French Pop: Showtunes Style!

While French musicals aren't as well-known as, say, Andrew Lloyd Weber shows, they're far more pervasive in pop culture. Whenever there's a particularly successful stage show, its soundtrack vaults right up the Top 40 and videos follow; the cast become pop stars and live happily ever after. Think about it; while well-known American actors sometimes take a turn on Broadway, it's rare that a performer starts on Broadway and then becomes a household name.

Not here. There's Garou, whose role as the terrifying Quasimodo in the musical version of Notre Dame de Paris launched him into super stardom; he and two other leads from the musical give Three-Tenors-style concerts. The two leads from Le Roi Soleil (Emmanuel Moire, who played Louis XIV, and Christophe Maé, who played his flamboyantly gay brother) now sell out arenas throughout the country. And now, the latest and greatest show: Mozart, the Rock Opera.

For your enjoyment (if you can manage to, I freely admit it's not my favorite), the Official Video: