Izzy
Senior Insider
Izzy, that was a great show and La Banane was so casual a place, it was fun to take guests to see the cabaret.. it later moved - I think to Boubou's restaurant at Le Sereno (someone please correct me if I'm wrong....)
Among the things I would like to have not missed (jcdoody lists some too...). Some years back, Dennis had posted a link to the old Civilized Explorer website describing the shows run by Rivière (transcribed below) and providing unfavorable comments about the incarnation at Le Sereno (found at the still accessible Civilized Explorer site):
Let us take a moment here to describe our previous visits to La Banane under the management of M Rivière. M Rivière owned a small hotel with restaurant in Lorient. He put on a show, using his waiters and more nearly professional performers. We attended twice during his tenure, and the shows were similar. There were men who dressed very badly as women with bad eye makeup and lipstick. To call it cross dressing would be too kind. There were scantily clad women who danced and lip- synced to recorded music. He might have an actual singer. When you arrived for dinner, the waiters knew exactly how long till show time and directed your meal accordingly. Once when we were running a little late, the waiter suggested ordering immediately, as nothing was served during the show. M Rivière selected a good mix of songs; some were American, some were old French standards that the audience sang along with in wonderful spirits. The cast was enthusiastic, the waiters joined in with an enthusiasm that we have not seen since college performances. We learned that the audience was expected to exhibit the same enthusiasm when a female performer swatted your male Civilized Explorer on the back of his head for not being turned in his chair to give her his undivided attention. It is true that the level of performance was amateur, that the humor was heavy handed, but M Rivière ended every performance with a heartfelt performance of "New York, New York," and a good time was had by all. The food was excellent, and the service was very good, with attentive waiters who kept things moving without appearing rushed.