Théâtre de la Gaîté (rue Papin)
Encyclopedia
In 1862 during Haussmann's modernization of Paris the Théâtre de la Gaîté of the boulevard du Temple
was relocated to the rue Papin across from the Square des Arts et Métiers.
The new theatre, built in an Italian style to designs of the architects Jacques-Ignace Hittorff and Alphonse Cusin, opened on 3 September.
Within a decade the focus began to shift from melodrama
to operetta
and opera
, so the theatre also came to be known as the Gaîté-Lyrique.
In the early 1920s Diaghilev's Ballet Russe danced here, and after World War II
it was used for musical comedy. In the 1970s attendance decreased, and there were several attempts to find new uses for the building, culminating in 1989 in the construction of a short-lived amusement park, that resulted in the demolition of most of the theatre, except for the facade, entrance and foyer. The latter were restored during a 2004 reconstruction that converted the building into an arts centre, La Gaîté Lyrique
, completed in November 2010.
was the director of the Théâtre de la Gaîté from 1873 to 1874. His opéra-bouffe-féerie Le roi Carotte
was first performed here in 1872 and his opéra-féerie Le voyage dans la lune
in 1875. The opera Le timbre d'argent by Camille Saint-Saëns
was premiered here in 1877, at which time the theatre was briefly known as the Théâtre National Lyrique.
Premieres
danced at the theatre in 1921, 1923, and 1925. The 1921 performances included the ballerina Lydia Lopokova in the title role of Igor Stravinsky
's The Firebird
, and the company gave premieres of Prokofiev
's Chout
(17 May 1921) and Stravinsky's Les noces
(13 June 1923).
Beginning on 15 November 1932 Franz Lehár's The Land of Smiles
was first performed in France. It was given in a French adaptation by André Mauprey and Jean Marietti with the title Le pays du sourire. The Dutch tenor Willy Thunis, who did not speak a word of French, sang Sou-Chong. The production received its 1,000th performance on 17 April 1939.
During the Second World War, the theatre was looted during the occupation. The large chandelier installed by Offenbach disappeared, as well the Emperor's golden coach, which had been stored in the service quarters.
After the war Henri Montjoye (né Barbero) took over the theatre, and after his death in 1950, his widow, the soprano Germaine Roger, became the theatre's director.
Numerous successes were put on. The 2-act operetta Andalousie by Albert Willemetz
and with music by had a 12-month run that began on 25 October 1947.
The 2-act Colorado by Claude Dufresne, billed as an opérette à grand spectacle with music by and lyrics by , starred the bass Armand Mestral (who alternated with Michel Dens) in the role of Jim Bullit, the tenor Lou Pizzara as Ricardo Diaz, the soprano Claude Chenard as Katharina Sanders, and Maurice Baquet as the little saloon pianist. The show opened on 16 December 1950 and ran for 11 months. It was revived at the theatre beginning on 12 February 1959 with Mestral and Baquet reprising their roles and Bernard Alvi as Ricardo and Andrée Grandjean as Katharina. It later went on tour and received provincial productions up into the 1990s.
Visa pour l'amour, a vehicle for two of Paris's biggest musical comedy stars, the tenor Luis Mariano
and the comedienne Annie Cordy
, was a 2-act opérette gaie with music by Lopez and a book by Vincy. It premiered in December 1961 and received around 600 performances.
In the 1970s the Carré Silvia-Monfort
presented contemporary theatre, and some singers and a circus school, the Cirque Gruss, who offered their spectacles in the facing square, based themselves here for a time, and converted the attic of the theatre into stables for elephants.
In the early 1980s the dome of the main auditorium was threatening to collapse and was reinforced with concrete. In 1989 much of the theatre was demolished and transformed into an amusement park
, , by Jean Chalopin
. The main auditorium, originally holding 1800, and the orchestra pit, apparently large enough for 60 musicians, were among the parts of the building lost at this time. The venture was a failure and closed in 1991. Manuelle Gautrand, the architect who was in charge of the later restoration of the surviving parts of the theatre as well as the reconstruction and modernization of the demolished interior spaces, described the scene as follows: "The historical foyer and the lobby had been stripped of their original style and had been redecorated with vulgar colors and statues", and the amusement park itself was "an incredible accumulation of monumental sets, combining pieced together dragons, rockets from the 80s, the world of Barbie, treasure hunts among the Incas…. A sort of 'low tech Disneyland' in the centre of Paris".
In December 2003 restoration work began, and in December 2010 La Gaîté Lyrique
was re-opened as a digital arts and modern music centre.
Boulevard du Temple
The Boulevard du Temple is a thoroughfare in Paris that separates the 3rd arrondissement from the 11th. It runs from the Place de la République to the Place Pasdeloup, and its name refers to the nearby Knights Templars' Temple where they established their Paris priory.-History:The Boulevard du...
was relocated to the rue Papin across from the Square des Arts et Métiers.
