What if Blade Runner had a baby with Les Mis and that baby REALLY loved synthesizers?
STARMANIA is a cyberpunk rock opera that premiered on stage in 1979. In the near future, most developed countries have merged. Zéro Janvier, CEO of the biggest corporation in "The Occident" (as the new Western state is known) is campaigning to become President on a platform vowing to eliminate the terrorist group The Black Stars and their leader Johnny Rockfort. He has convinced the Stars' information broker Sadia to secretly work for him, while also courting the retiring film star Stella Spotlight. Meanwhile, Johnny Rockfort plans to kidnap television sweetheart Cristal, but he falls in love with her instead. Overlooking all this is Marie-Jeanne, a waitress in the café where the Black Stars meet, and her friend Ziggy, an obsessive David Bowie fan whose dearest wish is to appear on Cristal's music program STARMANIA. The show recounts these entwined love stories set in parallel, touching also on themes of terrorism, totalitarianism, and an individual's right to decide his own destiny.
Score
Michel Berger's synth-rock score that aged weirdly well.
Production
Gloriously dated cyberpunk aesthetic—neon, leather, earnestness.
Acting
Martine St-Clair's Cristal: manufactured sweetness with genuine ache.
Director
Gérard Pullicino
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Starmania predicted reality TV politics decades early—Cristal as manufactured celebrity, Janvier as corporate candidate. Pullicino filmed the 1990 stage revival, preserving a show that's become Québec cultural scripture.
Luc Plamondon's lyrics originally targeted 1970s Québec politics, but the 1991 film version feels eerily prescient about 2016-era populism. Norman Groulx and Richard Groulx are brothers playing enemies—casting choice or weird coincidence?
FR
