A page turns for an emblem of Parisian nights which attracted tourists from all over the world: the cabaret Le Lido, one of the symbols of the tradition of the review, will give way to a “musical performance hall”, decided its buyer, the hotel giant Accor.
The management of the Lido presented Thursday to staff representatives “a reorganization project” which, in fact, will result in the disappearance of the permanent troop. She promises instead “the creation of a renewed musical theater programming, as well as an overhaul of the dinner show and review model”.
Created in 1946 by the Clérico family and famous for its house troupe, the “Bluebell girls”, dancers dressed in feathers with endless legs and a haughty bearing, the Lido has suffered a lot like the whole sector, from closures linked to the crisis sanitary. In 2020, the turnover of cabarets and music halls collapsed by 80%.
The new project at the Lido aims to “give back to this Parisian hall its full place in the concert of the French, national and international creative scenes (…) thanks to an ambitious new artistic line”, announced in a press release the management.
A job safeguard plan is planned including “the elimination of 157 permanent positions” out of 184, “mainly within the room and artistic services”, accompanied by “reclassification and retraining measures” for employees, he added. she detailed.
This concerns in particular “about sixty people” from the “artistic plateau”, underlined a union source to AFP, according to which the majority of the employees of the Champs-Élysées cabaret which celebrated its 75th anniversary last year, are close to retirement.
This project “will be done in agreement and in consultation with the social partners, there will be no storm”, assured this trade unionist, concluding: “The review of the Lido, it is finished”.
A retirement after 75 years of reviews
In December 2021, the French hotel giant Accor, at the head of 5,300 hotels in 110 countries, had bought the loss-making cabaret for years from the collective catering group Sodexo, its owner since 2006.
The latter had failed to relaunch the place whose “cumulative losses amount to 80 million euros over the last decade”, said its management on Thursday.
“It is an emblem of the Place de Paris which is disappearing, a bit of the image of France in the world”, commented to AFP a specialist in shows in the capital not wishing to be quoted, for whom this disappearance is “desperate”.
The Lido will now create original shows under the direction of Jean-Luc Choplin, former director of the Théâtre du Châtelet, who was also a programmer for La Seine Musicale, according to concordant sources. Its management assured Thursday to provide “significant investments in the renovation of the facilities”.
Sodexo sells the Lido to Accor
In 2015, the establishment began its metamorphosis by modernizing its review under the leadership of Belgian director Franco Dragone, who had worked for Cirque du Soleil and organized spectacular shows, including that of Celine Dion in Las Vegas. However, this relaunch did not meet with the expected success.
At the beginning of December 2021, Sodexo announced that it would sell the cabaret, a “separate activity in the portfolio” of its subsidiary Sodexo Live! which “no longer fit into its growth strategy”. The group then explained that it wanted to refocus on catering and the services developed with the Lenôtre, Bateaux Parisiens, Batobus and Yachts de Paris brands.
The artistic activities branch of the FO union will be “vigilant that the interests of employees are preserved”, indicates the majority union at the Lido in a press release. “We want support, both material and psychological, to be put in place by the Accor group and to reclassify as many employees as possible”. A period of negotiation of the terms of this plan with the social partners is now beginning.