The new theatre, built in an Italian style to designs of the architects Jacques-Ignace Hittorff and Alphonse Cusin, opened on 3 September.
Within a decade the focus began to shift from melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
to operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
and opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, so the theatre also came to be known as the Gaîté-Lyrique.
In the early 1920s Diaghilev's Ballet Russe danced here, and after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
it was used for musical comedy. In the 1970s attendance decreased, and there were several attempts to find new uses for the building, culminating in 1989 in the construction of a short-lived amusement park, that resulted in the demolition of most of the theatre, except for the facade, entrance and foyer. The latter were restored during a 2004 reconstruction that converted the building into an arts centre, La Gaîté Lyrique
La Gaîté Lyrique
La Gaîté Lyrique is a digital arts and modern music centre opened by the City of Paris in December 2010, located at 3-5 rue Papin in the 3rd arrondissement....
, completed in November 2010.
19th century
Jacques OffenbachJacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
was the director of the Théâtre de la Gaîté from 1873 to 1874. His opéra-bouffe-féerie Le roi Carotte
Le roi Carotte
Le roi Carotte is a 4-act opéra-bouffe-féerie with music by Jacques Offenbach and libretto by Victorien Sardou, after E. T. A. Hoffmann. It premiered at the Théâtre de la Gaîté on 15 January 1872...
was first performed here in 1872 and his opéra-féerie Le voyage dans la lune
Le Voyage dans la Lune
A Trip to the Moon is a 1902 French black-and-white silent science fiction film. It is based loosely on two popular novels of the time: Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon....
in 1875. The opera Le timbre d'argent by Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
was premiered here in 1877, at which time the theatre was briefly known as the Théâtre National Lyrique.
Premieres
- 1872: Jacques OffenbachJacques OffenbachJacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
's opéra-bouffe-féerie Le roi CarotteLe roi CarotteLe roi Carotte is a 4-act opéra-bouffe-féerie with music by Jacques Offenbach and libretto by Victorien Sardou, after E. T. A. Hoffmann. It premiered at the Théâtre de la Gaîté on 15 January 1872... - 1874: Offenbach's revised Opéra-féerie version of Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the UnderworldOrpheus in the UnderworldOrphée aux enfers is an opéra bouffon , or opéra féerie in its revised version, by Jacques Offenbach. The French text was written by Ludovic Halévy and later revised by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux....
) - 1875: Offenbach's revised Opéra-bouffe version of Geneviève de BrabantGeneviève de BrabantGeneviève de Brabant is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach, first performed in Paris in 1859. The plot is based on the medieval legend of Genevieve of Brabant....
- 1875: Offenbach's opéra-féerie Le voyage dans la luneLe Voyage dans la LuneA Trip to the Moon is a 1902 French black-and-white silent science fiction film. It is based loosely on two popular novels of the time: Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon....
- 1877: Saint-Saëns' opera Le timbre d'argent
- 1914: BianchiniBianchiniBianchini may refer to:* Bianchini * Angela Bianchini , Italian fiction writer and literary critic* Brian Bianchini , American male model* Francesco Bianchini , Italian philosopher and scientist...
's opera Radda
20th century
Serge Diaghilev's Ballets RussesBallets Russes
The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company from Russia which performed between 1909 and 1929 in many countries. Directed by Sergei Diaghilev, it is regarded as the greatest ballet company of the 20th century. Many of its dancers originated from the Imperial Ballet of Saint Petersburg...
danced at the theatre in 1921, 1923, and 1925. The 1921 performances included the ballerina Lydia Lopokova in the title role of Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's The Firebird
The Firebird
The Firebird is a 1910 ballet created by the composer Igor Stravinsky and choreographer Michel Fokine. The ballet is based on Russian folk tales of the magical glowing bird of the same name that is both a blessing and a curse to its captor....
, and the company gave premieres of Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
's Chout
Chout
Chout, Op. 21 , is the usual English-language title of a ballet by Sergei Prokofiev, written in two versions between 1915 and 1921. It is sometimes known as "The Tale of the Buffoon", or simply "The Buffoon"...
(17 May 1921) and Stravinsky's Les noces
Les Noces
Les noces by Igor Stravinsky, is a dance cantata, or ballet with vocalists.-History:The ballet was premiered on June 13, 1923 at the Théâtre de la Gaîté, by the Ballets Russes with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska...
(13 June 1923).
