Hello!
Planning a sort of grand tour of Europe, and as a theater (theatre ;) lover I am hoping to see as many shows as possible while abroad. Any suggestions on towns with great/fun/interesting theater? Or venues you enjoyed?
London is of course a hot spot! But I'm thinking places to see plays or musicals in countries/cities like Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Prague, Vienna, Switzerland, or northern Italy.
Would love your thoughts! Thank you!
I love to see live performances in the cities I visit, especially when there is a local connection to the culture, a performer, a composer.
This isn't really theater (or theatre ;) or a musical, but one of my favorites so far has been seeing the opera "The Bartered Bride" in Prague at the beautiful National Theater, by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. I had gotten to where I didn't much care for opera. But this opera is very lively, with traditional costumes, music and dance. I loved it! You can check out various versions on YouTube to see if it's something you might enjoy.
Here's a website for theater in Prague:
https://www.prague-guide.co.uk/theatres-in-prague/
Edited to add: I just discovered the Karlin Musical Theater in Prague, near Florenc Station, which offers musicals, operettas and dance performances:
https://www.hdk.cz/en/
Thanks to your inquiry, I've booked myself for a Czech operetta during my upcoming visit to Prague!
Berlin has over 30 theatres, orchestras and dance companies with state support. On top 3 opera houses (unique) plus a handful venues for classical music only.
If you look for a real national theatre success also over-titled in English check "Linie 1" played by Grips Theater, Berlin. Also entertaining for teens.
You will also find lots of musicals and theatres in Hamburg, Germany.
Take care of language presented.
Oberammergau for the Passion Play, every 20 years, coming right up.
You don't make clear if you mean popular theater like Broadway musicals, or if you mean small-theater, new-plays, in the local language, for instance.
I'll mention the three most important Baroque Palace theaters (the ones that did not burn to the ground, repeatedly, over time!), Drottningholm in Sweden, Cesky Krumlov in Czech Republic, and Gotha in Germany. You don't need to see all three, but the issue is that they are seen (i.e. backstage with no performance) only by guided tours and they sell out in advance. There are also replica Baroque theaters, like the Romolo Valli in Reggio nel Emilia (that is obscure, but I mean it as an example) that might be of interest to you. I was glad to see the little opera house in Versailles (optional extra fee, I think) because it's where the French terms for Stage Right and Stage Left (Côté cour & Côté jardin, abbreviated "cour" and "jardin", were created.)
You may wish to consider theater and opera festivals if you are going in summer. It is a major project to dovetail a complex itinerary with theater performance schedules. You sound like you are planning a vast amount of mileage to cover.
We were lucky enough to (by accident) be in Berlin last year for the Staatsoper's annual "Community Day" with tours of the opera house and childrens' activities and so on.
Edit: Accented phrase constructed to display correctly
We saw "The Phantom of the Opera" in Basel, Switzerland. Didn't understand the language, but it was a very enjoyable experience anyway.
The English Theatre in Frankfurt is the largest English language theatre on the continent. They have really good shows and are very popular in Frankfurt.
https://www.english-theatre.de/
Drottningholms Slottsteater (Drottningholm Palace Theatre) can be seen on a guided tour (available in Swedish, English, German or French) but it is also used for plays. This year they have one planned in early september that will be subtitled in English.
The funky black-light shows in Prague are unique - a bit strange but unique.
Not in the countries on your list but obviously Stratford-Upon-Avon for the Royal Shakespeare Company productions.
If you speak French then there are some very experimental and interesting performances during the summer arts festival in Avignon, France. Even if you don't speak French they would be interesting to watch...
Stretching it here but if you like musical theater then I would include opera in that category...the Roman colosseum in Verona, in northern Italy, stages opera every year. THAT is my all-time favorite venue for any kind of performance.
I agree with Anita, an opera in Verona is an amazing live performance experience.
In summer, the Pitlochry Festival Theatre puts on 6 different plays. If you time your visit right, you can see 6 different plays over a 6 night visit.
https://pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com/2019-summer-season/
Dublin has both the Abbey and the Gate Theatre; both are well known for the quality of their productions.
Places that I have thoroughly enjoyed:
Vienna Wiener Staatsoper (Opera House) - we attended the ballet, Don Quixote
Venice Teatro la Fenice (Opera House) - I attended an opera, La Traviata
Verona Roman Arena - I attended an opera, Aida
If you’re interested in musical arts, these are other options:
Stresa Music Festival, during the summer, beautiful settings around the Stresa and surrounding towns
MITO - a wonderful free event at Milan & Torino held in several locations throughout the day. We attended in Torino, and the grand finale was held in a piazza where they handed out music books for all of us (1000’s) singing opera, church, popular and traditional Italian music.
So many of the smaller towns have theater options, depending on when you’re traveling. A couple of examples- Parma, Ravenna, etc.
