ABSTRACT
The Châtelet opened in 1862 with Dennery’s Rothomago, and many féeries were performed there until the end of the century. In practice, the genre had run its course by this date. It made its contribution to the operetta in productions such as Offenbach’s Le Voyage dans la lune (1875), described as an ‘opéra-féerie’. For a less credulous generation the element of magic, thanks to the craze for Jules Verne, was replaced by science.
