Bernadette de Lourdes will arrive in the United States with the help of a Wall Street Catholic

Pierre Ferragu considered it providential when he met with the production team behind the great French musical Bernadette of Lourdeswhich is currently preparing for a US tour in 2025, and will be performed at the National Eucharistic Congressthis July.

“I simply offered them my help if they wanted to consider at some point bringing the show to the United States,” Ferragu told the National Catholic Register. Born in France, Ferragu currently lives in New York. “(The production team) accepted the offer and called me a few weeks later.”

But Ferragu had no experience in musical theater or the entertainment industry. Rather, he is a Wall Street analyst at New Street Research focusing on the technology, media and telecommunications sectors. Ferragu, a Catholic, saw an opportunity to reach American audiences with the story of Saint Bernadette, the seer of the Virgin of Lourdes.

“You can invite your neighbors to Mass, but, unfortunately, that would be a difficult invitation these days,” Ferragu said. “But you can invite your neighbors to a show or a play, and they’ll probably go.”

Ferragu and the French team plan a tour of Bernadette of Lourdes by 30 cities by 2025. They are currently translating all 17 songs into English.

Premiered in Lourdes in 2019, Bernadette of Lourdes follows the plight and perseverance of 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, played by French singer Eyma, in her acting debut. The Register previously reported on the musicalemphasizing the production’s intention to make a story intended for everyone, not just the Catholic faithful.

This may cause alarm to some of those faithful, but the Register was invited to a private screening of the Paris-recorded musical at Paramount Pictures on June 12. Evoking the power of The Miserablesthe musical drama is a triumph and achieves something largely missing from faith-based American billboards today: art.

Attending the screening were Ferragu, Eyma and six-time Emmy Award-winning actor Kelsey Grammer, who signed on as executive producer of the American version. Grammer did not know about Bernadette beforehand and learned of the musical’s existence through a priest friend.

“I was immediately captivated by this profound work,” Grammer, whose prolific career began on Broadway, told the Register. “Bernadette’s steadfastness in the face of pressure and resistance is universally identifiable.”

Bernadette of Lourdes is directed by renowned Canadian stage director Serge Denoncourt, who initially resisted the project when approached by producer Roberto Ciurelo. Denoncourt reluctantly accepted a plane ticket to see Lourdes firsthand. He then immersed himself in research, studying the surviving transcripts of Saint Bernadette’s interrogation in 1858. He emerged transformed by Bernadette’s testimony, an unbeliever moved to interpret Bernadette’s story in a dramatic way for the general public. With original music by Frenchman Grégoire, the recurring theme of Bernadette of Lourdes is based on a quote from Saint Bernadette herself: “My job is to inform, not convince.”

“What I find strong in Bernadette is her integrity; it would have been easier for her not to say anything,” commented Grégoire. in an interview with a French radio. Grégoire previously composed music to the poems of Saint Therese of Lisieux, in a production published in 2013.

Bernadette of Lourdes depicts Bernadette’s mystical encounters with the Virgin Mary, beautifully showing the famous grotto. The character Bernadette reverently makes the sign of the cross several times, and in the final moments of the musical, Bernadette puts on the habit of the Sisters of Charity.

Like Denoncourt, the actress who plays Bernadette, Eyma, originally from Paris, knew nothing about Bernadette. She was an aspiring singer when auditions were held in Paris. “My father told me he should try it,” she recalled to the Register. “He was intimidating. She had never acted before.” Eyma was offered the role the same day.

Bernadette’s conviction in experiencing the apparitions and conveying the messages she hears from the Blessed Mother, including the message to be called the Immaculate Conception, a key moment in the musical, reminded Grammer of Shakespeare’s quote from Winter’s Tale: “The silence of pure innocence persuades when speaking fails.”

If Bernadette’s encounters with Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (inferred but never seen in the musical) is the central relationship, Bernadette’s relationship with her father, François Soubirous, is the emotional heart of the production. François sing the spectacular number To be just a manplayed by actor David Bán.

For Ferragu, a father of five, embarking on the unknown as a producer of a play testified to the impact of the show both artistically and spiritually. The bold decision to bring the musical work of Bernadette of Lourdes to the United States, rather than as a filmed presentation for release on a streaming platform. streaming or at a distributor like Fathom Events, is unique.

There is no shortage of faith-based films and documentaries these days, Ferragu noted, musicals are a rarity. “The stage, a live performance, is more intimate than a movie or a TV show,” Ferragu said. “We want communities to experience Bernadette’s story together in this special way.” That decision was part of the show’s charm for Grammer, who dreams of Bernadette of Lourdes one day it will be performed in 80 countries.

Of course, Bernadette conquered the big screen more than 80 years ago, with the Oscar-winning epic The Song of Bernadettebased on a novel by Franz Werfel, starring Jennifer Jones, directed by Henry King, and with original music by Alfred Newman.

When Bernadette of Lourdes appear on the American stage next year, Ferragu hopes it will usher in a renaissance of Catholic artistic productions. “Imagine the story of your favorite saint on stage,” he said. “There is no shortage of great stories from our faith tradition.”

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in National Catholic Register.