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Au Lapin Agile for non-French speakers?

Have any non-French speakers attended the cabaret perforamnce at Au Lapin Agile in Monmartre? Is it worth the time and money if you don't speak any French?

Posted by
153 posts

Yes. Our French is basic, but we did go to Lapin Agile a few years ago. We mainly went because my wife was cast in a play called "Picasso at the Lapin Agile", written by Steve Martin. She had so much fun with her part she just had to see the real thing.

Unfortunately we did not care for it. The venue has hard benches for seating, the single drink offered as part of the package consists of the only really bad wine I have ever had in France, and much of the "action" is in the form of sing-alongs for French period songs with which we were not familiar and did not know the words. There is some banter by the MC in English, but it was minimal.

We left half way through.

Posted by
7981 posts

We saw Picasso at the Lapin Agile off Broadway in NYC about 20 years ago and so were tempted when we rented a place a couple blocks away, but didn't go having read of experiences like yours. FWIW the French sing along at Vieux Belleville is great fun, they pass out the words, and the francophone crowd there the night we were were very fun and welcoming and dredged up their schoolchild English to converse with us. touristy but mostly French tourists and their local hosts.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/le-vieux-belleville-non-je-ne-regrette-rien/
Another local experience you might enjoy are the guiguettes on the Seine and the Marne for weekend lunch/dance experiences.

Posted by
11 posts

Thank you for your replies. I may pass on Au Lapin Agile. I do not speak French, but I am a great fan of French classical music. I wish the opera were in season while I'm in Paris in August, but alas it is the wrong time of the year for opera.

Posted by
7981 posts

Don't feel too bad Redbeethoven -- we are here now and I bought a special opera/ballet package almost a year ago as we are opera lovers. We had virtually the best seats in the house at a good deal; the Paris Opera cancelled two weeks of their May performances and all the rest of the performances are sold out, so no opera for us. We got the ballet at the Garnier because it was essentially free (the cost of our package was about the same as the best opera seats for both top opera and ballet seats -- it was a deal offered by the Paris Opera itself; we ended up in the middle of the front row last night at the Garnier -- perfect seats for dance and for my husband who is visually impaired. That was fun, but we are sorry to miss the opera this trip. So even in season, you ever know. (we also once had a strike cancel an opera we had booked up long in advance).