The building of the Theater of Musical Comedy is located in one of the oldest streets of the city. The building, probably designed by the architect Yegor Sokolov, was constructed in 1799-1801. In 1842-1846, the architect Luigi Vendramini reconstructed the building. Several times, owners of the building changed, and one of these owners ordered to decorate the second-floor rooms like a real palace. In 1910, the building was seriously damaged by fire. Soon, the half-ruined building was acquired by the businessman Ivan Pyltsov who ordered the architects Ivan Balbashevsky and Alexander Maximov to transform it into a theater. Two auditoriums were constructed inside the former palace: the lower auditorium (a cabaret) and the upper auditorium (a theater). The three flights of stairs, the lounge-foyer with exquisite stucco decorations, paintings and bronze items resemble Rococo buildings. Combination of styles of various epochs can be seen in the decorations of the foyer located above the entrance to the theater. The dominating style here is that of the Italian Renaissance. The original architectural decorations have been preserved everywhere in the building, except the foyer transformed into a grotto.

The opening ceremony of the Palace Theater took place on December 18, 1910. Fashionable operettas were staged here by the best companies of the capital of Russia, and variety actors and musicians performed in the cabaret.

After the 1917 revolution, performances of the First revolutionary Heroic Theater began in the building of the Palace Theater. Then the Theater of Comic Opera was founded here. In the subsequent years, the performances of the Curved Mirror Theater, the Petit Palace Theater, the Theater of Satire and the Music Hall Variety Theater took place in this building.

The Leningrad Theater of Musical Comedy was founded in the summer of 1929 as the result of unification of two theater companies – that of Leningrad and that of Kharkov. The principal repertoire of the theater consisted of classical operettas, but Soviet operettas were also staged here. During World War II, the Theater of Musical Comedy was the only theater of the city which continued to function during all the 900 days of the siege. At various periods of time, such stage-managers as V. Rapoport, Y. Khmelnitsky, V. Tutyshki and M. Dotlibov worked here. Among those who made the scenery for the theater were the artists N. Akimov, V. Ryndin and T. Bruni.

In 1972, comic operas appeared in the repertoire of the theater, as well as operettas, musical comedies, ballets, musicals and song operas.

Since 1995, the theater has been headed by the director V. Pashkov and the artistic director A. Belinsky.

In October 1999, on the day of its 70 th anniversary, the theater received a present – the foyer reconstructed to its original design.

>Classical and modern operettas and musicals dominate in the repertoire of the theater.