Paris has hundreds of live theaters. http://www.pariscope.fr/spectacle/theatre
Thank you! This is all incredibly helpful!
For theatre I would add Berlin to your list.
And it is a very fun town....
Not on your list, so maybe for next time-Dublin. The Abbey and The Gaiety are two that come to mind. Ireland is a land of great playwrights-Yeats, Synge, O'Casey and many more.
While I don't understand any foreign language well enough to follow an unfamiliar show that's not in English, I know many musicals well enough to enjoy them. It's also fun to listen to foreign cast albums; even if I can't understand all the words (or, in some cases like Hungarian, any of them), the spirit of a good performance comes through.
As you've already been told, American musicals, performed in German, are huge in Germany. Check what's playing in the cities you'll be in when you're there. The last time I was in Berlin, they had Rocky and King Kong, which didn't interest me. But on a prior trip I saw Rent and Cabaret, and I just missed Urinetown. And Cats ran almost as long in Hamburg as it did in London and New York.
Opera houses in Europe often do works that straddle the divide between opera and musical theater. For instance, I've seen Sweeney Todd in Barcelona at the Gran Teatre del Liceu (in Catalan), and in Berlin at the Komische Oper (in German).
Next to Normal was touring around the Netherlands the last time I was there, but the cities and dates didn't mesh well with my cities and dates (I would have had to take some VERY late trains to get back to my hotel). So, it's worth doing a bit of Googling for what's playing in areas you'll be, to see if you need to alter your travel dates and cities to mesh with the performances you want to see.
Not on your list, but both Paris and Madrid have a lot of theater; of course, it is mostly in French and Spanish respectively. However, just as Ms. Jo mentioned the English Theater of Frankfurt, there are English language theater companies in Paris, Vienna http://www.englishtheatre.at/ and other European cities. I saw Yazmin Reza's Art in Paris in English, which was an interesting "full circle" experience, since it started as a French play, then was translated into English and played London and New York (among lots of other places).
The Burgtheater in Vienna is considered to be one of the finest German language theaters in the German-speaking world (including Germany).
Each is going to have their favorite. You said theater, not just music. I'm not an expert on either, but I have heard from muscisians and actors that have visited Budapest that both can be very good. But I suppose it depends on a lot of factors.
I have been to the Opera and to Orchestral performances in a number of cities; including several of those noted above. What I can comment on is the experience for what that is worth. The one fairly significant attribute of the venues in Budapest is that they are still a very local cultural events. That means that those in attendance will be overwhelmingly Hungarian. From what I read on this forum, the dress and attitude in Budapest is somewhat more traditional; as what you might experience most anywhere 25 years ago. Personally, because I am a bit older and because I travel for the experiences, I prefer it that way. I will even go to a Hungarian language play just to experience the night (most everything performed can be looked up in advanced and read; so following along isnt impossible) To add to the experience, this is the one activity that I do first class, and Budapest makes that possible with the best tickets in the best boxes rarely being more than about $60.
Unfortunately right now the Opera House is under renovation and my guess is that it will not be open before the start of the 2020/2021 season. The back up is the Erkel Theater and it's very good, but just not the same experience as the Opera House.
The good news is that there are a number of venues that are pretty excellent.
http://www.operett.hu/ (Budapest Operett)
https://zeneakademia.hu/en/home (Liszt Academy of Music - concerts)
https://www.mupa.hu/ (Béla Bartók National Concert Hall and the smaller Festival Theatre - mostly concerts)
http://www.vigszinhaz.hu/ (Comedy Theater)
http://www.thalia.hu/ (Thalia Theater - musicals, operetta)
http://www.opera.hu/ (Erkel Theater)
http://vigado.hu/fooldal (Beautiful concert hall with great history on the Corso)
And you can attend this sort of event in Budapest if thats what turns you on. On this particular night there were no more than a dozen who were not Hungarians.
http://static.origos.hu/s/img/i/1602/20160206magyar-allami-operahaz-shakespeare-estely46.jpg
I experienced a wonderful opera, Rigoletto, in the Vienna Staat Opera House in June 2015. Fantastic performance. We rode the tram with locals taking their grandchildren! How do I know? We chatted with them. The children were wearing their best clothes.
Also, we attended a play at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, don’t recall the name. William Butler Yeats was the founder of the Abbey.
The Vienna Volksoper
I don't know if Theater Festivals count, but in Spain there is one at the Castle of Olite, and another of Classical Theater in the Roman Amphitheater of Merida.
Grand tour of Europe, Mr Crowley? You sound like royalty or an opera singer yourself. My tuppence worth, I think you will thoroughly enjoy this live review: 'Lola Lola and The Naughty Professor' at 'Der Blau Engel' on The Reeperbahn.
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