Richard Nahem, an ex-New Yorker living in Paris, leads private insider tours showing visitors the Paris most of them never see on their own (www.eyepreferparistours.com), and also writes a popular insider's blog www.eyepreferparis.com.
Although Paris has some top-flight theatre performances, it’s almost impossible to find any that are performed in English.
We have found three unique one-person theatre pieces in English, two hilariously funny shows about the culture and the cultural differences of Paris and another, an intimate musical tribute to France’s most beloved singer.
Caroline Nin, Hymne a Paris
French chanteuse Caroline Nin has been performing her award winning one-woman show Hymne a Paris to sold-out crowds all over the globe, including The Sydney Opera House, The Edinburgh Festival and the Royal Festival Hall in London. Strangely, she has never performed the show in her motherland but has finally brought the successful show to Paris where Piaf started her incredible but tragic career.
Every Wednesday Nin performs the show at a small intimate theater in the Marais. With her versatile voice and style, going from sexy and throaty to strong and stoic to poignant to tender, Nin gives new insight into the Piaf’s difficult life with enlightening anecdotes about her in between each song. Not only is Nin a terrific singer, she is a captivating storyteller and actress. She sings some of Piaf’s most memorable hymns including La Vie en Rose, Mon Legionnaire, Non Je ne Rien and also a few rarely performed songs.
Every Wednesday, 8PM, until June 26
Essaïon Théâtre
6 rue Pierre au lard, 75004
Book online www.essaion.com or call + 33 (0) 7 77 25 37 64
Note: Some songs are performed in French
How to be a Parisian in One Hour
After more than three years and over 150,000 spectators Olivier Giraud is still packing them in and selling out his one-man show. How to be a Parisian in One Hour is a side-splitting guide to all things Parisian. Witty, sarcastic and sometimes outrageous, Giraud pokes fun with no shame about the strange habits of the French and teaches the mostly tourist audience how to handle themselves just like a Parisian in every situation as they encounter taxis, the metro, restaurants, shops and nightclubs.
Warning: Giraud loves to pick on people in the audience to come up on stage, so if you don’t like audience participation, sit way back.
Tickets http://www.billetreduc.com/69266/evtbook.htm
A New Yorker in Paris
Living in Paris for seven years now, ex-New Yorker Sebastian Marx is still having a hard time adjusting to the French way of life. He has found a way to vent his frustration through comedy by performing a one-man show about his struggles. Influenced by his American comedy heroes Woody Allen, Jerry Seinfeld and Louis CK, Marx comes up with his own sardonic way of dealing with Parisian life. Still keeping in touch with his New York roots, Marx also performs with other fellow ex-pat comedians once for New York Comedy Night.
Every Friday night @ 8PM
SoGymnase
38 Blvd. Bonne Nouvelle, 75110
Tickets http://www.weezevent.com/sebastianmarx
New York Comedy Night
Every Friday 9:30PM
38 Blvd. Bonne Nouvelle, 75110
Tickets http://www.weezevent.com/the-new-york-comedy-night