Teatro Alejandro Tapia y Rivera (commonly referred as "Teatro Tapia"), is the oldest free-standing drama stage building located in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ...

. It is named after

Alejandro Tapia y Rivera Alejandro is the Spanish form of the name Alexander. Alejandro has multiple variations in different languages, including Aleksander (Czech, Polish), Alexandre ( French), Alexandros (Greek), Alsander ( Irish), Alessandro (Italian), Aleksandr (R ...

(1826–1882), a Puerto Rican poet and dramatist.

Location

The theater faces east, across from Plaza de Colón, on Fortaleza Street, and was constructed in 1824. It was designed in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

style as a horseshoe shaped

opera house An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically fo ...

with three tiers of boxes. A block south lies a brick-shaped former ''Casa de camineros'', house of road-maintainers. To the north-east lies a string of cultural institutions: the restored ''Casino de Puerto Rico'', the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

, the Carnegie library, the Ateneo Puertorriqueño, and Moorish-inspired

Casa de España Casa de España is the headquarters of a private social organization whose members are those of Spanish descent in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Avenida de La Constitución in Old San Juan. History The building was designed in a Moorish Revival styl ...

. In the northern seaward cliff sprawls the historic and labyrinthine fort of San Cristóbal. The original landward gate of old San Juan lays just east of this site on Calle Fortaleza.

Significance

For over one hundred years since it was built it was the center of cultural life in the city. Famous soprano

Adelina Patti Adelina Patti (19 February 184327 September 1919) was an Italian 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, and gave her l ...

sang there in one of her earlier tours of

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

during the mid-nineteenth century. Other notable performers to have graced its stage include the Russian ballerina

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova ( , rus, Анна Павловна Павлова ), born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova ( rus, Анна Матвеевна Павлова; – 23 January 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20t ...

. Emilio Pasarell and Antonia Saez have said that "the most significant moments of Puerto Rico's musical history are associated with...Teatro Tapia."

History

Initially named the San Juan Municipal Theater, it was renamed the ''Antonio Paoli Theater'' in 1935.''Antonio Paoli.'' Music of Puerto Rico.
/ref> It was subsequently officially renamed the ''Teatro Alejandro Tapia y Rivera'' in 1937. After years of neglect during the 1940s, the theater was saved from demolition by the former long-time Mayor of San Juan Felisa Rincón de Gautier. It was restored in the late 1940s and has subsequently been used to provide a venue for

musical theater Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

and other cultural events. With a maximum capacity of 647 people, this 19th-century theater serves as an arena for cultural events and enchanting ballet performances. The interior audience hall is remarkable for the period. Subsequent restorations (in 1976 and 1997) returned it to its old charm.

References

External links

{{Commonscat-inline, Teatro Tapia Buildings and structures in San Juan, Puerto Rico Theatres in Puerto Rico Tourist attractions in San Juan, Puerto Rico