Cambridge Theatre, London, 28 July 2016 04

Cambridge Theatre, London, 28 July 2016 05

The Cambridge Theatre is a

West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194– ...

, on a corner site in

Earlham Street Earlham Street is a street in Covent Garden, in the London Borough of Camden that runs from Shaftesbury Avenue in the west to Neal Street in the east, crossing Seven Dials midway, where it intersects with Monmouth Street, Mercer Street, and ...

facing Seven Dials, in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and S ...

, built in 1929–30 for Bertie Meyer on an "irregular triangular site".

Design and construction

It was designed by

Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie Wimperis, Simpson & Guthrie were a firm of British architects based at 61, South Molton Street, London, W1, most active in the 1920s and 1930s. They were known for their design of buildings such as Fortnum and Mason on Piccadilly, the Cambridge Th ...

; interior partly by Serge Chermayeff, with interior bronze friezes by sculptor

Anthony Gibbons Grinling Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...

.English Heritage listing details
Retrieved 28 April 2007 The theatre is built in steel and concrete and is known for its elegant and clean lines of design. The theatre was refurbished in 1950—the original gold and silver décor was painted over in red, and candelabras and chandeliers were added. In 1987, to restore the original décor, the theatre was once again refurbished, this time by Carl Toms. The theatre has a circular entrance foyer, with Grinling's bronze frieze depicting nude figures in exercise poses, the theme continues into the main foyer, with dancing nudes, marble pilaster up lighters and concealed lighting.

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

observes: The theatre was

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

in January 1999.

Productions

An early production staged on October 19, 1930, by Ninette De Valois future creator and for many years central figure of the

Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

. She both choreographed (Danse sacree et danse profane,

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

), and danced (Nicholas Legat's Variations and Coda, Glinka, partnered by Anton Dolin). Productions at the Cambridge Theatre have been characterised by relatively short runs interspersed with several dark periods and the theatre was used for trade film shows in the late 1930s and again in 1969 as a cinema. Productions have included Joan Sims in ''Breath of Spring'' by

Peter Coke Peter John Coke ( "cook"; 3 April 1913 – 30 July 2008) was an English actor, playwright and artist. Early life Peter John Coke was born in Southsea, Hampshire on 3 April 1913.

in 1958,

Tommy Steele Sir Thomas Hicks (born 17 December 1936), known professionally as Tommy Steele, is an English entertainer, regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star. After being discovered at the 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho, London, Steele re ...

in '' Half a Sixpence'' in 1963 (678 performances),

Bruce Forsyth Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson (22 February 1928 – 18 August 2017) was a British entertainer and presenter whose career spanned more than 70 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the ITV series ''Sunday Night ...

in '' Little Me'' in 1964 (334 performances), '' The Black Mikado'' (1975–76), and in the late 1970s the Kander and Ebb musical ''

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

'' ran for 590 performances. Later, the

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

musical '' Return to the Forbidden Planet'', which was based on the film '' Forbidden Planet'' and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's '' The Tempest'' using 1950s and 1960s songs opened in September 1989 and ran until early 1993, winning the

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

for Best New Musical—instead of the favourite, ''

Miss Saigon ''Miss Saigon'' is a stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera '' Madame Butterfly'', and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed ...

''.Theatre History
Retrieved 28 April 2007 The show '' Jerry Springer: The Opera'' ran from 14 October 2003 – 19 February 2005. This was followed by a month run of illusionist

Derren Brown Derren Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English mentalist, illusionist, painter, and author. He began performing in 1992, making his television debut with ''Derren Brown: Mind Control'' in 2000, and has since produced several more shows ...

's ''Something Wicked This Way Comes'' tour, before the London première of

Flying Music Flying may refer to: * Flight, the process of flying * Aviation, the creation and operation of aircraft Music Albums * ''Flying'' (Grammatrain album), 1997 * ''Flying'' (Jonathan Fagerlund album), 2008 * ''Flying'' (UFO album), 1971 * ''Fl ...

's ''

Dancing in the Streets ''Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy'' is a book authored by Barbara Ehrenreich. Description The author coins the term "collective joy" to describe group events which involve music, synchronized movement, costumes, and a fee ...

'', which opened on 7 July 2005. This finished its run on 22 April 2006 and ''

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

'' moved across

Theatreland West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1 ...

from the Adelphi Theatre to continue its London run into its tenth year at the theatre that originally hosted the show in the 1970s. It opened at the Cambridge on Friday 28 April. Chicago cancelled all performances post 27 August 2011, when it closed at the theatre. '' Matilda the Musical'' commenced performances at The Cambridge from 18 October 2011, with an official opening night on 22 November 2011. As of April 2017, ''Matilda'' became the longest running production in the theatre's history.

Past Productions

* '' Grease'' (24 October 1996 – 11 September 1999) by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, starring at various times

Shane Richie Shane Patrick Paul Roche (born 11 March 1964), known as Shane Richie, is a British actor, comedian, television presenter and singer. Following initial success as a stage and screen performer, he became best known for his portrayal of the chara ...

and Ben Richards * ''Great Balls of Fire'' (6 October 1999 – 18 December 1999) * ''

The Beautiful Game The Beautiful Game ( pt, o jogo bonito) is a nickname for association football. It was popularised by the Brazilian footballer Pelé, although the exact origin of the phrase is disputed. Stuart Hall, an English football commentator, used it as ...

'' (26 September 2000 – 1 September 2001) by

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musica ...

and

Ben Elton Benjamin Charles Elton (born 3 May 1959) is an English comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. He was a part of London's alternative comedy movement of the 1980s and became a writer on the sitcoms '' The Young Ones'' and ''Bl ...

* '' Fame'' (20 September 2001 – 31 August 2002) * ''

Our House Our House may refer to: Film and television * ''Our House'' (2003 film) or ''Duplex'', an American film by Danny DeVito * ''Our House'' (2006 film), a television movie starring Doris Roberts * ''Our House'' (2018 film), an American-Canadian-Ge ...

'' (28 October 2002 – 16 August 2003) by

Madness Madness or The Madness may refer to: Emotion and mental health * Anger, an intense emotional response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat * Insanity, a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns * ...

and Tim Firth * '' Jerry Springer: The Opera'' (14 October 2003 – 19 February 2005), starring

David Soul David Soul (born David Richard Solberg; August 28, 1943) is an American-British actor and singer. He is known for his role as Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the television series '' Starsky & Hutch'' from 1975 to 1979; Joshua Bolt on ...

* ''Something Wicked this Way Comes'' (2 June 2005 – 2 July 2005), by Andy Nyman and

* ''Dancing in the Streets'' (19 July 2005 – 22 April 2006) * ''

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

'' (27 April 2006 – 27 August 2011) * '' Matilda the Musical'' (24 November 2011 –)

References

;Citations ;Further reading *

External links

* {{Authority control West End theatres Theatres in the London Borough of Camden Grade II listed theatres Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Camden Theatres completed in 1930 Art Deco architecture in London