The history of the São Luiz Theatre began with the efforts of the actor Guilherme da Silveira, in 1892, when a society was set up to build a theatre in Rua Tesouro Velho, on land belonging to the House of Bragança.
The Viscount of São Luiz Braga presided over the society, along with members Celestino da Silva, Alfredo Miranda, Alfredo Waddington and António Ramos. The theatre was designed by the French architect Louis-Ernest Reynaud and modified in Lisbon by Emilio Rossi. It was opened on 22 May by King D. Carlos and Queen D. Amélia who gave it the name of Teatro Dona Amélia. The Viscount of São Luiz de Braga died in 1918 and, in his honour as a great driving force, it was renamed Teatro São Luiz.
In 2019, there was a party with opera, theatre, dance, music, guided tours, a documentary, the launching of a book and much more to celebrate its 125th anniversary.
The operetta, which premièred at the Theatre on 22 May 1894, La fille du tambour-major (The Drum Major’s Daughter) by Jacques Offenbach, a production that involves about 150 people, with musical direction and orchestra by Cesário Costa and staged by António Pires, is revisited to recall the past and think about the future.
