Molierissimo is a French animated series in 26 episodes. It started airing on the Canal+ channel in 1989, then it was rerun on France 3 in the 1990s.
The story is that of a young orphan and apprentice stage magician named Quentin (voiced by Damien Boisseau in French), who joins the theatre troupe of Molière (voiced by Claude Giraud in French) in the hope of becoming an actor, and journeys through the 17th century kingdom of France under the reign of Louis XIV with them.
Provides examples of:
- Circus Brat: Along with stage magic, Bonaventure also told what we would consider as circus numbers to Quentin, with all the juggling he does — Quentin is Conveniently an Orphan and grew up alongside Bonaventure. Then Quentin becomes the equivalent for a theatre troupe when joining Molière's troupe.
- Crossover: The Cyrano de Bergerac from that series is very much that of the play, and D'Artagnan has a few traits left from his Alexandre Dumas novels counterpart. Then there's Scaramouche.
- Curious as a Monkey: Literal example, when Cachou snoops around at times.
- Historical Domain Characters:
- For theatre, we have Jean-Baptiste Poquelin aka Molière, stage actress Madeleine Béjart and Tiberio Fiorilli aka Scaramouche.
- As for state/royal figures, there's King Louis XIV, Cardinal Mazarin, Philippe d'Orléans (brother of Louis XIV) and Queen Anne of Austria.
- Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac (although closer to his stage play counterpart than the real article) and Charles de Batz de Castelmore D'Artagnan.
- Master Swordsman: Cyrano and D'Artagnan are badasses that have no equal in rapier fencing.
- Mentor Archetype: The old Bonaventure taught Quentin everything about stage magic.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Cachou the monkey, to Quentin.
- One-Man Army: Cyrano can take on up to four adversaries at the same time without problem (and those always forgo Mook Chivalry).
- Parrot Pet Position: Quentin's monkey Cachou often climbs on his shoulder.
- The Power of Acting: When they have a rapier duel over Madeleine Béjart the first time they meet, Molière feigns death so well that Quentin thinks he really wounded him to death.
- Stage Magician: Quentin grew up to become a stage magician alongside his old master in that field, Bonaventure, but decided one day to become an actor instead.
- Swashbuckler: The series has elements of this whenever Cyrano or D'Artagnan show up to help Quentin and Molière against bad guys.
- Tagalong Kid: Quentin is this for Molière's troupe.
