Au Lapin Rouge / At the Agile Rabbit

In June in Paris we attended that most venerable of Parisian cabarets, Au Lapin Rouge, in the heart of Montmartre.

The evening started as if we were in our neighborhood pub, but with a table of rowdy singers occupying a table at the center of the room. The order of the evening was French songs of all types, sing-alongs to begin with. As the evening wore on, we were treated to various soloists, one with a guitar, one with an accordion, all superb. There were perhaps 10 performers in a rather smallish room, seating maybe 35 people, not including the performers, cheek to jowl. At $20 a head and a minimum of one drink each, how did they do this every night? Government subsidies?

Or is this like New York, where performers pay or play for nothing, just to have a famous venue included in their resumes? Likely it's government subsidies. There are also a plethora of book shops in Paris, the result of government price controls on electronic versions of books and government subsidies for book shop start-ups. Result - real class. Perhaps capitalism and culture, even at the cabaret level, don't mix very well.

I highly recommend an evening at Au Lapin Rouge next time you are in Paris.