Musical comedy theater

Type of theater: Musical, Comedy
Founded: 1941
Working days: No holidays
Opening hours: 10:00-22:00

Hagop Baronian (pronounced in Eastern Armenian as Hakop Paronyan, 1843–1891) was an influential Ottoman Armenian writer, satirist, educator, and social figure in the 19th century. Born in Edirne, Baronian is widely acknowledged as the greatest Armenian satirist of all time, closely followed by Yervant Odian.
Baronian’s most famous work was the book Medzabadiv Muratsganner (“Honorable Beggars”), which parodies the almost beggar-like state of writers and publishers in that period. Baronian was also known for his biting, sarcastic criticisms of leading figures in the Armenian social circles of Istanbul; some of these critical comments appear in his book Azkayin Chocher (“National Bigshots”). Unfortunately, he himself suffered the same fate as the characters in Medzabadiv Mouratsganner, and died penniless on the streets of Istanbul. He was buried in an Armenian cemetery in Istanbul, but the precise location of his grave has been lost.
The Yerevan State Musical Comedy Theatre was named after Hagop Baronian.
Hakob Paronyan Musical Comedy Theatre of Yerevan, is one of the prominent theatres of the Armenian capital of Yerevan, founded in 1941. It is located on Vazgen Sargsyan Street in the central Kentron district of the city, near the Republic Square.
The Paronyan State Theatre of Musical Comedy was established in 1941. Outstanding actors such as Grigoryan, Khachvankyan, Sarian, Danzas, Hamajian, Karagyozian and many others have showcased their talents on the stages of this theatre. Both Armenian as well as European writers comprise the repertoire of this central theatre. They includes: Ananian’s “Here I am” and “Lord, don’t leave us lord-less”, Papazyan’s “Parisian bridegroom”, Aghasarian’s “A crazy day”, Freidau’s “Doubts in a woman’s heart”, Kancheli’s “Khanuma’s tricks”, Aristophanes’s “Lysistrata”, Marivaux’s “The game of love and chance”, Phigeredo’s “Aesop”, Patrick’s “Strange Miss Savage”, Sundukian’s “Khatabala”, Paronian’s “The oriental dentists”, Kotoyan’s “My mother-in-law”, de Philipo’s “Philumena Marturano”, and de Vega’s “The gardener’s dog”.