Irma La Douce was the first French musical since Offenbach's operettas to enjoy success all over the world. It opened on 12 November 1956, at the Théâtre Gramont in Paris, where it ran for four years. The book and lyrics were by Alexandre Breffort; it was directed by René Dupuy and starred Colette Renard and Miche Roux. A year and a half into the Paris run, the show opened in London. It was directed by Peter Brook and starred Elizabeth Seal and Keith Michell. Eventually the English-language Irma went on to become even more popular than the original French one. The musical opened on 17 July 1958, at the Lyric Theatre in London's West End, where it ran for 1,512 performances. The show opened in New York on Broadway at the Plymouth Theater on 29 September 1960, and ran for 524 performances. It had the unprecedented distinction of playing simultaneously in France, the UK, the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil and Argentina. It was recorded under the Sony label and starred Elizabeth Seal and Keith Michell, who had both been part of the London cast. In 1963, Billy Wilder directed the movie version, starring Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon. The film's opening credits say, "Based on the Play by Alexandre Breffort and the Music by Marguerite Monnot." Andre Previn won the Academy Award for "Scoring of Music — Adaptation or Treatment" and thanked Wilder, writer I. A. L. Diamond, the orchestra, and the Academy, but failed to acknowledge Monnot. Shortly after the success of Irma, Disney Studios reportedly asked Monnot to come to Hollywood and compose for American films, but she refused to leave her settled life in France. From then on, her career in film music was relatively limited. She collaborated regularly with Marcel Blistène, including writing some songs for the film Les amants de demain in 1959. (She had already worked with him on the film Etoile sans lumière in 1946.) She composed other songs for Péri, a singer of "realistic" songs, such as "Encore un verre" and "Ma rue et moi", which have been all but forgotten. She also composed the music for Méphisto and Le sentier de la guerre, written by Claude Nougaro. Generally speaking, Monnot had difficulty separating herself from Piaf's world and composing for others. Although her songs were also sung by such well-known singers