Cabaret ( French pronunciation: [kabaʁɛ] ) is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music , song , dance , recitation , or drama . The performance venue might be a pub , a casino , a hotel , a restaurant , or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, does not typically dance but usually sits at tables. Performances are usually introduced by a master of ceremonies (M.C.). The entertainment, as performed by an ensemble of actors and according to its European origins, is often (but not always) oriented towards adult audiences and of a clearly underground nature. In the United States, striptease , burlesque , drag shows , or a solo vocalist with a pianist, as well as the venues which offer this entertainment, are often advertised as cabarets.
49-566: The term originally came from Picard language or Walloon language words camberete or cambret for a small room (12th century). The first printed use of the word kaberet is found in a document from 1275 in Tournai . The term was used since the 13th century in Middle Dutch to mean an inexpensive inn or restaurant ( caberet , cabret ). The word cambret , itself probably derived from an earlier form of chambrette , little room, or from
98-618: A decor described as "A sort of Beirut with Chinese influences." The composer Eric Satie , after finishing his studies at the Conservatory, earned his living playing the piano at the Chat Noir . By 1896, there were 56 cabarets and cafes with music in Paris, along with a dozen music halls. The cabarets did not have a high reputation; one critic wrote in 1897 that "they sell drinks which are worth fifteen centimes along with verses which, for
147-512: A distinctive literary tradition. The Ch'ti language was re-popularised by the 2008 French comedy film Welcome to the Sticks ( French : Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis ; French pronunciation: [bjɛ̃vny ʃe le ʃti] ) which broke nearly every box office record in France and earned over $ 245,000,000 worldwide on an 11 million euro budget. The first person plural often appears in spoken Picard in
196-470: A great deal of social commentary. When New York cabarets featured jazz, they tended to focus on famous vocalists like Nina Simone , Bette Midler , Eartha Kitt , Peggy Lee , and Hildegarde rather than instrumental musicians. Julius Monk 's annual revues established the standard for New York cabaret during the late 1950s and '60s. Cabaret in the United States began to decline in the 1960s, due to
245-598: A language distinct from French. A 1999 report by Bernard Cerquiglini, the director of the Institut national de la langue française (National Institute of the French Language) stated: The gap has continued to widen between French and the varieties of langues d'oïl , which today we would call "French dialects"; Franc-comtois , Walloon , Picard, Norman , Gallo , Poitevin , Saintongeais , Bourguignon-morvandiau , Lorrain must be accepted among
294-523: A large number are unique to Picard—principally terms relating to mining or farming . Here are several typical phrases in Picard, accompanied by French and English translations: Cardinal numbers in Picard from 1 to 20 are as follows: Picard is not taught in French schools (apart from a few one-off and isolated courses) and is generally only spoken among friends or family members. It has nevertheless been
343-500: A regional language along with Walloon , Gaumais ( Lorraine ), Champenois ( Champagne ) and Lorraine German in its 1990 decree. The French government has not followed suit and has not recognized Picard as an official regional language (in line with its policy of linguistic unity, which allows for only one official language in France, as per the French Constitution ), but some reports have recognized Picard as
392-576: A revival of American cabaret, particularly in New Orleans , Chicago , Seattle , Portland , Philadelphia , Orlando , Tulsa , Asheville, North Carolina , and Kansas City, Missouri , as new generations of performers reinterpret the old forms in both music and theater. Many contemporary cabaret groups in the United States and elsewhere feature a combination of original music, burlesque and political satire. In New York City, since 1985, successful, enduring or innovative cabaret acts have been honored by
441-624: A variety of very closely related dialects. It is difficult to list them all accurately in the absence of specific studies on the dialectal variations, but these varieties can probably provisionally be distinguished: Amiénois, Vimeu-Ponthieu, Vermandois, Thiérache, Beauvaisis, "chtimi" (Bassin Minier, Lille ), dialects in other regions near Lille (Roubaix, Tourcoing, Mouscron, Comines), "rouchi" ( Valenciennois ) and Tournaisis, Borain, Artésien rural, Boulonnais. The varieties are defined by specific phonetic, morphological and lexical traits and sometimes by
