Teatro de la Zarzuela for visitors

A theatre built for one genre

Wikipedia says the theatre was designed by Jerónimo de la Gándara, modelled on La Scala in Milan with a three-level horseshoe form, and opened to the public on 10 October 1856, the birthday of Queen Isabella II. The theatre's own history page says it was the first and only building created exclusively for zarzuela and was founded by the genre's leading composers and writers of the 1850s. It stands beside Calle de Alcalá, in the heart of the city.

Fire, rebuilding and revival

A fire in November 1909 virtually destroyed the building. It was rebuilt with less wood and metal and reopened in 1914. Renovations in 1956 cost the building much of its original ornament, and it later became state property and was given heritage status in 1994. A further remodelling in 1998 restored much of the original structure and form. That year the theatre also staged a celebrated revival of La Gran Vía, the 1886 género chico classic.

More than zarzuela

From 1984 the Ministry of Culture ran the theatre, and without an opera house or concert hall in Madrid at the time it also accepted dance and opera. After the 1998 remodelling it returned to its original purpose, Spanish lyric theatre. Its current programme lists lyric productions, concerts, dance and chamber musical theatre by season, so the evening you find may be zarzuela, a concert or a dance programme.

What a full production adds

A dinner offers songs. A production offers the complete work: the spoken plot, the supporting cast, a chorus, a staged set and a theatre orchestra. Wikipedia names the Community of Madrid Orchestra as the theatre's resident ensemble, and the theatre's site lists a chorus and an orchestra among its teams. If you came to understand why Madrid loves zarzuela, one full evening is the most direct answer.

Theatre or dinner?

They do different jobs. The theatre gives you the whole work, in Spanish, in a seat, for the length of the production. The dinner gives you a sociable three hours of tapas courses with opera arias and zarzuela songs, drinks included, and a room that joins in. If you have only one evening, choose by temperament: concentration and craft at the theatre, company and noise at the restaurant.

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Booking a seat

Tickets for the theatre are sold by the theatre, through its own site and box office, and the programme changes with the season. This site does not sell them and links only to the dinner. Look at the calendar on the theatre's site before you plan your trip, because productions run for a limited number of dates, and read the theatre's general rules before you go. If your dates are fixed, check them against the season first, then plan the other days of the trip around it.

Who this isn't for

If you want to eat while you watch, a theatre is the wrong choice. If you want a lively room where the performers talk to you, so is an auditorium. And if you cannot follow a plot in Spanish, check whether your date offers any translation of the text before you buy, because a spoken-and-sung plot is harder to follow without the language than a concert of arias.