Cheri was adapted for the stage in 1921 by Colette and Leopold Marchand. She wrote that what she had to teach her collaborator — as she rewrote his elegant dialogue in appropriate slang — was "the art of writing badly."

However, the play, which adheres to the central point of the plot, was fairly successful, playing for some 100 performances. A contemporary critic remarked on the "melancholy humanity" of the last two acts. The play went on an extended tour and did adequate business wherever it played. It was revived in 1922 (with Colette playing Lea, a role she took on several times subsequently) and again in 1925.

A film version was issued in 1950. It was adapted by Pierre Laroche, with dialogue by Colette. The setting was updated, and the production was hasty (it was filmed in three months).