Koninklijk Theater Carré: Theatre in Weesperbuurt, Amsterdam

★★★★★ 4.9

Koninklijk Theater Carré is the large theatre on the Amstel in Amsterdam, a neo-Renaissance building of about 1,700 seats that began as a permanent circus. You go for cabaret, musicals, dance, circus and international concerts, in a hall that was built for the circus. Circus director Oscar Carré opened the building on 3 December 1887, and at first it ran only for his winter shows. From 1893 the producer Frits van Haarlem filled the summers with variety, and the circus left for good after Carré's death in 1911. The name became Theater Carré in 1920 and Koninklijk Theater Carré at the centenary in 1987. The musical had its Dutch premiere here with Porgy and Bess in 1956, and the one-man show followed with Toon Hermans in 1963. The building nearly went. In the late 1960s its owner wanted it gone to make way for a hotel; artists protested, the city refused demolition and bought the theatre in 1977. Between 2003 and 2004 the inside was almost entirely rebuilt, which also put the steel roof arches on show. They are often credited to Gustave Eiffel but came from an Amsterdam bridge builder. The foyers have bars on several floors, restaurant In de Nok sits up in the wooden roof trusses with dinners tied to the evening's show, and in season there is a terrace on the river. The doors open 45 minutes before a show, and the theatre advises arriving at least 30 minutes ahead, as queues often form. Stalls, parterre, box and balcony seats use the main entrance, and gallery visitors use the separate doors to its right. The box office and information desk are in the foyer, on your left as you come in, and open from 17:30 to 20:30. Payment throughout is cashless. There are staffed cloakrooms on every floor, three lifts, and two accessible toilets on the ground floor. Induction loop sets can be collected from the cloakrooms, and rollators and wheelchairs can be borrowed if you ask in advance. Metro lines 51, 53 and 54 stop at Weesperplein, about six minutes' walk away, and trams 1, 7 and 19 stop at the Weesperplein tram stop, five to seven minutes on foot. There are two disabled parking spaces on the Korte Amstelstraat.