Féerie, sometimes translated as "fairy play", was a French theatrical genre known for fantasy plots and spectacular visuals, including lavish scenery and mechanically worked stage effects. Féeries blended music, dancing, pantomime, and acrobatics, as well as magical transformations created by designers and stage technicians, to tell stories with clearly defined melodrama-like morality and an extensive use of supernatural elements. The genre developed in the early 19th century and became immensely popular in France throughout the nineteenth century, influencing the development of burlesque, musical comedy and film.
Poster by Alfred Choubrac for an 1890 Théâtre du Châtelet production of La Biche au bois
Stereo card of a scene from Les Pilules du diable
Poster for an 1876 production of La Biche au bois
A scene from the original production of Corneille's Andromède, a precursor of the féerie
The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.
Théâtre du Châtelet
Auditorium of the Théâtre du Châtelet, 2008
The theatre c. 1875