In 1862 during Haussmann's modernization of Paris, the Théâtre de la Gaîté of the boulevard du Temple was relocated to the rue Papin across from the Square des Arts et Métiers. The new theatre, built in an Italian style to designs of the architects Jacques-Ignace Hittorff and Alphonse Cusin, opened on 3 September. Within a decade, the focus began to shift from melodrama to operetta and opera, so the theatre also came to be known as the Gaîté-Lyrique. In the early 1920s, Diaghilev's Ballets Russes danced here, and after World War II it was used for musical comedy. In the 1970s, attendance decreased, and there were several attempts to find new uses for the building, culminating in 1989 in the construction of a short-lived amusement park, that resulted in the demolition of most of the theatre, except for the facade, entrance and foyer. The latter were restored during a 2004 reconstruction that converted the building into an arts centre, La Gaîté Lyrique, completed in November 2010. 19th century Jacques Offenbach was the director of the Théâtre de la Gaîté from 1873 to 1874. His opéra-bouffe-féerie Le roi Carotte was first performed here in 1872 and his opéra-féerie Le voyage dans la lune in 1875. The opera Le timbre d'argent by Camille Saint-Saëns was premiered here in 1877, at which time the theatre was briefly known as the Théâtre National Lyrique. Premieres 1872: Jacques Offenbach's opéra-bouffe-féerie Le roi Carotte 1874: Offenbach's revised Opéra-féerie version of Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld) 1875: Offenbach's revised Opéra-bouffe version of Geneviève de Brabant 1875: Offenbach's opéra-féerie Le voyage dans la lune 1876: Victorin Joncières's opera Dimitri 1877: Camille Saint-Saëns' opera Le timbre d'argent 1913: Jules Massenet's opera Panurge 1914: Guido Bianchini's opera Radda 20th century Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes danced at the theatre in 1921, 1923, and 1925. The 1921 performances included the ballerina Lydia Lopokova in the title role of Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird, and the company gave premieres of Prokofiev's Chout (17 May 1921) and Stravinsky's Les noces (13 June 1923). Beginning on 15 November 1932, Franz Lehár's The Land of Smiles was first performed in France. It was given in a French adaptation by André Mauprey and Jean Marietti with the title Le pays du sourire. The Dutch tenor Willy Thunis, who did not speak a word of French, sang Sou-Chong. The production received its 1,000th performance on 17 April