Barcelona is a cultural hub where you can find dozens of art galleries, concert halls, cinemas and theater halls. If you are a lover of the performing arts, we present you a guide with the most important Theaters of the city for you to enjoy the best shows.
Gran Teatre del Liceu
Very close to the hotel (right on La Rambla) you will find the Gran Teatre del Liceu considered one of the most important and prestigious opera houses in the world.
Since its inauguration in 1847, the greatest opera arias have been performed at the Liceu and it has hosted artists such as Enrico Caruso, Maria Callas, Luciano Pavarotti or the local artists José Carreras and Montserrat Caballé.
In addition, the building is an architectural masterpiece that is worth visiting even if it’s only to contemplate its beauty. The main lobby offers its visitors a travel back in time to the 19th century with its Renaissance style. From there, a beautiful marble staircase leads to the impressive Mirrored Salon, also in Renaissance style.
For its part, the sophisticated decoration of the main hall, inspired by the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, makes it one of the most solemn theatrical spaces of all the European architecture of the XX century.
In any case, in the Liceu the drama has not only lived on the stage. In 1994 a terrible fire consumed the hall and the stage of the theater. Moreover, in 1861 another fire burned it almost entirely and in 1893 the theater was the scene of an anarchist attack with 22 dead and 35 wounded.
Fortunately, the building rose from its ashes and after its last reconstruction it maintains the original essence, with some technical improvements, to become a cultural symbol of Barcelona and one of the Theaters with greater capacity of Europe (2.292 seats).
A cultural and tourist attraction for the lovers of the architecture and the opera that for two centuries has been a meeting place for the Catalan nobility and bourgeoisie, but that does not live only by its history.
Today, the Best singers and Ballet Companies of the world still come to this imposing stage. The 2017 season includes opera pieces by Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi or Mozart, among other great artists. You can check the complete schedule here.
Club Capitol
If what you want is to have a laugh, Club Capitol is your best option. Located in the heart of La Rambla, it was inaugurated in 1926 as a movie theater and later became a theater after being remodeled in 1989.
Since then, it has two small but very charming spaces, where theatrical comedies are combined with the performances of the best-known monologists and standup comedians on the national scene.
Teatre Coliseum
The Coliseum Theater, one of the best examples of the monumental architecture of the 1920s in Barcelona, is located on the Gran Vía de les Corts Catalanes, and its elegance earned being declared to be a building of Local Cultural Interest.
Inaugurated in 1923, in its early years it was a reference cinema in the city in which the great premieres were projected.
From 2007 it became a theater (with capacity for 1.689 people) and today they are represented large format shows for all kind of audiences: musicals, music concerts, recitals, magic shows and varieties.
A building with its own soul whose decoration fuses the aesthetics of the golden years of cinema with that of the great classical theaters.
Teatre Nacional de Catalunya
The Teatre Nacional de Cataunya (TNC) stands out for its spectacular structure and the beauty of its gardens, which can be visit for free. It’s a colossal classical building that consists of three rooms in which are offered and programmed all kinds of shows, mainly in Catalan.
Teatro Apolo
This is another of Barcelona’s centenary theaters, which opened its doors in 1904 in a time of maximum effervescence of Avinguda Paral · lel, where it is located ever since.
In its 113 years of existence, Teatro Apolo has seen the rise of some of the main artists of the national theater scene and has been the stage of shows such as Sweeney Todd, Jesus Christ Superstar, We Will Rock You, Cabaret, FAME The Musical or HAIR.
Nowadays, it’s still one of the reference theaters in the city and hosts all kinds of shows.
Teatro Tivoli
Like some of the others on this list, Teatre Tivoli was in its origins a cinema, but since its opening in 1919 has hosted theater perfomances, zarzuelas (a spanish lyric-dramatic theatre genre), opera, revue, circus and even a Bruce Springsteen concert in 1996.
Today, it hosts mainly musicals and large format shows, as well as ballets and text theater.
In addition to these theatres, Barcelona has a wide choice of spaces which can be adapted as theaters to perform scenic arts such as the Teatro Romano, the Poliorama, the Teatro Principal and el Molino, where are represented the most bold cabarets. Don’t miss it!
