The first night of Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov’s Paris Opera début at the Bastille was destined to be a sensational event. Serebrennikov, who has always been outspoken in his home country over such issues as LGBTQ rights (he is openly … Read More
Christophe Honoré, a successful auteur of print, stage and cinema, has now taken on Marcel Proust. Having seen and loved many of Honoré’s films, I was anxious to see his stage “adaptation” of Le Côté de Guermantes at the Comédie … Read More
The famous Paris Opera production of Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde by director Peter Sellars, in collaboration with video artist Bill Viola, makes another welcome return to the Bastille. There is a reason why this production has remained in the … Read More
One of the joys of Paris is how often unexpected performances pop up in unlikely locations. I had been to La Cave Café in the 18th arrondissement before, but I imagined that the bar’s name (“cave” means “cellar”) hinted only at huge … Read More
Now 59 years old and well into the fifth decade of a stellar dance career, Marie-Claude Pietragalla remains the personification of grace, high-energy athleticism and artistic perfection. Her latest work, La Femme Qui Danse, is a mesmerizing, virtuoso nonstop 75-minute … Read More
Last week, I was introduced to an element of French culture that had completely escaped me until now: a summer historical pageant. This one takes place in Meaux, a small city northeast of Paris, but I have since discovered that … Read More
It is always exhilarating to herald the beginning of the operatic season with a new production of a rarely performed work, but when it is the first to be performed at the Opéra National de Paris after a two-year shut-down … Read More
Jean Racine’s first major theatrical success, Andromaque, has been much on my mind in recent months, as a book of essays on the play that I co-edited was published recently. It was, therefore, a particular delight to be able to … Read More
Until recently, musical comedies were unheard of in France, but now that the Parisians have taken to them like showgirls to glitter, American musical comedies are popping up all over the place. Americans in Paris will open at the Théâtre … Read More
Paris has a close connection with Verdi’s most ambitious and – in the five-act version now at the Bastille Opera – longest work. A French-language version of Don Carlo was first performed in the city in March 1867, with an … Read More
