School of Russian Ballet's Nutcracker in Sarasota

The Sarasota Opera House

The Sarasota Opera House (originally the Edwards Theatre) is an historic theatre, now opera house, located at 61 North Pineapple Avenue in Sarasota, Florida. The building was the vision of A.B. Edwards, the first mayor of Sarasota. It opened on April 10, 1926, with a three-story entrance containing “eight shops on the ground floor, 12 offices on the second floor, and 12 furnished apartments on the third, while the theatre’s auditorium contained an orchestral pipe organ. As noted on the Sarasota Opera’s website, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune hailed Edwards for “having admitted Sarasota into a fairyland of costly decoration, rich furnishings and never to be forgotten artistry.”

The building was designed by Roy A. Benjamin in the Mediterranean Revival Style Architecture and constructed by the GA Miller Construction Company.

The theatre is the home of the Sarasota Opera Association, Inc., which owns the building. The Association is the parent body that runs the Sarasota Opera. The house contains 1,119 seats.