490-657: Is a langue d'oïl of the Romance language family spoken in the northernmost of France and parts of Hainaut province in Belgium. Administratively, this area is divided between the French Hauts-de-France region and the Belgian Wallonia along the border between both countries due to its traditional core being the districts of Tournai and Mons ( Walloon Picardy ). The language or dialect
539-626: Is one of the langues d'oïl and belongs to the Gallo - Roman family of languages. It consists of all the varieties used for writing ( Latin : scriptae ) in the north of France from before 1000 (in the south of France at that time the Occitan language was used). Often, the langues d'oïl are referred to simply as Old French . Picard is phonetically quite different from the North-central langues d'oïl , which evolved into modern French. Among
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#1732776158345588-590: Is referred to by different names, as residents of Picardy call it simply Picard , but in the more populated region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais it is called Ch'ti or Ch'timi (sometimes written as Chti or Chtimi ). This is the area that makes up Romance Flanders , around the metropolis of Lille and Douai , and northeast Artois around Béthune and Lens . Picard is also named Rouchi around Valenciennes , Roubaignot around Roubaix , or simply patois in general French. In 1998, Picard native speakers amounted to 700,000 individuals,
637-441: Is similar to that of French. It is undoubtedly the easiest for French speakers to understand but can also contribute the stereotype that Picard is only a corruption of French rather than a language in its own right. Various spelling methods have been proposed since the 1960s to offset the disadvantage and to give Picard a visual identity that is distinct from French. There is now a consensus, at least between universities, in favor of
686-536: Is the Kleinkunstacademie (English: Cabaret Academy). It is often a mixture of (stand-up) comedy, theatre, and music and often includes social themes and political satire. In the mid twentieth century, "the big three" were Wim Sonneveld , Wim Kan , and Toon Hermans . Nowadays, many cabaret shows of popular "cabaretiers" (performers of cabaret) are broadcast on national television, especially on New Year's Eve, when several special cabaret shows are aired where
735-532: The Croix de Lorraine on the modern rue Bourg-Tibourg. In 1773, French poets, painters, musicians and writers began to meet in a cabaret called Le Caveau on rue de Buci, where they composed and sang songs. The Caveau continued until 1816, when it was forced to close because its clients wrote songs mocking the royal government. In the 18th century, the café-concert or café-chantant appeared, which offered food along with music, singers, or magicians. The most famous
784-535: The Grateful Dead . A handful of music halls exist today in Paris, attended mostly by visitors to the city; and a number of more traditional cabarets, with music and satire, can be found. In the Netherlands, cabaret or kleinkunst (literally: "small art") is a popular form of entertainment, usually performed in theatres. The birth date of Dutch cabaret is usually set at August 19, 1895. In Amsterdam, there
833-533: The Alhambra Music Hall in 1902, and the Printania in 1903. The Printania, open only in summer, had a large music garden which seated twelve thousand spectators, and produced dinner shows which presented twenty-three different acts, including singers, acrobats, horses, mimes, jugglers, lions, bears and elephants, with two shows a day. In the 20th century, the competition from motion pictures forced
882-512: The Champs-Élysées opened in 1946, presenting Édith Piaf, Laurel and Hardy , Shirley MacLaine , Marlene Dietrich , Maurice Chevalier , and Noël Coward . The Crazy Horse Saloon , featuring striptease, dance, and magic, opened in 1951. The Olympia Paris went through a number of years as a movie theater before being revived as a music hall and concert stage in 1954. Performers there included Piaf, Dietrich, Miles Davis , Judy Garland , and
931-637: The Norman French chamber meaning tavern, itself derived from the Late Latin word camera meaning an arched roof. Cabarets had appeared in Paris by at least the late 15th century. They were distinguished from taverns because they served food as well as wine, the table was covered with a cloth, and the price was charged by the plate, not the mug. They were not particularly associated with entertainment even if musicians sometimes performed in both. Early on, cabarets were considered better than taverns; by
980-405: The Sticks , starring comedian Dany Boon , deals with Ch'ti language and culture and the perceptions of the region by outsiders, and it was the highest-grossing French film of all time at the box office in France until it was surpassed by The Intouchables . Today Picard is primarily a spoken language, but in the medieval period, there is a wealth of literary texts in Picard. However, Picard
