Folles Époques
Wild Times in Meaux
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
The Miser
Comédie Française Discovers the Comedy in Molière
The reopening of Paris theaters has come at just the right time for the Comédie Française, known fondly as La Maison de Molière, as 2022 is the 400th anniversary of the birth of the comic playwright. To mark this major … Read More
Andromaque
Back to the Roots of Racine
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
Funny Girl
Fanny Brice Revisited
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
Romanès Cirque Tzigane
The Magical World of a Romani Circus
Update, July 21, 2019: On July 4, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo presented Délia and Alexandre Romanès with the Médaille Grand Vermeil de la Ville de Paris, the city’s highest honor, in recognition of their work in preserving tzigane culture and, … Read More
Le Malade Imaginaire
The Joys of Hypochondria
It certainly makes a good story: Molière, playing the role of Argan the hypochondriac in his play Le Malade Imaginaire, is said to have died onstage in the middle of the fourth performance on February 17, 1673. The reality is … Read More
DAU
Soviet Time Warp in the Heart of Paris
Although I had read plenty of articles about it before I went, I was still mystified and had no idea what to expect from DAU (pronounced da-o), the sprawling immersive-theater/film/installation project of Russian filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky, which is being held in … Read More
Le Penseur
Thinking Out Loud: Rodin Revealed
In “Le Penseur,” a one-man show focusing on the character and work of sculptor Auguste Rodin, we can see a clear parallel between Rodin’s passion for creating art and author, director and actor Jean-Baptiste Seckler’s passion for this play, now … Read More
West Side Story
Finger-Snappin' Good
The French have belatedly fallen in love with a foreigner: the American musical. Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet has been specializing in the genre (although that may change under its new directors, Ruth Mackenzie and Thomas Lorio Di Prevot), and the brand … Read More
La Logique des Femmes
Good Samaritan vs. Inebriated Power Woman
Lola, a modern, independent woman, arrives home after having had a bit too much to drink, carried on the back of none other than a monk, in playwright Antoine Beauville’s “La Logique des Femmes.” Throughout the three scenes that follow, … Read More