter. He never found himself attractive. Hates woman and is after
every young man at the bar every night. Madly in love with his butcher:
Richard.
Clara: 30/35 years old man, the roundness of the Alcazar. Bank employee
during the day, transvestite at night, half obese half moon-like, with an
asexual body, very funny, fellinien, non conventional. Best friend of Elfie.
Mary-June: leader of the girls, singer, dancer, sensual, sexual, with an
unscrupulous ambition. Thinks of herself as Marilyn Monroe and already sees
herself on stage on Broadway. The favourite girl of Jean-Noel Var. Raised by
a mother who used to be also a leader in different cabaret. Tired of the
cabaret life, but hungry for success and recognition. Dreams of a simple
life. Sean's lover.
Monique: 40 years old woman, smart and beautiful blond, ex model who
went to law school but never graduated. Married to Var. For 10 years, mother
of two little girls. She gave up everything to be with him, and to live a
family life that she'll never have.
George Valentin: 35/40 years old man. Thin, athletic, and broken
body, hurt by the wear and tear and the degeneration of his muscles. The
most famous French cancan dancer in the world, he joins the Alcazar with his
dancers and costums. He is in love with Sean.
Leo: 35 years old man, robust, happy camper, Var.’s assistant,
flamenco dancer, ostrich, the man of every job, co-creator of the Alcazar,
scapegoat of Var. He was predestined to become a priest instead he became a
dancer. Met up with Var. and became his most devoted collaborator for more
than 30 years. Married to Mimi, one of the dressers who will give birth to
Elfie backstage in the wardrobe.
Francois Cantor: 40/50-year-old man. Average looking. A member of the
communist party going every Sunday to the meetings in his pink stage outfit
to try to sell the programs of the Alcazar. Lead singer of the show. Dancer
as well.
Karl Boris: 40/50 years old man, grand son of Staline, he gets his
notoriety in the cabarets all over Europe with an act call "the Master on
board": he climbs into a barrel full of firecrackers and explodes himself on
stage every night. At the Alcazar he breaks about 30 plates on his head each
night.
Alain Aklan: 40/50 decadent aristocrat, bisexual, taking himself for
the guru of the Alcazar.Set decorator and creator of the nights of St
Germain des Pres, he associated himself to the Alcazar as the decorator and
transvestite as well. He is stingy and dirty.
La Nostral: 35/40 years old man, midget. La Nostral starts his career
as an actor in Jean Cocteau's movies, then starts working as a transvestite
in many cabarets in Paris. Bisexual, known to be the lover of the most
beautiful women as well as men in Paris.
Charley Girl: 70/75 years old man, the veteran of the Alcazar,
favourite of the Mistinguette (famous French singer of the thirties),
homosexual, dandy, precious, proud and sensitive, Austrian Jew marked by his
exile during the war. Constantly reminding everyone of his status of "Boy of
the Miss" so he doesn't have to share a dressing room with someone and can
use the wardrobe as his dressing room. He works two shows a night one at the
Folie Bergere where he steals shoes and accessories to furnish the Alcazar.
Sean: 20/25 years old pure beauty, blond, dancer and lover of George
Valentin and later on lover of Mary-June.
The gypsies: Fere de Ravala and his two wives: Amalia and Rosa
The Waiters: La Marcelle, La Roberte, and La Risette.
The dressers: Mimi and Jeanette.
The Dancers: Mylene and Garance.
Richard: the butcher.
Louise: Bar tender