Localization

Teatro José Jacinto Milanés is located on Martí Street # 60, between Isabel Rubio and Colón Streets.

 

Opening Hours

The Milanés Theater is one of the most attractive theaters along with the Tacón in Havana, the La Caridad Theater in Santa Clara, the Sauto in Matanzas and the Tomás Terry theater in Cienfuegos.

History

The theatre was built in 1838. It was a humble building made of palm boards and a guano roof, with barely 100 seats. In 1839, a Spanish theater company, which rented the building, made major changes to the building, converting it into a wooden and tiled venue of about 18 meters wide and about 30 meters long, with 34 boxes (17 on each side) and 150 seats. The theatre was named Teatro Lope de Vega in memory of the Spanish poet and playwright Lope de Vega Carpio, who lived in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Lieutenant Governor, Colonel Dionisio Mondéjar, with the help of the company Viñas Gener, introduced some changes to the property before leaving his post in 1847. Among these changes were the interior division with railings and the stalls on both sides of the lunetary.

In 1880, it was bought by Dionisio Félix del Pino Díaz who rebuilt it almost entirely, building masonry walls and enlarging the theatre. The appearance of the building had completely changed with a wide portal, decorated with brick semicircular arches, resting on wooden pillars. At the front there were 3 doors; the center one was leading to the stalls and the boxes. It had a small anteroom with curtains that are drawn when the functions are being held. The lighting was provided by six gas lanterns.

The theatre also had a picturesque character named El Bastonero, who wore a flashy suit to be well-known among the audience and was responsible for maintaining internal order and discipline during shows or other activities.

After the third Cuban War of Independence, the Lope de Vega Theater hosted a banquet and a ball in honor of the mambi generals Juan Lorente de la Rosa and Antonio Varona. When it was his turn to speak, the owner Dionisio Félix del Pino Díaz announced that he renamed the theater after the Cuban poet he had always greatly admired, José Jacinto Milanés. José Jacinto de Jesús Milanés y Fuentes (1814-1863) is a Cuban poet and playwright. From then on, it was known as the Milanés Theater.

In 1907, a roof terrace was built.

In the 1960s it was nationalized.

In 1988, the theater hall and stage were used in the shooting of the movie La Belleza de la Alhambra (The Beauty of the Alhambra). The Beauty of the Alhambra is a Cuban film released on December 28, 1989, based on the novel Canción de Rachel (Rachel's Song) by Cuban writer Miguel Barnet and reconstructs the atmosphere and artistic life of Havana in the period from 1920 to 1935.

The theater closed its doors to the public between 1991 and 2006 for a through restoration that allowed the reinstallation of the lighting, air conditioning and audio systems. It reopened its doors on December 27, 2006. The reopening took place with the presentation of a cultural gala in honor of the 48th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.

The Theatre

The specialized restoration work on the decoration was carried out by the painter and restorer Julio César Banasco, who returned the splendor to the eclectic building.

It is a three-storey building. Its façade is striking, composed of five arches on pillars with attached columns.

It has 540 seats in total. It also has a Sevillian-style patio with a simple stage for a café-concert, with a capacity of 120 seats, and a bar-cafeteria.

Among the prestigious artists who have performed on its stages are the National Ballet of Cuba with its "prima ballerina assoluta" Alicia Alonso, the pianist Bola de Nieve, the vedette Rita Montaner, the Argentine comedian Antonio Gasalla, the vedette Rosita Fornés and other younger ones such as the musician from Pinar del Río Raúl Paz, Ivette Cepeda, Claudio Rodríguez, among others.