Théâtre du Rond-Point, Performance venue in Jardins des Champs-Élysées, France.
The Théâtre du Rond-Point is a theater building located at the intersection of Avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Champs-Élysées in Paris's 8th arrondissement. Inside, three separate performance spaces allow the venue to host different productions and audiences simultaneously.
Architect Jacques Hittorff built a rotunda here in 1838-1839 for the Champs-Élysées; it was destroyed after the 1855 Exposition Universelle. Gabriel Davioud designed its replacement, the Panorama National, inaugurated on 1 August 1860 under painter Jean-Charles Langlois, showing 360° battle paintings. In December 1893 the rotunda became the Palais de Glace ice rink, which ran until the late 1970s; in 1981 the Renaud-Barrault company moved in and it opened as a theatre.
Since 2001 Jean-Michel Ribes has limited programming to living authors, with 35 to 40 shows a year. Gérard Garouste painted the logo: a walking author with a cloud-shaped quill, his sex showing "to prove there is vitality". Stéphane Trapier has designed all the posters since 2004.
The theatre stands at 2bis avenue Franklin-D.-Roosevelt, at the corner with the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement, a short walk from the Franklin D. Roosevelt metro station. The rotunda is entered through the classical portico facing the avenue. The building is a listed monument historique.
The ice rink opened in December 1893, not 1894, and stayed in use until the end of the 1970s. A small refrigeration plant in the basement made two tonnes of ice per hour and also generated the electricity for the lighting. Jean Cocteau called the building a "monumental mint pastille" covered in ice shavings from skaters braking.
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