1029-707: The annual Bistro Awards. The Cabaret Theatre Club, later known as The Cave of the Golden Calf , was opened by Frida Strindberg (modelled on the Kaberett Fledermaus in Strindberg's native Vienna) in a basement at 9 Heddon Street, London, in 1912. She intended her club to be an avant-garde meeting place for bohemian writers and artists, with decorations by Jacob Epstein , Eric Gill , and Wyndham Lewis , but it rapidly came to be seen as an amusing place for high society and went bankrupt in 1914. The Cave
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#17327761583451078-566: The cabaretier usually reflects on large events of the past year. German Kabarett developed from 1901, with the creation of the Überbrettl ( Superstage ) venue, and by the Weimar era in the mid-1920s, the Kabarett performances were characterized by political satire and gallows humor . It shared the characteristic atmosphere of intimacy with the French cabaret from which it was imported, but
1127-1442: The club. . . . the question of the legality of these vouchers led to a famous visitation of the police. That was the night a certain Duke was got out by way of the kitchen lift . . . The visitation was a well-mannered affair' One of the main gathering centers of cabarets in Tehran (Iranian capital) was Laleh-Zar Street . Famous Persian cabarets were active in the city until 1979 . They also introduced many domestic artists. In common language, cabaret sometimes called by Iranians "home of dance" (In Persian : رقاصخانه ) or "dancing place". In Stockholm , an underground show called Fattighuskabarén ( Poor House Cabaret ) opened in 1974 and ran for 10 years. Performers of later celebrity and fame (in Sweden) such as Ted Åström , Örjan Ramberg , and Agneta Lindén began their careers there. Wild Side Story also had several runs in Stockholm, at Alexandra's (1976 with Ulla Jones and Christer Lindarw ), Camarillo (1997), Rosenlundsteatern/Teater Tre (2000), Wild Side Lounge at Bäckahästen (2003 with Helena Mattsson ) and Mango Bar (2004). Alexandra's had also hosted AlexCab in 1975, as had Compagniet in Gothenburg . In 2019
1176-727: The dance halls to put on shows that were more spectacular and more complex. In 1911, the producer Jacques Charles of the Olympia Paris created the grand staircase as a setting for his shows, competing with its great rival, the Folies Bergère which had been founded in 1869. Its stars in the 1920s included the American singer and dancer Josephine Baker . The Casino de Paris , directed by Leon Volterra and then Henri Varna, presented many famous French singers, including Mistinguett, Maurice Chevalier , and Tino Rossi . Le Lido on
1225-862: The end of the century, there were only a few cabarets of the old style remaining where artists and bohemians gathered. They included the Cabaret des noctambules on Rue Champollion on the Left Bank; the Lapin Agile at Montmartre; and Le Soleil d'or at the corner of the quai Saint-Michel and boulevard Saint-Michel, where poets including Guillaume Apollinaire and André Salmon met to share their work. The music hall , first invented in London, appeared in Paris in 1862. It offered more lavish musical and theatrical productions, with elaborate costumes, singing, and dancing. The theaters of Paris, fearing competition from
1274-511: The end of the sixteenth century, they were the preferred place to dine out. In the 17th century, a clearer distinction emerged when taverns were limited to selling wine, and later to serving roast meats. Cabarets were frequently used as meeting places for writers, actors, friends and artists. Writers such as La Fontaine , Moliere and Jean Racine were known to frequent a cabaret called the Mouton Blanc on rue du Vieux-Colombier, and later
1323-515: The final years of the Partitions of Poland . In the interwar Poland there was a considerable number of Yiddish -language cabarets. This art form was called kleynkunst (lliterally "small art") in Yiddish. In post- war Poland, it is almost always associated with the troupe (often on tour ), not the venue ; pre-war revue shows (with female dancers) were long gone. American cabaret
1372-486: The first Serbian cabaret club Lafayette opened. Although Serbia and Belgrade had a rich nightlife and theater life there was no cabaret house until 2019. It retained the intimate atmosphere, entertainment platform, and improvisational character of the French cabaret but developed its own characteristic gallows humour. By the late 1920s the German cabaret gradually had come to feature mildly risque musical entertainment for
