A weekend in Paris 11 / 13 january 2008 to discover the secrets of shopping. For good-price accommodation, use the family hospitality formula and discover an enticing promotion: B&B Paris 17° arrond.

January is sale month when the shops drastically cut prices. If you’ve been putting off your holidays, now is the time to get away because Paris is offering not only its usual great atmosphere, but loads of great bargains too! Real deals are waiting for you as the shops are getting rid of all unsold 2007 stock as quickly as possible!

 Our Members have three suggestions about where to get the best deals(open Sunday): 

GALLERIE LA FAYETTE PRINTEMPS 75008 - METRO OPERA

BON MARCHE' 75006 - METRO SEVRES BABYLON

CHATELET et TOUTE LA RUE DE RIVOLI 75001 - METRO CHATELET

Finish off your day with a performance of the highly successful musical ‘Cabaret’ at the Folies Bergère: Broadway’s world famous show, revised by Sam Mendes.

At the Folies Bergère the musical ‘Cabaret’ by Sam Mendes is on until 28 January 2008. Given its great public success(200,000 spectators and 250 performances), the show has been extended. ‘Cabaret’ is a chance to visit Paris and discover the thousaund souls of the city that also hosts great Cultural Institutions like – the Sorbonne, the Académie Française – and the historical theatre Folies Bergère that has been making music hall history since 1886.

Sally, the main character, hopes to find a way to make her fortune sooner or later. She never gets it right though starting with her relationship with Brian who loves her but may not be the right person for her. Brian on the other hand is on for anything, so much so that he, like Sally, falls into the trap of the rich and seductive Max. In the USA, in 1971, the film Cabaret was released with the great Liza Minnelli in the role of Sally, and Michael York in the role of Brian. Songs like ‘Money, Money’ and ‘Cabaret’ are still well-known favorites today. The cabaret around which the story revolves, symbolizes the anxieties and changes happening in pre-nazi Germany. Opulent yet perturbed by strong social imbalance, Berlin experienced a thoroughly unique moment during those years of both decadence and high-spirited creativity: an effervescent ‘joie di vivre’ was the reaction of many to the numerous material problems and the nationalist and racist ideas that were filtering into society. The glistening cabaret presentator is the emblem of this ambiguous, free society where all the characters, starting from Sally, seem to breeze through life.

The new version of the musical by Sam Mendes, has already been performed by its cast of 20, in London, New York, Amsterdam and Madrid. Thanks to Sam Mendes ‘Cabaret’, the musical born in Broadway and based on the book by Christopher Isherwood, has seen a great revival and won several awards. With coreography by Rob Marshall, the director offers a contemporary show whose originality stems from the reconstruction of the Kit Kat Klub, the “boîte de nuit”, in other words, the cabaret scene of pre-war Berlin with all its plots and intrigue. The Kit Kat Klub is a world apart ruled by different laws. The Kit Kat Klub’s night life is a fascinating universe into which the theatre audience magically enters.

The musical’s by Sam Mendes atmosphere is much more than a simple backdrop because it deeply conditions the behaviour and choices of the main characters and mirrors the same atmosphere as Paris during the years between the two world wars. This same atmosphere, always in unstable balance, is narrated by Henry Valentine Miller in ‘Tropic of Cancer’, the novel that established him on the literary scene. The writer had German origins but was born and lived between America and Europe. At the begining of the 1930’s, after reading Dostoevsky, Rimanud and Proust, he travalled to Europe and in Paris he lived like a tramp, depending on his friends for survival. It was some of these friends who introduced him to Anais Nin’s circle where he came into contact with artists and writers. During this time he began to write ‘Tropic of Cancer’, inspired by his experience of life without money but full of happiness. The novel brings its readers through hotels and cafés in the poorest areas of Paris with their brawls, drinking binges and erotic adventures.

infos:

Sleeping: Bed & Breakfast Paris's Map

Folies Bergère 32, Rue Richer 75009 Paris Tel. : +(33) 1 44 79 98 60 Reservations : +(33) 1 44 79 98 98 From 31/12/06 to 27/01/08 to 15:00: Sunday, Saturday - From 31/12/06 to 27/01/08 to 20:00: Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Ticket prices not supplied. The programme can be subject to last minute changes so it is always better to call first to confirm.