Imprisoned for debt in 1803 and frowned upon by the government, a decree of 1806 ordered her company to leave the Théâtre du Palais-Royal which then bore the name of "Variétés".

The decree's aim was to move out Montansier's troupe to make room for the company from the neighbouring Théâtre-Français, which had stayed empty even as the Variétés-Montansier had enjoyed immense public favour.

Strongly unhappy about having to leave the theatre by 1 January 1807, the 77-year-old Montansier gained an audience with Napoleon himself and received his help and protection.

[2] Suzanne Lagier made her début there at the age of thirteen in 1846,[3][4] in the show Veuve de quinze ans, a role which was written for her by Pierre Adolphe Capelle.

[6] The theatre plays a prominent role in Émile Zola's 1880 novel, Nana, as the establishment in which the title character achieves celebrity with the premiere of La Blonde Vénus at the Théâtre des Variétés in April 1867 in the opening chapters.