Theatre · Opéra · 9e arrondissement

L'Olympia

The buildingRebuilt on the site

Getting inHours or admission

What's there nowStill the same

The institution survives, but this is not the hall in which Colette performed: the Olympia was demolished and rebuilt in 1997, a few metres from its original footprint.

The boulevard music hall where Colette played the title role in La Romanichelle in 1906, during her run as a professional performer.

Address: 28 boulevard des Capucines, 75009 Paris
Years: 1893–present

Illustration The Olympia façade and marquee in colour on boulevard des Capucines

The present-day hall; the building was rebuilt nearby in 1997, keeping the historic frontage.

Editorial illustration

The place, briefly

Colette appeared at the Olympia in the autumn of 1906, playing the title role in the pantomime La Romanichelle from 1 October to 2 November. It was one stop in the concentrated run of music-hall engagements that year — the Mathurins, the Marigny, and soon the Moulin Rouge — through which she supported herself as she separated her career from Willy's.

The Olympia had opened in 1893 under Joseph Oller, a co-founder of the Moulin Rouge, as the first of the great Parisian music halls. It still operates under its name on the boulevard des Capucines, but the present hall is a 1997 reconstruction built a few metres from the original: the auditorium Colette performed in no longer stands.

Key facts

Address: 28 boulevard des Capucines, 9th arrondissement
Opened: 1893, founded by Joseph Oller
Colette's connection: The title role in La Romanichelle, 1 October–2 November 1906
Today: Still operating, but rebuilt in 1997 near the original site

In images

Pen-and-ink illustration of the Olympia music hall on boulevard des Capucines, the 'OLYMPIA' hexagon sign and 'MUSIC-HALL' marquee over the entrance — The Olympia on boulevard des Capucines, where Colette played the title role in La Romanichelle in 1906.Editorial illustration

The Olympia façade and marquee in colour on boulevard des Capucines — The present-day hall; the building was rebuilt nearby in 1997, keeping the historic frontage.Editorial illustration

Timeline

1893
Joseph Oller opens the Olympia, Paris's first music hall.
1906
Colette plays the title role in La Romanichelle, 1 October–2 November.
1997
The hall is demolished and rebuilt a few metres away; the interior Colette knew is gone.

On the map

Writers who knew this place

Colette

French · The French novelist who wrote the Claudine books under Willy’s name, earned her independence on the music-hall stage, and made women’s private lives a serious literary subject.

Performed here · 1906

Colette played the title role in the pantomime La Romanichelle at the Olympia, 1 October–2 November 1906.

— Société des amis de Colette — Chronology

Artists who knew this place

Ray Charles

American · Singer, Musician

Charles's first stand at the Olympia was a sold-out series in May 1962, later issued by Frémeaux as Live at the Olympia — Paris 1962. His Paris debut had come the previous October at the Palais des Sports.

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Théâtre des Mathurins

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