The only magic show of its kind in Paris

A tribute to Paris and the french spirit

In the span of a « Soirée fantastique », Laurent Beretta revives the prestige and inventiveness of Robert-Houdin’s Paris, the most famous magician of the 19th century. From refinement to the extraordinary, he embodies the spirit and elegance of France. Robert-Houdin’s Soirées fantastiques played to full houses from 1845 to 1852, in a red and gold salon in the Palais-Royal, in Paris. This magic theater quickly became the most famous in Europe, attracting illustrious and brilliant personalities, artists and entrepreneurs. More than 150 years after the master’s death, Laurent Beretta is inspired by the codes and repertoire of the time, to share again this intimate, intense and magical experience !

More than a show, it is an invitation to perfection and pureness of gesture, an invitation to the beauty and precision of the automaton creations inspired by Robert-Houdin. Contemporary of the first great creators of luxury houses (watchmaking, jewelry, perfumery, leather goods), Robert-Houdin is part of this tradition of French excellence. « Les Soirées fantastiques » proposes a journey through suspended time, to the heart of magical emotion.
Laurent Beretta brilliantly embodies this cultural and historical heritage transmitted by the upheavals of the 19th century.

An abundant historical context

It is Thursday, January 15, 1852, at 164 Galerie de Valois, in the Palais-Royal in Paris. Robert-Houdin was about to end his career in Paris, before handing over his powers to his successor, Hamilton. The capital was in turmoil. After the Coup d’Etat of December 2, 1851, President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte had just adopted the Constitution of January 14, 1852, which put an end to the Second Republic and established a disguised monarchy…

Soon, on December 2, 1852, he will be crowned Emperor of the French, at the age of 44 years. The Second Empire will be the era of great technological advances, the development of industry and agriculture, the Universal Exhibitions (Paris in 1855 and 1867), the transformation of Paris, the drilling of the Suez Canal (1859), the rise of photography, the railroad and department stores, literary creation (Gustave Flaubert, Victor Hugo, Baudelaire, the Goncourt brothers… ), the Garnier Opera, but also grandiose balls at the Tuileries, Saint-Cloud and Compiègne. In crinolines and tails, people dance until dawn to the waltzes and polkas of Emile Waldteufel.

The era is one of pomp and illusion.

A final and unforgettable evening

Jules Verne, Gustave Eiffel, perfumer Pierre Guerlain, watchmaker Louis-François Cartier and other personalities who would soon be the talk of the town, flocked to the Palais-Royal to applaud the last performance of the « Soirées Fantastiques », a a one of a kind magical experience, performed by the most talented and creative illusionist, Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin. Watchmaker, creator of automatons, inventor and pioneer of electricity, he established himself in less than a decade as the undisputed master of illusion. His popularity went way beyond the French borders.

For his farewell gala, Robert-Houdin wanted to offer a gift that his spectators would never forget: an illusion effect, a prestige, created to be performed once and only once.

A magic effect so powerful that it could literally change one’s soul… What happened that night ? Because we like to believe that « his last miracle » could have influenced the greatest ambassadors of the French culture… What would happen if you could live this experience… ? Come and join us to live your « Soirée Fantastique ».