The Shanghai Grand Theatre is one of the largest and best-equipped automatic stages in the world. Since the theatre opened on August 27, 1998, it has staged over 6,000 performances of operas, musicals, ballets, symphonies, chamber music concerts, spoken dramas and various Chinese operas.

The site is located at the intersection of Central Boulevard and Huangpi Road South in the northern part of the People's Square in Huangpu District, Shanghai. It is the home of the Shanghai Opera House Company; however, the title "Shanghai Opera House" officially applies to only the performing company and not to the building. The Shanghai Grand Theatre is also the resident for other performing companies.

Shanghai Grand Theater actively combines domestic and foreign performing arts and production resources and presents world classics to Chinese audiences in the way of its own after integrating national elements and characteristics. It has successively cooperated with Shanghai Shaoxing Opera House, Shanghai Ballet Company, Shanghai Opera House, Shanghai Peking Opera House, Salzburg Music Festival in Austria, Budapest Grand Art Palace in Hungary, and The Royal Opera House in Britain to launch various types of performances, such as operas, ballets, and dramas. The mode of adding Chinese elements to the world excellent culture has played a vital role in promoting Shanghai's cultural originality and creativity as well as the spirit of the times.

Architecture

The Grand Theatre building is a landmark for the city Shanghai. With a total investment of 1.2 billion RMB, an area of 2.1 hectares and a total construction area of 70,000 sq. meters, SGT is home to three theatres inside: the Lyric Theatre with 1,800 seats, the drama theatre that can seat 600 and the studio theatre of 300 seats. All sound and lighting devices were sourced from world famous suppliers. The stage in the Lyric Theatre, which has an area of about 1,700 square meters, including main stage, rear stage and left/right side stages, is one of the world’s biggest, best equipped and most versatile automatic mechanical stages. Supporting facilities of the Theatre include the SGT Arc Banquet Hall (Sky Ball Room), Maxim’s, Box Office and a big underground parking lot.

The building’s distinctive architectural style was designed by ARTE Charpentier, a famous architecture design company founded by French architect Jean-Marie Charpentier. And its interior was designed by STUDIOS Architecture. When the night falls, the light installations around the build make the site’s entire exterior resemble a crystal palace.