![HK Causeway Bay Percival Street Lee Theatre Plaza b](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/HK_Causeway_Bay_Percival_Street_Lee_Theatre_Plaza_b.JPG)
Lee Theatre ( zh, first=t,j, t=利舞臺, j=lei6 mou5 toi4, p=Lì wǔtái) was a prominent
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
in
Causeway Bay
Causeway Bay is list of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong, an area and Victoria Park, Hong Kong, a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern and the Wan Chai District, Wan Chai ...
on
Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...
,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
. Once one of the premier performing venues in Hong Kong, the
Beaux-Arts theatre was demolished in the 1990s and replaced with an office building and a shopping centre.
History
In the 1920s, the
Hysan Lee family acquired lands in the Causeway Bay area. At the time, most of the venues for
Cantonese opera
Cantonese opera is one of the major categories in Chinese opera, originating in southern China's Guangdong Province. It is popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau and among Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Like all versions of Ch ...
were located in
Western District. In order to save his mother, an avid Cantonese opera fan, from having to make frequent trips there, Lee decided to build a theatre in Causeway Bay. The theatre, located on
Percival Street
Percival Street is a street in the East Point and Happy Valley, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. The street spans from Gloucester Road in the north to Leighton Road in the south. Between Hennessy Road and Leighton Road, the street is with a bra ...
near
Leighton Road
Leighton Road () is a main road in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. It begins east of Causeway Road and ends at the west of the junction with Morrison Hill Road and Canal Road.
History
Part of the road skirts Leighton Hill to its north while part of ...
, was completed in 1925 with seating for 2000 patrons. Upon its opening,
Hong Kong Tramways
Hong Kong Tramways (HKT) is a narrow-gauge tram system in Hong Kong. Owned and operated by RATP Dev Transdev Asia, the tramway runs on Hong Kong Island between Kennedy Town and Shau Kei Wan, with a branch circulating through Happy Valley.
...
began to run a special late night service from the theatre to
Shek Tong Tsui
Shek Tong Tsui or Belcher Point is an area in Sai Wan on Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. Administratively, it belongs to the Central and Western District.
This area is bounded north by the Victoria Harbour, south by Pok Fu Lam Road and Third ...
. The Lee Theatre supposedly opened to business on 10 February 1927.
The theatre was renovated in the 1970s. From 1973 until the late 1980s, the theatre hosted the annual
Miss Hong Kong Pageant
The Miss Hong Kong Pageant (), or Miss HK () for short, is an annual beauty pageant organised by local Hong Kong television station, TVB. The pageant was established in 1946, and acquired by TVB in 1973.
The current Miss Hong Kong is Denice Lam ...
, organized by
TVB
Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and TVB ...
(in which the Lee family held a stake). The theatre also hosted the
Miss Universe pageant in 1976.
Over the years, numerous artists gave performances at the theatre, including
Roman Tam
Roman Tam Pak-sin (; 12 February 1945– 18 October 2002), known professionally by his stage name Law Man (), was a Hong Kong singer. He is regarded as the "Grand Godfather of Cantopop".
Career
Born in Baise, Guangxi, China, with family root ...
,
Teresa Teng
Teng Li-Chun (; 29 January 1953 – 8 May 1995), commonly known as Teresa Teng, was a Taiwanese singer, actress, musician and philanthropist. Referred to by some as " Asia's eternal queen of pop," Teng became a cultural icon for her contributio ...
and
Liza Wang
Elizabeth "Liza" Wang Ming-chun SBS (born 28 August 1947), is a Hong Kong diva, actress and MC. She is a personality in Chinese-speaking communities. She has been nicknamed "The Big Sister" in the Hong Kong entertainment circle.Xinhuanet.Xinhu ...
.
Along with hosting Cantonese opera and concerts, the theatre also showed films. The last one it screened before closing down was ''
Terminator 2: Judgment Day''.
Redevelopment
By the 1980s, property prices in Hong Kong skyrocketed, and the Lee family began to consider demolishing the theatre to develop the prime land it sat on. The land was sold to
Hysan Development
Hysan Development Company Limited is a Hong Kong property investment, management and development company that is listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. The company was formed in Hong Kong in 1923, when businessman Lee Hysan acquired plots of ...
(the family's corporate arm) in March 1991, and the theatre closed four months later, on 19 August 1991.
Roman Tam
Roman Tam Pak-sin (; 12 February 1945– 18 October 2002), known professionally by his stage name Law Man (), was a Hong Kong singer. He is regarded as the "Grand Godfather of Cantopop".
Career
Born in Baise, Guangxi, China, with family root ...
bade farewell to the theatre with a special concert, and
RTHK
Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...
's Television Division also prepared a special programme commemorating the theatre.
The site was redeveloped into the Lee Theatre Plaza, a commercial building which was completed in 1995. There was also a movie cinema within the new building, but closed and replaced as a restaurant in 2005.
A replica facade of the original Lee Theatre can be found at the
Hong Kong History Museum
The Hong Kong Museum of History is a museum that preserves Hong Kong's historical and cultural heritage. It is located next to the Hong Kong Science Museum, in Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
The collections of the museum encompass ...
.
See also
*
List of cinemas in Hong Kong
This is a list of current and former cinemas in Hong Kong.
Broadway Circuit
In addition to operating its own brand, Broadway Circuit also operates the B+, PALACE, Premiere Elements, MOViE MOViE and MY CINEMA chains. It previously run AMC-b ...
*
Ko Shing Theatre
Ko Shing Theatre (), in Sheung Wan, Central and Western District, was Hong Kong's second indoor opera movie theatre.
The theatre was built in 1890 (other sources mention earlier dates). It was rebuilt and renovated several times and was finally de ...
*
Yau Ma Tei Theatre
References
{{Coord, 22, 16, 42, N, 114, 10, 59, E, type:landmark, display=title
Theatres in Hong Kong
Cinemas in Hong Kong
Former cinemas
Causeway Bay
Former buildings and structures in Hong Kong
Concert halls in Hong Kong