Posted: 11/10/16 at 8:58am
Recently listend to the Royal Albert Hall version, an when M. Lefèvre is leaving the opera for retirement, he is announcing "I'll be off... to Frankfurt" - is that the place he is going to in all productions, and if so, why Frankfurt? What connection does that town hold to Paris? If not, what destination is he taking and why?
Posted: 11/10/16 at 12:47pm
It's a joke, and one I've always felt falls slightly flat in the stage version. It implies that he's immediately skipping town to get himself far away from the madness going on in the opera house. The line doesn't work unless the audience pays attention to it and knows where Frankfurt is.
In the film, it's changed to "I shall be in Australia," a generalized location even farther away, which makes the joke a bit more obvious. I saw the film several times in theaters and it always got a large laugh.
Updated On: 11/10/16 at 12:47 PM
Posted: 11/10/16 at 3:39pm
I love the show and I never got why Frankfurt either.
Posted: 11/10/16 at 4:24pm
It works better in the UK. The choice of Frankfurt was meant to suggest a town with no cultural profile- so very far off the map of the monde operatique. He would be safe there and never be reminded of his hellish time in Paris.
