Offenbach’s La Périchole is a one of his most memorable scores, a Spanish-inflected, dance-infused entertainment with strong melodies, classic outbreaks of silliness, and moments of tuneful sentiment.

Its neglect is due perhaps to its obscure Peruvian setting, a failed attempt to score socio-political points, and a lead character whose motivation and morals remain stubbornly opaque.

Filmed in 2022, Valérie Lesort’s deliciously daffy production for Paris’s Opéra Comique wisely steers clear of the work’s flaky revolutionary credentials, settling instead for a high-octane dose of anarchy and visual fun.

La Périchole – or La Perricholi – was a real person. Back in the 1770s, Micaela Villegas was Lima’s leading lady, her life immortalised in a one-act play by Prosper Mérimée (whose enthusiasm for all things Spanish found its fullest realisation in Carmen).

Rather than depict her as a theatrical grande dame, Offenbach’s librettists came up with an origin story, presenting her as a street singer fending off (or is she?) the attentions of the lecherous viceroy. If she was more of a ‘woman of the people’, and if the viceroy got his comeuppance, there might be a point to be made.