The Curran Theatre is named after its first owner, Homer Curran, and its design is thought to be based on six Broadway theatres, making it one of the few non-New York theatres to be so similar to Broadway venues in style.

It opened in 1922 and has hosted major touring productions ever since; it used to be home of the Civic Light Opera before it moved to the Orpheum Theatre. The Curran has played host to a number of significant long-running shows, hosting the longest running production of Phantom of the Opera in the US (after New York), the opening run of Wicked with Kristin Chenoweth in 2003 and the first run of the revival of the recent revival of A Chorus Line.