In previous articles, I looked at the histories of 4 major West-end theatres, including changes in their design and previous hits and stars to have featured on their stages. Now we’re going to move across town again to look at another two.
Her Majesty’s Theatre is found on the corner of Haymarket in London and is a beautiful building designed by Charles J. Phipps. It opened originally in 1705, though it has seen many renovations and changes since then. Phipps is just the most recent building of several. It was originally used for more traditional dramatic pieces such as the works of Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw, but since World War I, the theatre has mostly hosted musicals. This is because it has a large, wide stage, which is perfect for larger-scale productions. The current production in the theatre is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Phantom of the Opera’, which has played continually in the theatre since October 1986. This means that the theatre has been solely performing this show for almost 30 years. Maria Björnson used some of the traditional Victorian stage machinery in the set design for the show, making it appear as though the Phantom and Christine are travelling across a lake in a boat.
The Lyceum Theatre on Wellington Street is also pretty old. While the building has changed over time, a theatre has been on the plot of land since 1765, though for a brief period of time, this theatre was used for other conventions, such as the first London exhibition of Madame Tussaud’s wax-works. The current Lyceum theatre cannot be missed and has a bold, grand place in the London landscape with its roman architecture. In 1945, the theatre was titled the Lyceum Ballroom, which would stage the Miss World Contest for some time and was used as a pop and rock concert venue, seeing many famous acts such as Bob Marley, The Police, Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Who, U2, The Smiths and Culture Club. In 1986, the theatre was closed, and it remained so until 1996, when it was renovated, and redesigned for its original purpose, to suit stage performances. Since then it has seen relatively short productions of Jesus Christ Superstar and Oklahoma, and since 1999 it has been home to ‘The Lion King’, which is now in its 16th year and is still going strong.
One of the things that I find so interesting about theatres is their choice in shows, since different theatre groups clearly have different ideas about what sort of shows will be successful. In general, it is interesting to consider the theatres as what they really are, which is businesses, since the buildings themselves are what brings in the profit for theatre-owners. For a business-man in the industry, every aspect of the theatre experience must be perfect, from its design, to the shows themselves, and the theatres across London are in many ways in competition. The histories of these theatres really are fascinating, with them often growing from just small music-halls over time into these grand scale establishments, and they are in many ways the centres of culture throughout time, and so offer a unique window into the past.
Images from: http://www.mardigrasdance.com/uploads/Her%20Majesty_s%20LP.jpg, http://cdn.ltstatic.com/2007/December/ZL877529_942long.jpg
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