They say that music tames beasts, but it is also known that these absolute statements in the form of adages are little scientific and much approximate. But in this case it does work. We are talking about The Choir Boys, which in a musical version has started performances at the Tivoli Theater in Barcelona, ??where it will be until April 7.
Originally, The Choir Boys was a French film with a Swiss co-production, which was released in 2004. Before, in 1945, it had had a previous one, La cage aux rossignols, but it was the one of the 21st century, by the producer, filmmaker and actor Christophe Barratier, which was so well received by the public that today it is considered one of the great successes of French cinema. The emotionality of the story of the singing children also spurred the recovery of choral singing in general and white voice choirs in particular.
The story of The Choir Boys is set in post-world war France, in 1949, and takes place in a boarding school for children. It is a center for problem children, which the school director, Rachin, played by Rafa Castejón, runs with an iron fist. His educational system is tough and demanding, convinced that discipline is the only tool capable of bringing order to these complicated students.
On the other side is Clément Mathieu, played by Manu Rodríguez, who arrives as a new teacher at the boarding school and will use affection and enthusiasm as tools to make the students fall in love with music. Rachin is against the professor’s educational system, and this causes continuous conflict throughout this emotional story.
The two characters, the director and the teacher, are the antagonists of this musical, since the educational methods of each one are at opposite extremes. Through his classes, Professor Mathieu discovers the great talent that some of the children have for singing.
Among the students, Pierre Morhange stands out, a conflictive child raised only by his mother, who in the film version is a highly prestigious musician who has triumphed on an international scale. The teacher will end up falling in love with that boy’s mother, so the stories will be interwoven and resolved.
The end of the story is that the choir that Professor Mathieu has managed to form against all odds and against all the problems he has encountered, especially from director Rachin, is so successful that he manages to rescue the school from bankruptcy and It also ends up transforming the daily lives of these children. Music is revealed as a great remedy and healer for many of the problems that mark the daily lives of these children.
The adult cast is completed with Iván Clemente, Chus Herranz, Eva Diago, Xisco González and Jorge Lucas. And the children’s cast, which plays the boarding school students, is its own choir, which has been formed expressly for this show by the pianist Nicolás Martín Vizcaíno. It is a combination of musical training school to be part of the musical company.