The Gran Via is one of the most important streets in the city of Madrid, Spain. It is located from Calle de Alcalá to Plaza de España. It is one of the most important landmarks of the city from the commercial, tourist and leisure point of view. This street is famous for its multiple cinemas and theaters. Near there are numerous student houses, so it is usually resorted mainly by students.

Currently for its many attractions is one of the streets with more student housing. In addition to being a bridge (figuratively) between the east and the west of the city of Madrid, this street was planned primarily as a meeting point for the locals and as a recreational and commercial area, especially for people who study abroad.

This is a perfect zone for international students because they can learn about the culture of the country in a funny place. This street it also meant a change in the habits of the locals, because it housed the first stores of the city, as well as luxury shop windows, large cinemas or cafes that are very popular during the first decades of life.

This street consists of three sections and the third section houses spaces for leisure and recreation, such as party rooms, cafeterias, multiple shops (bookstores, fabric stores, etc), office buildings, cinemas and theaters, among which stands out the Lope de Vega Theater.

History of the Lope de Vega Theater

The Lope de Vega Theater is located on the Gran Vía, near some student accommodation Madrid and this takes the same name as the old Bacilos Theater which was inaugurated in this same city in 1850. However, this old theater has already disappeared. Its location is in the block that occupies the numbers 53, 55, 57 and 59 of this street, where it is located between this, the street of Isabel la Católica, where is the site of the now defunct Casa Profesa de los Jesuitas, which It was burned down and San Bernardo Steet, next to some student apartments.

This lot was acquired in 1944 by the metropolitan real estate company. The block was built in only four years: It housed a large underground shopping center, Building Lope de Vega, between 1945 and 1959, the basements, the hotel and the Lope de Vega theater.

This theater was inaugurated in April 1949, mainly specialized in musical shows but in 1954 a cinema screen was installed there, becoming in this way the “Teatro Cinema Lope de Vega”. In the first years of its life, it was the point for great figures of the time such as Juanita Reina, Antoñita Moreno, Concha Piquer and Carmel Morel. When The Man of the Spot was premiered in 1997 a new stage emerged in this theater that was marked by the take-off of the musical genre in this Spanish capital. This musical was played by José Sacristán and Paloma San Basilio to welcome it and it was necessary to reform the theater for this staging, thus it was endowed with infrastructures that transformed it into the ideal space for this kind of presentations.

At present the Lope de Vega Theater offers a varied program, among which concerts of classical music, jazz, flamenco, new age, drink, in case this is not enough, it also has great plays.

It has more than 180 performances per season and also has a capacity of 1100 people, with more than 100,000 spectators per year. Also it has a cafeteria service that offers 3 bars. In conclusion, it is one of the most representative and important cultural spaces of this city.