The New Tivoli Theatre, Sydney, previously known as the Adelphi Theatre and the Grand Opera House, was a

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 ...

and music hall at 329, Castlereagh Street, Sydney, Australia, which was long at the heart of the

Tivoli circuit The Tivoli Circuit was a successful and popular Australian vaudeville entertainment circuit featuring revue, opera, ballet, dance, singing, musical comedy, old time black and white minstrel and even Shakespeare which flourished from 1893 to th ...

Unidentified Tivoli stars arrive at theatre

It operated between 1911 and 1966 and from 1932 was often called the Tivoli Theatre.

History

Adelphi Theatre

The Adelphi Theatre was built in 1911 on half of the site of Sydney's former Paddy's Markets, in the block formed by

Campbell Campbell may refer to: People Surname * Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell Given name * Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer * Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...

, Castlereagh,

Hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticat ...

, and Pitt streets, on land leased from the

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

. It was one of four theatres built in the Haymarket area that year, the other three being picture theatres: the Lyric and New Colonial on George Street for J. D. Williams, and the Orpheum, which stood on the other half of the former Paddy's Markets. Designed by the architects Eaton & Bates, the Adelphi was built of reinforced concrete faced with white marble. The stage was , with a doorway to Pitt Street wide enough for carriages. Its auditorium, licensed to seat 2,400 people, pioneered

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...

structural techniques, being the first to have its tiers and galleries built on the cantilever principle, instead of iron columns supporting the front of each tier. The new Adelphi Theatre opened on 5 April 1911 with George Marlow's production of ''The Bad Girl of the Family''. In October 1915, Marlow's partner and fellow entrepreneur Benjamin Fuller closed the theatre for renovations. The auditorium was redesigned by

Henry Eli White Henry Eli White (21 August 1876 – 3 March 1952), also known as Harry White, was a New Zealand-born architect who is best known for the many theatres and cinemas he designed in Australia and New Zealand in the 1910s and 1920s. Many of the majo ...

to improve sight lines, thus reducing its capacity to 2100 people.

Grand Opera House

The renovated theatre reopened in August 1916, and Benjamin Fuller renamed it the "Grand Opera House", commonly G.O.H. From 1929, the Grand Opera House became the principal venue in Sydney for

variety theatre Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compèr ...

, featuring

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

acts. Christmas pantomimes were well-attended and featured the popular double act "Stiffy and Mo" (Nat Phillips and

Roy Rene Roy Rene (born Henry van der Sluys, 15 February 189122 November 1954) was an Australian comedian and vaudevillian. As the bawdy character Mo McCackie, Rene was one of the most well-known and successful Australian comedians of the 20th century. ...

New Tivoli Theatre

In 1932, two vaudeville performers, Mike Connors and his wife Queenie Paul, took over the lease of the theatre with a company called Con Paul Theatres and renamed it the New Tivoli Theatre. This name was in recognition of

Harry Rickards Harry Rickards (4 December 1843 – 13 October 1911), born Henry Benjamin Leete, was an English-born baritone, comedian and theatre owner, most active in vaudeville and stage, first in his native England and then Australia after emigrating in 1 ...

's Tivoli Theatre at 79-83 Castlereigh Street, formerly called the

Garrick Theatre, Sydney The Garrick Theatre was a theatre and music hall at 79–83 Castlereagh Street in Sydney from 1890 to 1929. The theatre was renamed the Tivoli Theatre in 1893 and operated as a popular vaudeville venue. It was destroyed by fire in 1899 and reb ...

. This period saw the emergence of well-known Australian entertainers, including

and George Wallace. The theatre became famous for its chorus girls, known as "Tivoli tappers". In late 1935, Tivoli Circuit Australasia Pty Ltd emerged as the controlling organisation, in a period that was seeing an increase in imported acts. A high point was the visit of the

Old Vic Company The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, nonprofit organization, not-for-profit producing house, producing theatre in Waterloo, London, Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Th ...

in 1948, when Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh performed at the theatre. However, the restrictions of the war years had led to a resurgence of local artists and emerging stars, featuring such names as Peggy Mortimer,

Dick Bentley Charles Walter "Dick" Bentley (14 May 1907 – 27 August 1995) was an Australian-born comedian and actor of radio, stage and screen. He starred with Jimmy Edwards in '' Take It From Here'' for BBC Radio. He was a staple of and pioneer of radio, ...

, and Joy and George Nichols. George and Joy Nichols, Impersonators (Tivoli Theatre shows and artists)

The New Tivoli declined after the arrival of

television in Australia Television in Australia began experimentally as early as 1929 in Melbourne with radio stations 3DB and 3UZ, and 2UE in Sydney, using the ''Radiovision'' system by Gilbert Miles and Donald McDonald, and later from other locations, such as Br ...

in 1956, and its last show was staged in 1966, the revue ''One Dam' Thing After Another'', starring

Gwen Plumb Gwendoline Jean Plumb AM BEM (2 August 1912 – 5 June 2002), was an Australian performer of international appeal, actress and comedian active in literally every form of the art genre, (except circus) including revue, pantomime, vaudeville, in ...

. In 1969, the theatre was demolished. Its site is now occupied by Central Square, an office tower block between Hay Street and Campbell Street.
Castlereagh Street; Tivoli Theatre hall 35186

Castlereagh Street; Tivoli Theatre hall 35186

References

External links

CC-By-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...

] *