Victor Lustig, the man who sold the Eiffel Tower

Published

November 9, 2025

At the turn of a street still buzzing with conversations from the neighboring theaters, a name circulates by word of mouth with a mixture of mischief and curiosity: Victor LustigNot the one who, in the 1920s, achieved the unthinkable: sell the Eiffel Tower to a gullible scrap metal dealer. He is reborn today on stage under the direction ofElsa Bontempelli, a passionate artist who restores the Roaring Twenties to their original brilliance… with that extra touch of soul that only the present can offer.

Discover at the theatre Bobino in ParisDu Wednesday, October 22, 2025 to January 21, 2026 at 20:00 PM, the musical created by EL Production:
Feathers, jazz, tap dancing, and audacious flair: Elsa Bontempelli resurrects one of the most fascinating con artists of the last century, creating a dazzling show that has revitalized the French stage. A spotlight on an elegant, inspired, and already essential creator.

The undertaking might seem crazy: to stage a large-scale French musical, full of live music, tap dancing, 3D sets, Broadway-style choreography, and a plot worthy of a Scorsese film. Yet, from the very first notes, one thing becomes clear: we are witnessing a rare artistic gesture, the one who combines elegance, ambition and a sense of showmanship.

In the meantime, there is no need to worry about it. ”

The classiest con man of the 20th century: a French anti-hero just the way we like them

From Sinatra to Gatsby, the collective imagination adores charmers on the edge of the abyss, chic bandits, those who dance with morality as others dance the Charleston. Frank Abagnale already exists in this pantheon, immortalized on screen by Attrape-moi si tu peux. But Victor Lustig He has this added bonus: he is French, impertinent, and his biggest scheme seems too audacious to be true… until the archives confirm the scam.

In the show, we follow Lustig in his most theatrical and delightfully romantic version: a man who masters the art of lying like others master the violincapable of fooling bankers, millionaires, police officers, and even… Al Capone.

On stage, the scams escalate like cabaret acts: tricks, deceptions, multiple identities, psychological manipulations.
And it's all inspired by real events.

The audience laughs, is outraged, trembles, before finding themselves adoring this brilliant rogue. For Lustig never steals out of necessity. He steals for style.

Before becoming the elusive shadow that deceived the most powerful, Victor Lustig He was a child like any other, born in 1890 in Hostinné, a small town then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Growing up in a modest family, he developed a keen sense of resourcefulness and a pronounced taste for captivating stories from a very young age. A brilliant student, curious about the world, he quickly moved in wealthier circles, which he observed with fascination, not out of envy, but through an instinctive understanding of the mechanisms of power and social seduction. As a teenager, he discovered games, cards, betting… and above all, human psychology. A scar left by a lovers' duel on the benches of a university in Paris would earn him his nickname of “Count Lustig”He was already using his charm and elegance to reinvent himself. This is where the future con man is taking shape: not a thug, but a cunning boy, hungry for life, aware that to exist, he will need more than money, he will need a legend.

A polyglot, elegant, and possessing a keen sense of observation, he could read people like others read a musical score. His masterstroke remains legendary: convincing an industrialist that the French state wanted sell the Eiffel Tower to dismantle it into spare parts… and walk away with the money, without anyone daring to spill the beans about the scam at first. But beyond the facts, what makes Lustig so fascinating is his way of embracing life as a game, a dangerous game, certainly, but one played with panache. He never preyed on misery; he targeted vanities, egos, and certainties, like a mirror held up to society. Seductive, brilliant, elusive, he leaves behind a scent tinged with scandal and tenderness, the scent of characters who disturb us as much as they seduce us, because they reveal a truth we would prefer to ignore: sometimes, we believe what suits us, simply because the story is compelling.

Elsa Bontempelli: grace, audacity, and legacy

Before becoming a director, Elsa Bontempelli was a child of the Music Hall.
Dancer trained to the highest standardsShe was one of the legendary Bluebell Girls of the LidoThese impeccable silhouettes embody French elegance. It is there, beneath the feathers and spotlights, between sparkling costumes and disciplined backstage areas, that she forges a rare perspective: that of an artist who knows the flip side of the dream.

She also inherits a name: Bontempelli. His father, Guy Bontempelli, was one of the finest songwriters of his generation, notably writing for Juliette Gréco, Brigitte Bardot et Charles Aznavour.
An artistic sensibility that flows through the family like a second nature, but which young Elsa does not merely honor: she extends it.

