Historic La Scala in Paris gets new life as theater After opening as a music hall in Paris in the late 19th century, the La Scala was reinvented as an art deco movie theater in the 1930s, and then a porn cinema in the '70s before being abandoned in 1999. Now it's being reopened as a modern theatrical venue where people can see all kinds of performances, and, the director hopes, get excited about discovering new artists.