La Périchole is an “opéra bouffe” (a genre of late 19th century French operetta) & musical comedy, based on a piece written by Offenbach and staged extravagantly by Jérôme SAVARY. Its title character is based on Micaela Villegas (1748-1819), a beloved Peruvian entertainer and the famous mistress of Manuel de Amat y Juniet, Viceroy of Peru from 1761 to 1776. La Périchole contains caricature and also parody; its plot is not a pretext to be sung but tells a story that concerns two impoverished Peruvian street-singers too poor to afford a marriage license, they travel to Peru where Don Andrès the local Viceroy likes to roam the streets incognito. Charmed by La Périchole he takes her onto his staff on condition she takes a husband of convenience. The Viceroy’s equerry chooses none other than Piquillo who, desperate about the disappearance of his lover, turns up at the wedding blind drunk not realising who he is to marry. Piquillo ends up in gaol and when Périchole tries to rescue him by subterfuge, she ends up there too. The lovers’ escape and when Périchole sings the Viceroy the Ballad of Augustus’s Clemency obtains his pardon.

Jérôme SAVARY, the 'ordinary magician' of French theatre, made his avant-garde directorial reputation with his Grand Magic Circus.  As actor, director, and scriptwriter, he gave clowns, magicians, acrobats, bareback riders, and high-wire artistes a new life in the theatre. And he gave some plays and operettas a new life as well. After creating the "Compagnie Jérôme Savary" in 1965, He has remained active, producing diverse works such as “La Périchole” (1982). He headed the Théâtre National de Chaillot from 1988 to 2000 and had since become director of the Opéra-Comique till 2007.