Two shows already under their belt, two successes: The Villains (2019) and Nutcracker! (2022), a daring reinterpretation of Tchaikovsky blending ballet and holograms, praised for its inventiveness.

With Victor LustigShe's reached a turning point. Not out of an artistic whim, but because this project seems to have chosen her as much as she chose it: une A French-style musical comedy… with the soul of Broadway in the Roaring Twenties

What is striking in Victor LustigThis is its acknowledged aesthetic identity: the spectacle fully embraces the Music Hall, its choirs, its paintings, its fluid transitions, its breaks, its feathers, its interaction with the audience, its impeccable tap dancing and its jubilant swing.

The codes of historic Broadway are fully embraced: the choreographed tableaux They flow together with a fluidity that advances the plot while offering genuine moments of entertainment.finely crafted humor subtly oscillates between irony and lightheartedness, and the voices are broadcast livewithout artifice or playback, preserving the authenticity of the Music Hall. In addition to this, there are... flamboyant costumes, worthy of real movie scenes, as well as moving sets magnified by 3D, which transport the audience from one universe to another with the magic and visual effectiveness of great Broadway productions.

In addition to this, there's a distinctly French touch: a look at society, a socio-cultural background, a reflection on money, ego, appearance and guilt.

Because behind the laughter, the staging subtly raises a question: What if we were all, to some extent, complicit in our own illusions?

The music: a toothpick dipped in champagne

It's impossible to talk about this show without mentioning the one who forms its backbone: Music.
It is signed Adrian Delmer, a Californian musician living in Paris, madly in love with interwar jazz.

Delmer does not simply “recreate a vintage atmosphere”.
Il recompose at the source Authentic orchestration, period instruments, arrangements faithful to the style New York – Paris – New Orleans.

Double bass, clarinet, trumpets, violins, piano, drums: the sound texture is lively, warm, full of swingIt feels like being in a smoky Harlem club in 1925 or under the chandeliers of the Apollo Theater.

We close our eyes and we see skyscrapers are being builtFringed dresses twirl, gangsters in trench coats pose in bar corners. The music gives the show what Mel Brooks called “the juice”: the lifeblood of pleasure.

Billie: the woman who steals the thief's heart

Alongside Lustig, a character astonishes, intrigues, and captivates: Billie.
Neither a foil nor a victim, she embodies this generation of women who refuse to stay in the boxes that the 1920s still reserved for the “weaker sex”.

Inspired by Betty Boop and the sensual heroines of the cabaret, Billie is first the one whom Lustig scams… then the one who stands up to him.
She returns, takes her revenge, understands his game… and decides to play it. with him rather than against him.

The romance is neither naive nor saccharine. It's a feline duoA dance of power, ego, charm, and intelligence. Billie doesn't soften Lustig: she softens him. reveals.

Champagne, illusions, and morality in high heels

What the show achieves admirably is the subtlety of its double meaning. We laugh. We marvel. We fall for the con, just like the characters…
But underlying this, a thought emerges:

Is money a reality or a well-told collective fiction?
Lustig is selling the Eiffel Tower, a rational absurdity, but Isn't capitalism itself… a consensual scam?

Without being didactic, the staging invites us to ask questions:
Why do we so easily believe what suits us?
Why do we prefer promises to truth?
What if modern society had made Lustig… its prophet?

A production that dares and succeeds.

Behind this creation, there is EL Production, born from the alliance of Elsa Bontempelli and Laurent Ferry.
A young company which, in five years, has proven that it can dream big without losing its artistic standards.

35 artists and technicians, all united, all driven by this project, prove that live performance can still surprise us, amaze us, take us away from screens for an evening.

Their strength?
Sincerity. Nothing is cynical, nothing is calculated for “marketing”.
You can feel the work, the care, the passion, the pleasure of making something beautiful in order to do good.

So, should we go?

Yes. Three times yes.

To laugh, to feel the thrill, to hear jazz like you no longer hear on French stages, to see a generous troupe and clever staging.
To rediscover the magic of the total spectacle, the one that blends music, theatre, dance, cunning and emotion.

And because this show is perhaps significant the birth of a major figure in contemporary Music Hall : that of Elsa Bontempelli.

She doesn't need to shout to exist, nor to proclaim herself a prodigy.
She moves forward with elegance, precision, and exacting standardsand that little flame which distinguishes those who create not out of vanity, but out of inner necessity.

Victor Lustig sold the Eiffel Tower.
Elsa Bontempelli, on the other hand, sells us a dream, and we leave happy to have bought this one.

Ema Lynnx