The Empire Theatre was a live music venue in Sydney for a few years before 1929 when it became a cinema. Around 1940 it had a dual role and by 1950 it was hosting various kinds of stage shows, increasingly musicals, and was finally destroyed by fire.

History

The theatre was designed by Kaberry and Chard, and built by R. P. Blundell as a music hall for a syndicate led by leading bookmaker Rafe Naylor. The site was a block on the Bijou Lane corner of Quay Street ("Saunders' Corner"), Railway Square, near the side entrance to

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

. It opened on 1 May 1927 with the new

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...

musical '' Sunny'', followed by ''

The Student Prince ''The Student Prince'' is an operetta in four acts with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Dorothy Donnelly. It is based on Wilhelm Meyer-Förster's play '' Old Heidelberg''. The piece has a score with some of Romberg's most enduri ...

''. By this time stage musicals as public entertainment had been largely usurped by "talkies" and the theatre was reconfigured as a talking picture house around June 1929. It was one of the few Sydney cinemas independent of the General Theatres Corporation / Fullers' Theatres combination, so showing few "first release" films, until management signed up with

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

, and with Paramount Pictures, who already had an arrangement with

Prince Edward Theatre The Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, London. History The theatre was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with an interior designed by Marc ...

. During World War II, the Empire again hosted live performances, mounted by the A.I.F. Entertainment Unit interspersed with regular movie programmes. From 1950 the Empire was used by "The Firm" of J. C. Williamson's for minor attractions: "The Great Franquin" (a stage hypnotist), a season of Gilbert and Sullivan favorites, — and ballet performances, hosting a three-week season of the National Ballet Company of Melbourne, which included the world premiere of ''

Corroboree A corroboree is a generic word for a meeting of Australian Aboriginal peoples. It may be a sacred ceremony, a festive celebration, or of a warlike character. A word coined by the first British settlers in the Sydney area from a word in the l ...

'', with its composer

John Antill John Henry Antill, CMG, OBE (8 April 190429 December 1986) was an Australian composer best known for his ballet ''Corroboree''. Biography Antill was born in Sydney in 1904, and was educated and trained in music at Trinity Grammar School, Syd ...

conducting the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Other ballet companies followed, culminating in the

Borovansky Ballet The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and direct ...

in 1952. In 1953 "The Firm" announced a major refit and facelift for the old theatre, leading to calls (around the time of the

Coronation of Elizabeth II The coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. She acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being proclaimed queen by her privy and executive ...

) for it to be renamed "

Her Majesty's Theatre Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established t ...

". The suggestion was taken up much later, when the musical ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...

'' was being staged there. The building was destroyed by fire in the early 1960s.

References

{{Notelist 1927 establishments in Australia Cinemas in Sydney Former theatres in Sydney Burned theatres Former cinemas