Her Majesty’s Theatre is one London's oldest venues. A Grade II listed building, the theatre has been refurbished many times but retains the original French Renaissance design. In 1994, the building underwent major refurbishment, which added new bathrooms and easier audience access as well as a new sound system.
Exterior of Her Majesty's Theatre, 2010Address,United Kingdom:Public transitOwner(leased from the )DesignationType1,216 on 4 levelsProduction(since 27 September 1986)ConstructionOpened1705; 314 years ago ( 1705)ArchitectWebsiteHer Majesty's Theatre is a situated on in the, London. The present building was designed by and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager, who established the at the theatre.
In the early decades of the 20th century, Tree produced spectacular productions of and other classical works, and the theatre hosted premieres by major playwrights such as,. Since the, the wide stage has made the theatre suitable for large-scale musical productions, and the theatre has accordingly specialised in hosting. The theatre has been home to record-setting musical theatre runs, notably the First World War sensation and the current production, 's, which has played continuously at Her Majesty's since 1986.The theatre was established by architect and playwright, in 1705, as the Queen's Theatre. Legitimate drama unaccompanied by music was prohibited by law in all but the two London, and so this theatre quickly became an. Between 1711 and 1739, more than 25 operas by premiered here. ’s series of concerts in London took place here in the 1790s.
In the early 19th century, the theatre hosted the opera company that was to move to the, in 1847, and presented the first London performances of 's,. It also hosted the Ballet of her Majesty's Theatre in the mid-19th century, before returning to hosting the London premieres of such operas as 's and 's.The name of the theatre changes with the sex of the monarch.
It first became the King's Theatre in 1714 on the accession of. It was renamed Her Majesty's Theatre in 1837. Most recently, the theatre was known as His Majesty's Theatre from 1901 to 1952, and it became Her Majesty's on the accession of. The theatre's capacity is 1,216 seats, and the building was by in 1970. Has owned the building since 2000. The land beneath it is on a long-term lease from the.
Painted byThe end of the 17th century was a period of intense rivalry amongst London's actors, and in 1695 there was a split in the, who had a monopoly on the performance of drama at their two theatres. Dramatist and architect saw this as an opportunity to break the duopoly of the, and in 1703 he acquired a former stable yard, at a cost of £2,000, for the construction of a new theatre on the Haymarket. In the new business, he hoped to improve the share of profits that would go to playwrights and actors. Interior of second theatre on the site, c. Drawing by and for Ackermann's Microcosm of LondonTaylor completed a new theatre on the site in 1791.
Michael Novosielski had again been chosen as architect for the theatre on an enlarged site, but the building was described by Malcolm in 1807 asfronted by a stone basement in rustic work, with the commencement of a very superb building of the Doric order, consisting of three pillars, two windows, an entablature, pediment, and balustrade. This, if it had been continued, would have contributed considerably to the splendour of London; but the unlucky fragment is fated to stand as a foil to the vile and absurd edifice of brick pieced to it, which I have not patience to describe.—The critic Malcolm, quoted in Old and New London (1878)The Lord Chamberlain, a supporter of O'Reilly, refused a performing licence to Taylor. The theatre opened on 26 March 1791 with a private performance of song and dance entertainment, but was not allowed to open to the public.
The new theatre was heavily indebted and spanned separate plots of land that were leased to Taylor by four different owners on differing terms of revision. As a later manager of the theatre wrote, 'In the history of property, there has probably been no parallel instance wherein the legal labyrinth has been so difficult to thread.' Meetings were held at and Bedford House attempting to reconcile the parties. On 24 August 1792 a General Opera Trust Deed was signed by the parties. The general management of the theatre was to be entrusted to a committee of noblemen, appointed by the, who would then appoint a general manager. Funds would be disbursed from the profits to compensate the creditors of both the King's Theatre and the Pantheon.
The committee never met, and management devolved to Taylor. William Taylor. In 1792The first public performance of opera in the new theatre took place on 26 January 1793, the dispute with the Lord Chamberlain over the licence having been settled.
This theatre was, at that time, the largest in England, and it became the home of the company while that company's home theatre was itself rebuilt between 1791–94.From 1793, seven small houses at the east side of the theatre fronting on the Haymarket were demolished and replaced by a large concert room. It was in this room that gave a series of concerts, under the sponsorship of, on his second visit to London in 1794–95.
He presented his own symphonies, some of them premieres, conducted by himself, and was paid £50 each for 20 concerts. He was feted in London and returned to Vienna in May 1795 with 12,000 florins.
Season tickets for King's TheatreIn 1797, he was elected as member of Parliament for, a position that gave him immunity from his creditors. When that parliament dissolved in 1802, he fled to France.
Later, he returned, and was member of Parliament for from 1806 to 1812 while continuing his association with the theatre. Taylor paid little of the agreed receipts to performers, or composers, and lived for much of his period of management in the, a in. Here he maintained an apartment next to and lived in some luxury, entertaining lavishly.
