The Teatro Gran Rex is an Art Deco

Art Deco

Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

 style theatre in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 which opened on July 8, 1937, as the largest cinema in South America.

Located near the centre of the city at 857 Corrientes Avenue

Corrientes Avenue

Avenida Corrientes is one of the principal thoroughfares of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires. The street is intimately tied to the tango and the porteño sense of identity...

, it was designed by the architect Alberto Prebisch

Alberto Prebisch

Alberto Prebisch was a distinguished Argentine architect whose numerous works included private houses, apartment and office blocks, cinemas, shops and banks...

, who was also in charge of the construction of the Obelisk

Obelisk of Buenos Aires

The Obelisk of Buenos Aires is a national historic monument and icon of Buenos Aires. Located in the Plaza de la República, in the intersection of avenues Corrientes and 9 de Julio, it was built to commemorate the fourth centenary of the first foundation of the city.In order to enrich the...

, one of the main icons of the city.

The design of the interior was influenced by that of Radio City Music Hall

NBC Radio City Studios

NBC Radio City Studios is the name given to radio and television studio complexes in New York's Rockefeller Center, San Francisco, and the former radio-TV complex located at the northeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, California....

 in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and construction of the theatre was completed in just seven months in association with the engineer Adolfo Moret. The opening caused a sensation and the Argentine intellectual Victoria Ocampo

Victoria Ocampo

Victoria Ocampo Aguirre was an Argentine writer and intellectual, described by Jorge Luis Borges as La mujer más argentina ....

 praised the theatre as an outstanding example of modern architecture from the pages of her influential literary journal, Sur.

Today, the theatre has 3,300 seats and, together with the Teatro Opera

Teatro Opera

The Teatro Opera is a prominent cinema and theatre house in Buenos Aires, Argentina.-Overview:The Opera Theatre was developed in 1871 by Antonio Petalardo, a local businessman who foresaw a need for popular theatre catering to the city's booming population in subsequent years...

on the opposite side of the street, is one of the city's most important venues for the staging of international shows.

Chiquititas was the highest-grossing event in the history of the theater. Based on the children-oriented soap of the same name and with the complete cast of the show, six seasons of live musicals were performed at the Gran Rex from 1996 to 2001 during the Winter Vacation. Over 1 million tickets were sold, with the 1998 season being the highest-selling season ever (and the highest attendance ever at the Gran Rex to this day): 240,000 tickets sold.