1421-509: The form of the neutral third person in ; however, the written form prioritizes os (as in French, where on is used for nous ). On the other hand, the spelling of conjugated verbs will depend on the pronunciation, which varies within the Picard domain. For instance southern Picard would read il étoait / étoét while northern Picard would read il étot . This is noted as variants in the following: The majority of Picard words derive from Vulgar Latin . Many words are very similar to French, but
1470-509: The gallows humor was a distinct German aspect. The Polish kabaret is a popular form of live (often televised ) entertainment involving a comedy troupe, and consisting mostly of comedy sketches , monologues , stand up comedy , songs and political satire (often hidden behind double entendre to fool censors ). It traces its origins to Zielony Balonik , a famous literary cabaret founded in Kraków by local poets, writers and artists during
1519-563: The middle-class man, as well as biting political and social satire. It was also a centre for underground political and literary movements. [...] They were the centres of leftist of opposition to the rise of the German Nazi Party and often experienced Nazi retaliation for their criticism of the government. Picard language Picard ( / ˈ p ɪ k ɑːr d / , also US : / p ɪ ˈ k ɑːr d , ˈ p ɪ k ər d / , French: [pikaʁ] )
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1568-715: The modern French form of chasser . Because of the proximity of Paris to the northernmost regions of France, French (that is, the languages that were spoken in and around Paris) greatly influenced Picard and vice versa. The closeness between Picard and French causes the former to not always be recognised as a language in its own right, but rather a "distortion of French" as it is often viewed. Despite being geographically and syntactically affiliated according to some linguists due to their inter-comprehensible morphosyntactic features, Picard in Picardy, Ch'timi and Rouchi still intrinsically maintain conspicuous discrepancies. Picard includes
1617-592: The most notable traits, the evolution in Picard towards palatalization is less marked than in the central langues d'oïl in which it is particularly striking; /k/ or /ɡ/ before /j/ , tonic /i/ and /e/ , as well as in front of tonic /a/ and /ɔ/ (from earlier *au ; the open /o/ of the French p o rte ) in central Old French but not in Picard: The effects of palatalization can be summarised as this: There are striking differences, such as Picard cachier ('to hunt') ~ Old French chacier , which later took
1666-544: The most part, are worth nothing." The traditional cabarets, with monologues and songs and little decor, were replaced by more specialized venues; some, like the Boite a Fursy (1899), specialized in current events, politics and satire. Some were purely theatrical, producing short scenes of plays. Some focused on the macabre or erotic. The Caberet de la fin du Monde had servers dressed as Greek and Roman gods and presented living tableaus that were between erotic and pornographic. By
1715-611: The music halls, had a law passed by the National Assembly forbidding music hall performers to wear costumes, dance, wear wigs, or recite dialogue. The law was challenged by the owner of the music hall Eldorado in 1867, who put a former famous actress from the Comédie-Française on stage to recite verse from Corneille and Racine. The public took the side of the music halls, and the law was repealed. The Moulin Rouge
1764-676: The object of scholarly research at universities in Lille and Amiens , as well as at Indiana University . Since people are now able to move around France more easily than in past centuries, the different varieties of Picard are converging and becoming more similar. In its daily use, Picard is tending to lose its distinctive features and may be confused with regional French. At the same time, even though most Northerners can understand Picard today, fewer and fewer are able to speak it, and people who speak Picard as their first language are increasingly rare, particularly under 50. The 2008 film Welcome to
1813-565: The regional languages of France ; by placing them on the list [of French regional languages], they will be known from then on as langues d'oïl . Even if it has no official status as a language in France, Picard, along with all the other languages spoken in France, benefits from actions led by the Culture Minister's General Delegation for the French language and the languages of France ( la Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France ). Picard, like French,
1862-457: The rising popularity of rock concert shows, television variety shows , and general comedy theaters. However, it remained in some Las Vegas-style dinner shows, such as the Tropicana , with fewer comedy segments. The art form still survives in various musical formats, as well as in the stand-up comedy format, and in popular drag show performances. The late 20th and early 21st century saw
