The Théâtre du Vaudeville was a theatre company in Paris. It opened on 12 January 1792 on rue de Chartres. Its directors,
Piis and
Barré, mainly put on "petites pièces mêlées de couplets sur des airs connus", including
vaudevilles.
After the theatre on the rue de Chartres burned down in 1838, the Vaudeville temporarily based itself on boulevard de Bonne-Nouvelle before in 1841 setting up in the
Salle de la Bourse on the Place de la
Bourse in the
2e arrondissement. This building was demolished in 1869.
Eugène Labiche
Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".Henri Meilhac
Henri Meilhac (23 February 1830 – 6 July 1897) was a French dramatist and opera librettist, best known for his collaborations with Ludovic Halévy on Georges Bizet's ''Carmen'' and on the works of Jacques Offenbach, as well as Jules Massenet' ...
put on several of their works there, and it also hosted
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
's play ''Onze jours de siège'' (1861). Other writers whose works were put on there were
Edmond Gondinet
Edmond Gondinet (7 March 1828 – 19 November 1888) was a French playwright and librettist. This author, nearly forgotten today, produced forty plays of which several were successful. He collaborated with Alphonse Daudet and Eugène Labiche, ...
,
Alexandre Bisson
Alexandre Bisson (9 April 1848 – 27 January 1912) was a French playwright, vaudeville creator, and novelist. Born in Briouze, Orne in Lower Normandy, he was successful in his native France as well as in the United States. Remembered as a signi ...
,
Théophile Marion Dumersan
Théophile Marion Dumersan (4 January 1780, Plou, Cher – 13 April 1849, Paris) was a French writer of plays, vaudevilles, poetry, novels, chanson collections, librettos, and novels, as well as a numismatist and curator attached to the Cabinet ...
,
Jean-François Bayard
Jean-François Alfred Bayard (17 March 1796, Charolles, Saône-et-Loire – 20 February 1853, Paris) was a French playwright. He was the nephew of fellow playwright Eugène Scribe.
Life
As a law student and a lawyer's clerk, Bayard wrote with p ...
,
Narcisse Fournier
Narcisse Louis Pierre Fournier (24 November 1803 – 24 April 1880) was a French journalist, novelist and playwright.
Life
He began his literary career aged 22 with two pieces, ''les Secrets de Cœur'' and ''la Poupée''. From then on he prod ...
and
Gaston Arman de Caillavet
Gaston Arman de Caillavet (13 March 1869 – 13 January 1915) was a French playwright.
Early life
Gaston Arman de Caillavet was born on 13 March 1869. He was the son of Albert Arman de Caillavet and Léontine Lippmann. His maternal grandfa ...
.
In 1852, ''
La Dame aux camélias
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
'' by
Alexandre Dumas fils
Alexandre Dumas (; 27 July 1824 – 27 November 1895) was a French author and playwright, best known for the romantic novel ''La Dame aux Camélias'' (''The Lady of the Camellias''), published in 1848, which was adapted into Giuseppe Verdi's ...
was put on here. For the first time in the era, there were over 100 consecutive performances.
Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
was in the audience at this theatre and wrote ''
La Traviata'' (1853) based on the play.
From 1866 to 1868, a new Théâtre du Vaudeville was built on
boulevard des Capucines
The Boulevard des Capucines is a boulevard in Paris. It is one of the 'Grands Boulevards' in Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an ...
, at the corner of
Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin
This "quartier" of Paris got its name from the rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It runs north-northwest from the Boulevard des Italiens to the Église de la Sainte-Trinité.
In the 17th century the ''chemin des Po ...
, in the
9e arrondissement. Although the Vaudeville continued as a commercial boulevard playhouse, it occasionally leased its stage to new experimentalist plays of the Independent Theatre movement. On 20–21 May 1891,
Paul Fort
Jules-Jean-Paul Fort (1 February 1872 – 20 April 1960) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. At the age of 18, reacting against the Naturalistic theatre, Fort founded the Théâtre d'Art (1890–93). He also founded and edit ...
's
Théâtre d'Art presented a benefit for
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the '' fin de siècle'' in international and ...
and
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
, consisting of a program of poetry readings and five short plays, including, most notably, the premiere of
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...
's Symbolist landmark work ''
Intruder''.
[Robichez, Jacques. ''Le Symbolisme au Théâtre: Lugné-Poe et les débuts de l'OEuvre''. L'Arche, 1957, pp.492-95.]
In 1927, this building was acquired by
Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
and transformed into the cinema it is today, under the name the Paramount Opéra then (from 31 October 2007) the Gaumont Opéra. It has seven auditoria and is served by
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 ...
on the
Paris Metro
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
.
References
External links
Productions at the Theatre on CESARThe Paramount Opéra movies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Theatre Du Vaudeville
Buildings and structures demolished in 1869
Vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
Buildings and structures in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris
9th arrondissement of Paris
1792 establishments in France
Theatres completed in 1792