Thursday, July 19, 2012

Curtain call!


I love this photo, even though it's not unique to Paris... Just so you still learn something about your favorite(!) city today, let me tell you that Paris has a very active theater scene, with about 130 theaters and no less than 300 plays and shows per week! The word "Orchestre" that you see in this photo means ground floor, "La Corbeille" is the first floor (second in the US)  and on both sides you have "Les balcons" (balconies). On stage, the right hand side from the audience viewpoint is called "Côté cour" (courtyard side) and the left hand side is called "Côté jardin" (garden side).

16 comments:

  1. What a classy photo! Love the info. I'm going to wiki courtyard side and garden side. And isn't a corbeille a crow? Missed a lot of great pix while I was off on vacation and missed alot of the Tour de France, too. But catching up is so much fun!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What Carrie said. I love the photo and the info.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, corbeau is a crow. Corbeille is a basket!

    I found an aphorism containing a pun on cour and coeur in looking up cote cour and cote jardin:(sorry I don't know how to do the French punctuation): Ce battant cote jardin est un desespere cote coeur. Translated as: He who fights in public is a desperate man behind the scenes (in his heart).

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is interesting -- lovely photo too.

    Your photos all week have been wonderful-- I just checked-in to see what you have been doing.

    Ah, a street-light theme, now that's original. You could really build on that. :)

    xx
    Lois

    ReplyDelete
  5. The only piece of theater I could attend in Paris was "How To Become a Parisian in One Hour."because it was in ENGLISH....and still playing.!! It was made even better by the Parisians I invited to attend with me, Eric ,Guille, her husband and Michael!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lucky you to attend a play at the corbeille and lucky us for this classy and evocative picture!
    But didn't you forget the top floor? Or, perhaps, you've never been to the "Paradis"??? You don't see much of the play over there but quelle ambiance!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love the mysterious air of this images, somewhat teasing and promising at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Carrie. Isn't a corbeille a crow? I don't know really. Ma corbeille is also the 1st (2nd US) floor. Funny the quote you reported, I did not know it.

    @Lois. "Your photos all week have been wonderful" - Thank you! I'm trying, I'm trying!

    @PHX "he only piece of theater I could attend in Paris was "How To Become a Parisian in One Hour." Yes ! I remember. It's on again but now in a bigger theater on the Grands Bounlevards. It must be successful. Recently I saw another show at Theatre Trévise - 3 French comedians performing in English. Not bad.

    @Marylène (in English today, congratulations!). Yes you're right I forgot about the "paradis" or "poulailler", that is very top floor seats where you can hardly hear/see anything! (It happened to me once at Palais Garnier, I could not see anything unless I would stand up LOL!)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you for this useful bit of info today, Eric! The Paris Opera Ballet
    finishes it run at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City this weekend. I was going to get tickets to see them (we live about 1 hour from NYC and I frequent the ballet), but decided not to in favor of trying to go see them in Paris when we are there in February (I don't even know if they are performing in February, but I assume they might, since all the major NYC companies winter seasons are occuring then). Thanks to you I will know what seats I want when I order my tickets.
    Lovely photo too!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very classy photo! Thanks so much for sharing the Theatre seating chart, I've learned something new today! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I don't know the exact statistics, but I believe Minneapolis has the highest number of theaters per capita of any city in the U.S.

    ReplyDelete
  12. @Jeff. Almost Jeff, almost ;-) According to Wikipedia, "Minneapolis is the second to New York City in live theater per capita and is the third-largest theater market in the U.S!".
    Not bad..

    ReplyDelete
  13. @Eric. It always seemed me a little odd to write in English to you but I also realize it could seem rude to your non-French readers if they ever wanted to follow my comments.
    I'll do my best now on but I may mix some French if my vocabulary is not " à la hauteur" !!

    ReplyDelete
  14. A very elegant photo. thank you

    ReplyDelete
  15. It is wonderful when people who live in urban areas take advantage of the possibilities that are open to them in such places. For those who never visit because they are too busy, or it is too expensive, etc, you might as well live in the country! I enjoy going to larger cities on vacation so I can take advantage of these things, but for everyday, my quiet life is SO good.

    ReplyDelete