1911-487: The vast majority of whom were elderly people (aged 65 and over). Since its daily use had drastically declined, Picard was declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) a "severely endangered language ". However, as of 2023, the Picard language was listed as “vulnerable” by UNESCO. The word ch'ti , chtimi or ch'timi to designate the Picard language
1960-533: The written form known as Feller-Carton (based on the Walloon spelling system, which was developed by Jules Feller , and adapted for Picard by Professor Fernand Carton ). Picard, although primarily a spoken language, has a body of written literature: poetry, songs (" P'tit quinquin " for example), comic books, etc. A number of dictionaries and patois guides also exist (for French speakers): Th%C3%A9%C3%A2tre des Noctambules The Théâtre des Noctambules
2009-614: Was Le Chat Noir in the bohemian neighborhood of Montmartre , created in 1881 by Rodolphe Salis , a theatrical agent and entrepreneur. It combined music and other entertainment with political commentary and satire. The Chat Noir brought together the wealthy and famous of Paris with the bohemians and artists of Montmartre and the Pigalle . Its clientele "was a mixture of writers and painters, of journalists and students, of employees and high-livers, as well as models, prostitutes and true grand dames searching for exotic experiences." The host
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2058-399: Was Salis himself, calling himself a gentleman- cabaretier ; he began each show with a monologue mocking the wealthy, ridiculing the deputies of the National Assembly, and making jokes about the events of the day. The cabaret was too small for the crowds trying to get in; at midnight on June 10, 1885, Salis and his customers moved down the street to a larger new club at 12 rue de Laval, which had
2107-510: Was a former Parisian cabaret established in 1894 by the chansonnier Martial Boyer (1872–1941) and located at 7 rue Champollion in the 5th arrondissement of Paris ( Latin Quarter ). In 1939, Pierre Leuris and Jean Claude turned it into a theatre. Fernand Voiturin became manager in 1952 until the venue closed down in June 1956, when the theatre was turned into a Revival house (Art et Essai) under
2156-507: Was imported from French cabaret by Jesse Louis Lasky in 1911. In the United States, cabaret diverged into several different styles of performance mostly due to the influence of jazz music. Chicago cabaret focused intensely on the larger band ensembles and reached its peak during Roaring Twenties , under the Prohibition Era , where it was featured in the speakeasies and steakhouses . New York cabaret never developed to feature
2205-608: Was invented during the First World War by Poilus from non-Picard speaking areas to refer to their brothers in arms from Picardy and Nord-Pas-de-Calais . It is an onomatopoeia created based on the frequent use of the /ʃ/ ( ch- ) phoneme and of the /ʃti/ ( chti ) sound in Picard: " ch'ti " means the one, as in the sentence " ch'est chti qui a fait cha" ( he is the one who has done that), for instance. Belgium's French Community gave full official recognition to Picard as
2254-597: Was nevertheless an influential venture, which introduced the concept of cabaret to London. It provided a model for the generation of nightclubs that came after it. "The clubs that started the present vogue for dance clubs were the Cabaret Club in Heddon Street . . . . The Cabaret Club was the first club where members were expected to appear in evening clothes. . . . The Cabaret Club began a system of vouchers which friends of members could use to obtain admission to
2303-458: Was not able to compete with French and was slowly reduced to the status of a regional language. A more recent body of Picard literature, written during the last two centuries, also exists. Modern written Picard is generally a transcription of the spoken language. For that reason, words are often spelled in a variety of different ways (in the same way that English and French were before they were standardized). One system of spelling for Picard words
2352-572: Was opened in 1889 by the Catalan Joseph Oller. It was greatly prominent because of the large red imitation windmill on its roof, and became the birthplace of the dance known as the French Cancan . It helped make famous the singers Mistinguett and Édith Piaf and the painter Toulouse-Lautrec , who made posters for the venue. The Olympia , also run by Oller, was the first to be called a music hall; it opened in 1893, followed by
2401-692: Was the Cafe des Aveugles in the cellars of the Palais-Royal , which had a small orchestra of blind musicians. In the early 19th century, many cafés-chantants appeared around the city; the most famous were the Café des Ambassadeurs (1843) on the Champs-Élysées and the Eldorado (1858) on boulevard Strasbourg. By 1900, there were more than 150 cafés-chantants in Paris. The first cabaret in the modern sense
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