Theater de la Ville description and photos - France: Paris (Topic)

Theater de la Ville description and photos - France: Paris. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Theater de la Ville.

Photo and description

The Theatre de la Ville (Municipal Theater of Paris) is located on the Place de la Chatelet. It is one of the most prestigious venues in France and its leading dance theater. Choreographers from all over the world are honored to receive an invitation and work here.

The theater was created during the town-planning transformations of Baron Haussmann (1862) by the outstanding architect Gabriel Daviu - he also designed the “twin theater” of Chatelet located opposite. But the fate of the theaters turned out to be completely different.

If Chatelet was famous for his adventure performances, then his counterpart, who was initially called "Theater of the Lyric", staged operas by Gounod, Bizet, Berlioz, Verdi, Mozart. The best opera singers of the 19th century performed here. All this splendor was lost during the Paris Commune, when the Communards burned down the theater. He could not recover from this blow until the great Sarah Bernhardt acquired him in 1899. Her name, inscribed on the pediment of the building, seemed to remove some kind of curse: the hall was always crowded. Sarah Bernhardt was a huge success in the plays of Dumas the Father, especially in the role of Marguerite Gaultier (Lady of the Camellias). On the same scene, the amputated actress played, sitting in a chair in a long dress, Racine's "Phaedru". She was already 75 years old at that time.

When Sarah Bernhardt died in 1923, the theater again lost its creative impulse and after a while was closed. During the occupation, the Nazis removed the name of the Jewish actress from the building. After liberation, the theater was officially named after Sarah Bernhardt - he wore it until 1968, when he decisively changed roles and began to specialize in dance performances.

Since then, the municipal theater has been bearing its current name and invariably attracts masters of contemporary dance from all over the world. Avant-garde choreographers from the USA, Belgium, Great Britain, Holland, and the German contemporary dance group Pina Bausch worked here. The popularity of the new school of French dance was born here, associated with the names of Philippe Decoufle, Jean-Claude Gallot, Regina Chopin.

Today the best choreographers in the world are Harry Stewart (Australia), Ea Sola (Vietnam), Akram Khan (India ) - staging performances in the Parisian temple of dance, which has become one of the symbols of France.

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Topic: Theater de la Ville description and photos - France: Paris.