Teatro Nuevo Apolo, Performance theater in Embajadores, Madrid, Spain.
Teatro Nuevo Apolo is a theater in Madrid's Embajadores neighborhood, housed in a building with a pseudo-baroque facade that incorporates art deco elements. Inside, it holds close to 500 seats, provides spaces for wheelchair users, and features low relief carvings on the mezzanine level depicting scenes from zarzuela performances.
The building opened in 1932 under the name Teatro del Progreso and was conceived from the start as a venue for artistic performances. In December 1987 it was renamed Teatro Nuevo Apolo and went on to become a dedicated musical theater house.
The theater has long been a home for zarzuela, the traditional Spanish operetta form, which still draws loyal audiences to this part of Madrid. Today the program also includes Spanish adaptations of international musicals and dance performances from local and visiting companies.
The theater sits right on Plaza Tirso de Molina, which is easy to reach by metro. It is worth checking the current program before visiting, since the type of show on stage changes depending on the production running at the time.
The low relief carvings on the building are specifically dedicated to zarzuela, making this one of the few cases where a theater's architecture pays direct tribute to a single art form. Slowing down in front of the facade reveals figures and scenes that are easy to walk past without noticing.
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