C’est Magnifique! A First Look as French Film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Comes to Life on Stage

Kneehigh Theatre Company, the imaginative British group behind Broadway’s recent multimedia romance Brief Encounter, has a new creation hitting the London stage: a musical reimagining of that classic of French cinema, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Catherine Deneuve starred in the 1964 Jacques Demy film, and Olivier Award winner Joanna Riding and cabaret artist Meow Meow star in this stage version of the tale of young French auto mechanic Guy Fouchier, who falls in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic umbrella shop. Directed by Kneehigh artistic director Emma Rice with lyrics translated by Sheldon Harnick, the show will premiere at the Curve Leicester before bowing at the West End’s Gielgud Theatre on March 5. Click through to see Steve Tanner’s production photos of this technicolor treat.