As at the theatre, in a 1910 photographWith the rapid advances in theatre technology made during this period, the 1868 theatre quickly became outmoded, and the sub-lease of the theatre, still held by the Dudley family, was due to expire in 1891. The (forerunners of the ) desired the entire block on which the theatre stood to be rebuilt, except for the Royal Arcade, where the lease did not expire until 1912. Problems were encountered in obtaining all the buildings and in financing the scheme, but the theatre and surrounding buildings were demolished in 1892. Plans were commissioned from architect for a theatre and a hotel. In February 1896 an agreement was reached with for the erection of the theatre at a cost of £55,000.
The plans were approved in February 1897, and on 16 July 1896, the foundation stone of the new theatre was laid. Phipps died in 1897, and the theatre was his last work. Architecture. Phipps's new theatreThe theatre was designed as a symmetrical pair with the and restaurant on the adjacent site, now occupied by New Zealand House. The frontage formed three parts, each of nine bays. The hotel occupied two parts, the theatre one, and the two buildings were unified by a cornice above the ground floor.
The buildings rose to four storeys, with attic floors above, surmounted by large squared domes in a style inspired by the. The theatre has a colonnade at the first floor, rising to the second, forming a loggia in front of the circle foyer. This is above a canopy over the main ground floor entrances. The theatre lies on an east–west axis. The stage at the western end was 49 feet (14.9 m) deep and 69.5 feet (21.2 m) wide, and reputedly the first to be flat, rather than raked. The interior was designed by the consulting architect, (1854–1940), after the Opera at.
Stalls and the pit were entered at ground level, with two partly cantilevered tiers above accommodating dress and family circles on the first level, and upper circle, amphitheatre and gallery on the tier above. In all, there were 1,319 seats.
Contemporary opinion was critical of the project. Edwin Sachs wrote in his 1897 guide to theatres, 'The treatment is considered to be in the French Renaissance style and stone has been used throughout.
The detail cannot, however, be termed satisfactory, nor does the exterior architecturally express the purpose of the building.' Modern opinion of the theatre is more generous, with describing the building as both Phipps's finest work and one of the best planned theatres in London. The building was in January 1970. Appreciation of the buildings came too late to save the adjacent hotel from redevelopment as the new, completed in 1963 by British architects, Johnson Marshall and Partners, who also designed the.
In 1995, this too was Grade II listed as a fine example of 1960s architecture. The 200-year-old Royal Opera Arcade, built by Nash and Repton, is all that survives of the second theatre and is the earliest example of a London arcade. Performance.
Shaw's ran at the theatre in 1914, starring as Eliza.The current theatre opened on 28 April 1897. Herbert Beerbohm Tree built the theatre with profits from his tremendous success at the, and he owned, managed and lived in the theatre from its construction until his death in 1917. For his personal use, he had a banqueting hall and living room installed in the massive, central, square French-style dome. This building did not specialise in opera, although there were some operatic performances in its early years.
The theatre opened with a dramatisation of 's. Adaptations of novels by, and others formed a significant part of the repertoire, along with classical works from. The theatre also hosted the world premiere of 's on 11 November 1909 and 's, with Tree as Henry Higgins and as Eliza, in 1914. Tree's productions were known for their elaborate and spectacular scenery and effects, often including live animals and real grass. These remained both popular and profitable, but in his last decade, Tree's acting style was seen as increasingly outmoded, and many of his plays received bad reviews. Tree defended himself from critical censure, demonstrating his continuing popularity at the box office until his death.
Its record-breaking run of 2,235 performances at the theatre began in 1916.In 1904, Tree founded the Academy of Dramatic Art (later ), which spent a year based in the theatre before moving in 1905 to in. Tree continued to take graduates of the Academy into his company at His Majesty's, employing some 40 actors in this way by 1911.The facilities of the theatre naturally lent themselves to the new genre of. Opened in 1916 and ran for an astonishing world record 2,235 performances (almost twice as long as the previous record for musical theatre – a record that it held until surpassed by in 1955). Major productions of plays with large casts were also performed at His Majesty's. And 's had its London premiere on 21 September 1927.
This starred and, and ran for 213 performances. 's operetta enjoyed a run of 697 performances beginning 18 July 1929. 's theatrical adaptation of his own premiered on 14 May 1931.Musicals continued to dominate at the theatre in the post-Second World War period, including transfers of the successful productions (1945; 572 performances) and the musicals (1949; 685 performances) and (1953; 478 performances). 's opened in December 1958 for a run of 1,039 performances, transferring from Broadway via the. The London premiere of was on 16 February 1967, starring, and the production ran at Her Majesty's for 2,030 performances. Forty years after the original stage adaptation, 's musical adaptation of premiered on 11 July 1974, followed by and 's initially unsuccessful collaboration, on 22 April 1975, which has since enjoyed considerable success.organised as a benefit for at the theatre in 1976, and it was broadcast as. This was the first of, organised by and starring such performers as,.
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Larkin, Colin (ed). Guinness Who's Who of Stage Musicals (Guinness Publishing, 1994). Parker, John (ed). Who's Who in the Theatre, tenth edition, revised, London, 1947, p. 1184.External links. Media related to at Wikimedia Commons. from the.
Archived from on 8 June 2007. Retrieved 26 June 2007.