ABSTRACT
Summing up the findings of the volume, this chapter explores which of the myriad myths linked to Paris are of particular relevance for the 33 musicals discussed in the 18 essays. It turns out that throughout the last 115 years the characterisation of the French capital as a place where people can experience ‘personal freedom’ has maintained its importance for the stage and screen musical, which also hold on steadfastly to the association of Paris as a city of love and romance. While the reputation of the metropolis for ‘vitality’ and ‘sexual freedom’ has diminished over the decades. the genre has yet to discover or to react to the socio-economic developments which have shaped Paris from the mid-1950s onwards.
