Varieté and Theater

Since the mid 1850ties there have been various forms of lay and professional theater in the same space, where Porgy & Bess is today. There is no detailed information about the different varieté & theater stages, although Prillhofer writes about Helen Odilon as the founder of the Varieté Bocaccio. Stories tell about Miss Odilon, a known actress and wife of the popular actor Girardi, as the founding mother and former owner of the building (it hasn’t been proven). Documents that state the exact beginning of today’s Porgy as a theater stage haven’t shown up so far. It is hard to recall how many stages and under which name have existed there.

Following varietées have been recognized to have established there (in order of appearance):

Uhu (Eagle Owl)
Panspiele (Pan Games)
Wiener blauer Vogel(Viennese blue Bird)
Kunstspiele (Art Games)
Boccaccio
Rondell

"Bocaccio" and "Kunstspiele" have been the best known and well documented stages of that time, as of today’s research.