Since 1996, driven by Nathalie Poirée, Compagnie Comme Si, now called Come See Entertainment has produced and co-produced with Josette Milgram-Todorovitch's help (StayLa Multimédia) several musical shows created by Isabelle Georges et Frederik Steenbrink both in France and worldwide: Une étoile et moi, Padam Padam, Broadway en chanté and Chante !

This year, Isabelle and Frederik have received an official invitation to perform at the largest arts Festival in the world: The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The proposed venue, Assembly Checkpoint, is considered the best choice for cabaret and musical performances and the 19h25 time slot could not be better!

Taking part in the festival has a cost and confronted with the present climate of uncertainty and the reduction of subventions for the arts in France, these are costs that Come See Entertainment alone cannot realistically assume. It’s for this reason that, with Isabelle and Frederik’s accord, we have decided to submit our project to « Crowdfunding », allowing our friends, family, fans… to help finance the project in exchange for a reward.

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Isabelle Georges Georges presents « Oh Là Là! »

When I was a kid, my grandmother, Pauline Campiche, composer and pianist, would regale me with tales of “l’Écluse”, the Parisian cabaret where she had so often performed and where, on a stage no bigger than a postage stamp, everything was possible…

I often think about the creative effervescence and atmosphere she described in her marvellous stories starring Barbara, Jacques Brel, Raymond Devos… and every time she mentioned the place, her favourite expression was of course « Oh là là ! »

With this joyful expression in mind and conscious, that recent events in Paris, have meant that freedom and joy are far too often threatened nowadays, I began imagining a real 'Tour de chant' in the pure tradition of French music-hall, inviting audiences to discover or rediscover French songs that have played such a major role in the world of music; the world in which I grew up. I revisited this incredible inheritance, choosing standards and unknown gems, with an emotional or comical dimension and added new material with the aim of finding meaning and poetry in a world where everything seems to go far too fast. To quote Leonard Bernstein, my grand-mother's favourite: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before!"

To honour my grand-mother's « Oh là là ! », I created a mixture of songs and stories of love, survival and dreams in a thundering 'tour de chant'. A hymn to life!

The musical arrangements by Thierry Boulanger and Thibault Lepri, bring new perspective to both the standards and lesser-known songs with boldness but with respect.

Last but not least, this challenge would not be remotely possible without my amazingly talented musicians and friends: Frederik Steenbrink, Jérôme Sarfati, Édouard Pennes, David Grebil and Adrien Sanchez.

Together, we’ve constructed a musical bridge between yesterday and today with an incomparable mixture of jazz and cabaret. « Oh Là Là ! »

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A few words from our guardian angel and muse, French actor Jean-Claude Dreyfus

T’enchante…

… Si j’étais un pas de claquettes, c’est rare de vouloir devenir un pas de danse, d’être celui qui fait entendre un son sec du talon et transmet par sa musicalité tout un art de vie, toute une harmonie qui part du sol pour remonter par le corps jusqu’aux cordes et entendre vibrer de meme temps la salle emballée par le talent...

Oui, si j’étais une vocalise émergent du coup de ballet chorégraphique, je serais tout entier cette femme belle et incroyable, séduisante et par surcroît française, car si elle transmet à l’américaine son show à la perfection, elle a cette tendresse et humanité qui n’a d’égal, que mon régal à la dévorer sur scène à chaque nouvelle création…

Je voudrais être ce talon qui claque avec magie portant ces jambes et ce corps jusqu’à ton visage mutin qui nous conte tant d’histoires d’amour musicales...

Oui, Mademoiselle Georges, comme la Bernhardt nous vous attendons, vous espérons et vous aimons !

La grande Isabelle Georges, c’est Vous.

A Toi, Isabelle amitieusement,

Jean-Claude Dreyfus

Why the Edinburgh Fringe Festival ?

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world. Every year thousands of performers take to hundreds of stages all over Edinburgh to present shows for every taste. From big names in the world of entertainment to unknown artists looking to build their careers, the festival caters for everyone and includes theatre, comedy, dance, physical theatre, circus, cabaret, children's shows, musicals, opera, music, spoken word, exhibitions and events. In 2014 there were 49,497 performances of 3,193 shows in 299 venues, making it the largest ever arts festival in the world.

Producers and programmers from all over the world (England, Germany, The United-States of America, Australia, Asia...) come to the festival in search of shows and artists who will perform in their festivals and theaters for seasons to come.

« Oh Là Là ! » is programed by Assembly Festival. Based in Edinburgh, Assembly Festival is the oldest multi-venue operator at the Edinburgh Fringe. The company, led by William Burdett-Coutts, works all-year-round in order to deliver the highest quality entertainment to live audiences of more than 500,000 in Edinburgh, London and Brighton.

The title of the show « Oh Là Là ! » is a priceless asset! This typically French expression is known all over the world and many of the programmers visit the Edinburgh Fringe with a keen interest in French culture.

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Oh Là Là ! au Fringe Festival d'Édimbourg 2015

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