The Shanghai Grand Theatre stands at the junction of Renmin Avenue and Huangpi North Road on the northern side of People's Square. French architect Jean-Marie Charpentier designed it together with the Institute of Architectural Design of Eastern China; construction began in 1994 and the theatre opened on 27 August 1998. The crystal-like building, with eight floors above ground and two below, contains three halls: the gold and red Auditorium with 1,631 seats on three levels and a fully automated stage, the 575-seat Buick Theater for chamber music and smaller plays, and a black-box Studio Theater with about 300 seats. The programme covers opera, musicals, ballet, symphonic music and Chinese opera; in 2002 Les Misérables was staged here for the first time in Asia, with 21 consecutive performances.
The Shanghai Grand Theatre, opened in 1998, was China's first Western-style opera house and is home to the Shanghai Opera House Company — the striking inverted pyramid form symbolises Chinese tradition and Western modernity.
At a glance
- Type
- Opera house
- Location
- Shanghai, China
More venues in China
- National Centre for the Performing Arts · Multi-genre theatre, Peking