Obama fascinates French people, and this popular fascination keeps popping up in remarkable ways.

Obama's noteworthy speech, A More Perfect Union, delivered in Philadelphia last March, was promptly translated into French (by journalist François Clémenceau) and published as De la race en Amérique. (The French title brings Tocqueville to mind, which is fine but not what Obama was aiming for.)

After the book, A More Perfect Union now graces Paris stages as a theatrical presentation. It's not really a play, but instead a dramatic reading. Vincent Byrd le Sage and Gilles Bertrand have reworked the translation, and José Pliya directs.

A More Perfect Union had its Paris debut at the Théâtre du Rond-Point Tuesday, coicinciding with Obama's swearing-in. The production moves on to another venue, the Lavoir Moderne Parisien, for a one-month run.