The return of the cult musical The ten Commandments appears to be compromised at present. In June 2023, Pascal Obispo announced his intention to relaunch this successful show from the early 2000s. “We met again with singer friends and Albert Cohen [coproducteur, ndlr]who is the progenitor of this musical. […] That’s when Albert decided to start again and relive the adventure after the disappearance of our friend [Daniel Lévi, ndlr]“, said the singer, in an interview given to BFMTV. Subsequently, the first tour dates were revealed on Twitter (now called X). The first performance of this new version of the show was scheduled for March 9, 2024 in Épernay. However, a former collaborator of Pascal Obispo strongly opposed the return of Ten commandments. Indeed, the former producer of this musical, Elie Chouraqui, announced that he had filed a complaint during his time on the show At Jordan’s on C8 Tuesday October 3, 2023.
Elie Chouraqui: “I find it dishonest to take my work and appropriate it”
“I don’t want my show to be ruined, It’s painful for me to know that someone could possibly damage my show. […] There are things that are done and things that are not done […] We created a common, collective work, we all worked together… Today, we cannot say: ‘It’s my music, I redo everything, I take my copyright’. These are things that cannot be done. I filed a complaint […] because I find it dishonest to take my job, to take everything I have done […] and to make it their own”, declared the former producer of Ten commandments. Subsequently, Elie Chouraqui revealed why he has been on bad terms with Pascal Obispo for quite some time. “We haven’t spoken for a long time because he’s a special boy. […] I was disappointed because he was a boy that I loved very much, to whom I gave a lot, I gave my energy, my time, my friendship and he’s a boy who hit me a lot and caused me a lot of pain“he stressed.
The co-author of the musical claims 426,000 euros in damages
Later in the day, The Parisian revealed the nature of the complaint filed by Elie Chouraqui. In fact, the former producer of Ten Commandments took legal action to “copyright infringement, trademark infringement, unfair competition and parasitism”. He is therefore claiming 426,000 euros in damages.but also the ban on the show and the use of the brand “The ten Commandments”. A pleading hearing will take place on Thursday, December 7, 2023 at the Paris judicial court, if the final attempt at mediation between the two parties does not succeed before Friday, October 20, 2023. Contacted by The Parisian, Pascal Obispo does not wish to comment. The singer nevertheless assured that he would not have received “no document” nowadays. “I deplore the fact that the press is informed before us, but this does not surprise me coming from our interlocutor [Élie Chouraqui, ndlr]who tries to make a bad noise to our disadvantage”indicated for his part the producer Albert Cohen, who claims to be in his “right” by restarting The ten Commandments.