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The second Nuevo Retiro theater that Barcelona had was located between Rambla de Catalunya and Balmes and Diputación and Gran Vía. It had very large gardens and, if we were to locate it today, we should place it next to the Teatro Coliseum on Gran Vía and at number 246 Diputación street.
Its owners, who wanted to dedicate themselves to the world of entertainment, found some empty land that at that time was located on Calle Cortes and Diputación and did not hesitate to acquire it to set up the theater in the central part, and decorate the two ends of the site with plants and gardens.
Although the intention of its owners was to inaugurate it on June 18, 1896 and this is stated in the data of the history of said premises, that day the opening could not take place due to technical problems, as announced on page 7 of La Vanguardia, with the following announcement:
Great Italian opera company. While some artist contracts are being finalized in Italy, the inauguration and debut will take place next Saturday the 20th.
But the forecasts did not have any results either and on the 20th, they appeared again on the billboard with a new delay with the following statement:
NEW RETIREMENT. Great Italian opera company directed by the Mtro. Baratta and of which the renowned artists Gabbí, Gardetu and Quarengbi and the Mayor, Callioni, Bugatto, Rubí, Navarro and others are part. Tuesday, the 33rd, inauguration and debut of the company.
Finally, on the 23rd, the venue was inaugurated with the representation of La Africana. Although his dedication was destined to offer performances of Operas and Zarzuelas, the birth of the seventh art made him occasionally perform some sporadic sessions of the new event of moving images.
However, this system of indefinite tests made him test several of the new devices that were being presented, apart from the original projector by the Lumierè brothers. Among the devices tested at the New Retreat were Henry Leonard’s Wargraph system and, later, a new device called the Newgraf.
But none of them caught on with the audience, which is why they decided to close the venue for a few days and present a new musical theater season, inaugurated on Saturday, the 26th, with the premiere of the play, La criada respondona, with lyrics by Salvador M. Granes and music by maestro Lecoq.
On June 2, 1900, the Nuevo Retiro opened the summer season with the premiere of one of Puccini’s best-known and most famous operas, La Bohème.
The boiling that was experienced in Spain at that time was not alien to our city either and large venues gave up their halls for holding rallies and assemblies.
In 1904, the Nuevo Retiro hosted a brotherhood meal presided over by Alejandro Lerroux García, founder of the Radical Republican Party (PRR), a controversial politician known for his demagogic rhetoric, who presided over the presidency of the Council of Ministers on several occasions.
The turbulent times and the lack of work mean that at the door of the theater on Calle Diputación there are many people waiting for them to give them leftovers so they can take something to eat home.
Things go from bad to worse and the Nuevo Retiro appears for the last time on the billboards of La Vanguardia on Sunday, February 3, 1907.
The advertisement on the billboard read:
Great Spanish opera and zarzuela company. Performance for today, Sunday afternoon, The Iron Ring (3 acts), by the tiple Liébana de Gay and the tenor Bosal. It will end with the zarzuela in one act: Una vieja, by Gay, Rosal and Marín. There will be no performance at night.
This is the latest outstanding news from the second theater known as Nuevo Retiro.
