The Théâtre des Variétés-Amusantes was a theatre company in Paris.

History

In 1778, Louis Lécluse (or Lécluze), a former actor at the Opéra-Comique turned dentist, opened a theatre at foire Saint-Laurent, which shortly afterwards he transferred to the

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, at the corner of rue de Lancry and rue de Bondy (now rue René-Boulanger, Xe arrondissement). Unable to bear the hostility this new enterprise generated, Lécluse ceded his theatre and its company to three former dancers of the

Opéra This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...

– Fierville fils, Malter and

Hamoir Hamoir (; wa, Hamwer) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On 1 January 2006, Hamoir had a total population of 3,592. The total area is 27.80 km2 which gives a population density of 129 inhabitants per k ...

– as well as the financier Lemercier. The theatre opened on 12 April 1779 and it attracted large audiences by its varied and well-performed repertoire. Dorvigny wrote several plays for it, including ''Janot ou les Battus paient l'amende'' (11 June 1779), which was a great success. In 1784, the theatre's directors had their privilege revoked by a Conseil d'État decree, in favour of Gaillard and Dorfeuille, after a complaint from the

Académie royale de Musique The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...

. The new directors moved the theatre to the Palais-Royal and opened their new building on 1 January 1785, under the name Variétés du Palais-Royal. Its fare until that date had been farces, which they replaced with comedies, welcoming Monvel and Julie Candeille, then Talma, Dugazon and Mme Vestris. From then on the theatre was renamed the ''Théâtre-Français de la rue Richelieu'', then the '' Théâtre de la République''.

External links

All the shows put on at Les Variétés-Amusantes
on the CESAR site {{DEFAULTSORT:Theatre Des Varietes-Amusantes Theatres in the 10th arrondissement of Paris Varietes-Amusantes Theatres completed in 1779 Theatres completed in 1785 18th-century architecture in France