Marigny Theater
This point of interest is available as audio on the tour: Visit Paris, On the Champs Elysées
You’ll now walk past the little Marigny Theater, listed as a historical monument. Its story begins way back in 1835, when a magician and physicist set up shop and performed in a tiny room known as “Hell’s Castle,” in Marigny Square. When this makeshift cabaret shut down for lack of funds, the famous German composer Jacques Offenbach –a naturalized Frenchman– took over, renovated the space, and opened the Theatre of des Bouffes Parisiens. It later became the Debureau theatre, and then the Folies Marigny, before being demolished in 1881. Then came Charles Garnier, the architect of the Paris Opera House, who created a panorama in its place, that is, a 360-degree, life-size painting that creates an optical illusion, transporting spectators to important moments in the city’s history. In 1894, architect Edouard Niermans transformed it into a beautiful rotunda once again. The theater has since hosted countless successful productions. Today, the Marigny theatre is one of Paris’s 50 private theaters. And here’s an odd little detail – there’s a plaque on its façade commemorating Odon von Horvath, a German playwright who tragically died right in front of the theater when a tree branch fell on him during a storm. A quirky reminder that even the most glamorous theaters have a touch of the absurd.
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