Beginning on 15 November 1932 Franz Lehár's The Land of Smiles
The Land of Smiles
The Land of Smiles is a romantic operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár. The German language libretto was by Ludwig Herzer and Fritz Löhner. The performance time is about 100 minutes....
was first performed in France. It was given in a French adaptation by André Mauprey and Jean Marietti with the title Le pays du sourire. The Dutch tenor Willy Thunis, who did not speak a word of French, sang Sou-Chong. The production received its 1,000th performance on 17 April 1939.
During the Second World War, the theatre was looted during the occupation. The large chandelier installed by Offenbach disappeared, as well the Emperor's golden coach, which had been stored in the service quarters.
After the war Henri Montjoye (né Barbero) took over the theatre, and after his death in 1950, his widow, the soprano Germaine Roger, became the theatre's director.
Numerous successes were put on. The 2-act operetta Andalousie by Albert Willemetz
Albert Willemetz
Albert Willemetz was a French librettist.Albert Willemetz was a prolific lyricist. He invented a new type of musical, with a humorous and "sexy" style...
and with music by had a 12-month run that began on 25 October 1947.
The 2-act Colorado by Claude Dufresne, billed as an opérette à grand spectacle with music by and lyrics by , starred the bass Armand Mestral (who alternated with Michel Dens) in the role of Jim Bullit, the tenor Lou Pizzara as Ricardo Diaz, the soprano Claude Chenard as Katharina Sanders, and Maurice Baquet as the little saloon pianist. The show opened on 16 December 1950 and ran for 11 months. It was revived at the theatre beginning on 12 February 1959 with Mestral and Baquet reprising their roles and Bernard Alvi as Ricardo and Andrée Grandjean as Katharina. It later went on tour and received provincial productions up into the 1990s.
Visa pour l'amour, a vehicle for two of Paris's biggest musical comedy stars, the tenor Luis Mariano
Luis Mariano
Mariano Eusebio González y García aka Luis Mariano was a popular tenor of Spanish Basque origin who achieved celebrity in 1946 with « La belle de Cadix » an operetta by Francis Lopez...
and the comedienne Annie Cordy
Annie Cordy
Léonie Cooreman known under the stage name Annie Cordy is a Belgian film actress and singer. She has appeared in 50 films since 1954. She has staged many memorable appearances at Bruno Coquatrix' famous Paris Olympia...
, was a 2-act opérette gaie with music by Lopez and a book by Vincy. It premiered in December 1961 and received around 600 performances.
In the 1970s the Carré Silvia-Monfort
Théâtre Silvia-Monfort
The Théâtre Silvia Monfort is a theatre company and building in Paris, located at 106 rue Brancion in the 15th arrondissement. It has 456 seats and its stage is 15m wide by 7m high.-History:...
presented contemporary theatre, and some singers and a circus school, the Cirque Gruss, who offered their spectacles in the facing square, based themselves here for a time, and converted the attic of the theatre into stables for elephants.
In the early 1980s the dome of the main auditorium was threatening to collapse and was reinforced with concrete. In 1989 much of the theatre was demolished and transformed into an amusement park
Amusement park
thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...
, , by Jean Chalopin
Jean Chalopin
Jean Chalopin is a French producer and writer. In 1971, Chalopin created the company DIC Audiovisuel, which later evolved into DIC Entertainment, and wrote and produced programs animated by Japanese studios. Jean Chalopin is married to Chinese/Singaporean ex-Model, Ethel Chalopin...
. The main auditorium, originally holding 1800, and the orchestra pit, apparently large enough for 60 musicians, were among the parts of the building lost at this time. The venture was a failure and closed in 1991. Manuelle Gautrand, the architect who was in charge of the later restoration of the surviving parts of the theatre as well as the reconstruction and modernization of the demolished interior spaces, described the scene as follows: "The historical foyer and the lobby had been stripped of their original style and had been redecorated with vulgar colors and statues", and the amusement park itself was "an incredible accumulation of monumental sets, combining pieced together dragons, rockets from the 80s, the world of Barbie, treasure hunts among the Incas…. A sort of 'low tech Disneyland' in the centre of Paris".
In December 2003 restoration work began, and in December 2010 La Gaîté Lyrique
La Gaîté Lyrique
La Gaîté Lyrique is a digital arts and modern music centre opened by the City of Paris in December 2010, located at 3-5 rue Papin in the 3rd arrondissement....
was re-opened as a digital arts and modern music centre.
See also
- Théâtre de la Gaîté (boulevard du Temple)
- La Gaîté LyriqueLa Gaîté LyriqueLa Gaîté Lyrique is a digital arts and modern music centre opened by the City of Paris in December 2010, located at 3-5 rue Papin in the 3rd arrondissement....
- Théâtre de la Gaîté-MontparnasseThéâtre de la Gaîté-MontparnasseThe Théâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse is a venue situated at 26, rue de la Gaîté, in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the 14th arrondissement...