In the play "Dalida on the couch", we find on stage a superb duet for a mythical singer and a fragile woman.
Dalida, an unforgettable artist
Dalida: titles that everyone knows from Parole, Paroles, to Mourir sur scène, Gigi l'amoroso, Bambino, Il passé d'être 18 ans, Tico tico… More than 700 songs over a period of thirty years where she knew how to adapt to the evolution of musical styles with ease, singing with all her being, up to her hair, her eyes, well aware to be a star, you have to give your life! Often considered the Callas of varieties , despised by intellectuals who saw in her an indigestible loukoum, the fact remains that many of her songs have a real depth. Creation was for her a means of fighting against death; and above all to fight against boredom, indifference, which are real death! The songs served to mask the emptiness of his life. Being on stage was his only truth. The audience was her husband; the songs her children to whom she gave life with a radiant joy where life triumphed, and where she succeeded in satisfying the need to be loved
Dalida, a fragile woman, a deep woman
Behind the apparent lightness of most of his songs, hides in reality what Oscar Wilde brilliantly called the politeness of despair that are unfortunately far from having all the desperate of the Earth! Dalida loved men sick of their melancholy. She was deeply marked by life with the suicide of three of her lovers, and will end up killing herself with this last message: life is unbearable to me. Please forgive me! Probably a neurosis of destiny, as Freud would say. She was perfectly aware that her life was not really her life, but to those who had chosen her; Always aware also that when someone realizes our dream, it is never free and that there is always a quid pro quo. She has never been spared, well aware that stars are glorified while caricaturing. When you fall like me, misfortune, you make it your business. Life, if you don't cheat a little, you get liquidated or you liquidate yourself, she said. 
Dalida was like an open book in reality. She lived surrounded by friends, to have the illusion of not living alone. She knew that when her friends came to her house, they turned what inspired them into songs. A woman of truth, she has always denounced imposters who say more than they do and has always questioned the interest of leading a life without madness. One of her ultimate wishes was to keep an image of her alive. We think it's largely successful: a lover of the stage, poetry, the Ideal. A Great Lover as there are unfortunately few, in reality, given the eminent risk that this choice of life runs. Lionel Damei and Alain Klingler form an exceptional duo that allows us to feel, to fully experience the two facets of the artist, between joy and despair.
An exceptional duo
Alain Klinger plays the role of the psychoanalyst with a perfect mastery seeking to allow Dalida to overcome his sufferings and wounds, by the words and notes of the piano which he plays perfectly. Lionel Damei embodies the star to perfection, and quickly makes us forget that he is a man, bald moreover. Her presence, at once strong, fragile and sensual and her voluptuous, elegant, delicate voice, surprisingly revive for 1h15 the icon who left us some 35 years ago. An admirable interpretation, a sensitivity without nostalgia, a great complicity of the two actors, everything contributes to make Dalida on the couch a magnificent tribute to the unforgettable singer and the sensitive woman that she was. We leave the theater of the admirable intimate theater of the Foolish Word in the grip of a deep emotion. Shaken, moved, amazed! We can only highly recommend this magnificent show, which will undoubtedly be one of the triumphs of the Off 2022.
Practical information:
Theatre of the Mad Word Rue des infirmières 84000 – Avignon from 7 to 31 July 2022 At 1:30 pm With Lionel Damei: actor, singer, author Alain Klinger: Comedian, singer, pianist, author Perspective and direction: Sophie Lahayville and Christophe Roussel Technical direction: William Burdet Based on the eponymous book by Joseph Agostini, adapted for the stage by Lionel Damei, Alain Klingler and the author.
