Théâtre de l’Athénée Louis Jouvet
An Italianate Parisian Jewel
While Parisian theatrical and musical life is dominated by its large theaters (Palais Garnier, Opéra Bastille, Comédie Française, Mogador, Odéon), so many smaller establishments deserve to be visited. One recent such “discovery” for me (I blush to admit) is the … Read More
Le Côté de Guermantes
Playing with Proust
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
MeanWeill: Berlin to Broadway (via Paris)
The Gritty, Bittersweet World of Weill
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
La Femme Qui Danse & La Leçon
'I Am the Wind'
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
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