Teatre Apolo

Teatre Apolo is a 997-seat theatre on Barcelona’s Avinguda del Paral·lel, in Poble-sec. Its defining quirk is an origin story far humbler than its present auditorium: musical shows began in a former warehouse turned fairground booth in 1901; a storm destroyed that structure, and a permanent theatre followed. The current house carries a century of zarzuela, revue and music-hall programming into a calendar built for theatrical and musical events.

A theatre rebuilt twice

The permanent Teatre Apolo opened on 19 October 1904, developed by the Soriano brothers with Joan Socias and Joan Mestres Calvet. Early bills centred on zarzuela, revue and music hall; José Serrano’s El trust de los tenorios premiered here on 3 December 1910. A later landmark arrived in 1946, when Jaume Borràs’s company staged Frederic Soler’s El herrero de corte, described by Apolo as the first professional Catalan-language theatrical performance authorised after the Spanish Civil War.

The original theatre and neighbouring Apolo attractions were demolished in 1991; a hotel and car park rose on much of the site, while a new theatre was built into the retained portion at ground level. Programming resumed in 1993. A closure in May 2019 followed a troubled management period, and Smedia reopened the theatre on 18 March 2021 with the musical ¿Quién mató a Sherlock Holmes?, after investing €600,000 in refurbishment.

The room and the bill

This is a single, seated 997-person auditorium, suited to a conventional proscenium-style theatre experience instead of a standing club set. Apolo’s own remit is deliberately wide: theatre, comedy, magic, concerts, musicals, ballet, opera and family productions all sit under the same roof. For music-minded visitors, that means rock, pop, classical and Latin bills appear within a programme shaped chiefly by staged shows, tribute productions and musicals. Pick it for a sit-down performance in a large historic-theatre setting, with the schedule doing the genre sorting.