The Palace 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– ...

in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a city and borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of central Greater London, including most of the West En ...

in London. Its red- brick facade dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus behind a small plaza near the intersection of

Shaftesbury Avenue Shaftesbury Avenue is a major road in the West End of London, named after The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. It runs north-easterly from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus. From Piccadilly C ...

and

Charing Cross Road Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street) and then becomes Tottenham Court Road. It leads from the north in the direction ...

. The Palace Theatre seats 1,400.

Richard D'Oyly Carte Richard D'Oyly Carte (; 3 May 1844 – 3 April 1901) was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer, and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era. He built two of London's theatres and a hotel empire, while also estab ...

, producer of the

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which '' H.M.S. ...

operas, commissioned the theatre in the late 1880s. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and intended to be a home of English

grand opera Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and orchestras, and (in their original productions) lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on o ...

. The theatre opened as the Royal English Opera House in January 1891 with a lavish production of

Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinafore'', '' The Pirates of Penzance ...

's opera ''

Ivanhoe ''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' () by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. Set in England in the Middle Ages, this novel marked a shift away from Scott’s prior practice of setting st ...

''. Although this ran for 160 performances, followed briefly by André Messager's '' La Basoche'', Carte had no other works ready to fill the theatre. He leased it to Sarah Bernhardt for a season and sold the opera house within a year at a loss. It was then converted into a grand music hall and renamed the Palace Theatre of Varieties, managed successfully first by Sir Augustus Harris and then by Charles Morton. In 1897, the theatre began to screen films as part of its programme of entertainment. In 1904, Alfred Butt became manager and continued to combine variety entertainment, including dancing girls, with films. Herman Finck was musical director at the theatre from 1900 until 1920. In 1925, the musical comedy '' No, No, Nanette'' opened at the Palace Theatre, followed by other musicals, for which the theatre became known. The

Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AF ...

appeared at the theatre in 1931, performing selections from their Broadway shows. ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...

'' ran for 2,385 performances at the theatre, opening in 1961. ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...

'' ran from 1972 to 1980, and ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...

'' played at the theatre for nineteen years, beginning in 1985. In 1983,

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 ...

purchased the theatre and by 1991 had refurbished it. ''

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over fo ...

's Spamalot'' played there from 2006 until January 2009, and '' Priscilla Queen of the Desert'' opened in March 2009 and closed in December 2011. Between February 2012 and June 2013, the Palace hosted a production of ''

Singin' in the Rain ''Singin' in the Rain'' is a 1952 American musical romantic comedy film directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds and featuring Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell and Cyd C ...

''. From June 2016, the play ''

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ''Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'' is a play written by Jack Thorne from an original story by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Thorne. Previews of the play began at the Palace Theatre, London, on 7 June 2016 as a two-part play, and it pr ...

'' ran at the theatre until performances were suspended in March 2020 owing to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. The play returned to the stage on 14 October 2021, after a 19-month break.

History

Early years

Commissioned by impresario

in the late 1880s, the theatre was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt. Carte intended it to be the home of English

, much as his Savoy Theatre had been built as a home for English light opera, beginning with the

series. The foundation stone, laid by his wife Helen in 1888, can still be seen on the façade of the theatre, almost at ground level to the right of the entrance. The theatre's design was considered to be novel. The upper levels are supported by heavy steel

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 ...

s built into the back walls, removing the need for supporting pillars that impede the view of the stage. The tiers, corridors, staircases, landings are all constructed of concrete to reduce the risk and damage that might be done by fire. The theatre opened as the Royal English Opera House in January 1891 with

's ''

''. No expense was spared to make the production a success, including a double cast and "every imaginable effect of scenic splendour". It ran for 160 performances, but when ''Ivanhoe'' finally closed in July, Carte had no new work to replace it, and the opera house had to close. One opera is not enough to sustain an opera house venture. It was, as the critic Herman Klein observed, "the strangest comingling of success and failure ever chronicled in the history of British lyric enterprise!"Hermann Klein's 1903 description of ''Ivanhoe''
, Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 3 October 2003. Retrieved 12 April 2012 Sir Henry Wood, who had been répétiteur for the production, recalled in his autobiography that " fCarte had had a repertory of six operas instead of only one, I believe he would have established English opera in London for all time. Towards the end of the run of ''Ivanhoe'' I was already preparing the ''

Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' ( nl, De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the seven seas forever. The myth is likely to have originated from the Dutch Golden Age, 17th-century Gold ...

'' with Eugène Oudin in the name part. He would have been superb. However, plans were altered and the Dutchman was shelved."Wood, p. 43 The theatre re-opened in November 1891, with André Messager's '' La Basoche'' (with David Bispham in his first London stage performance) at first alternating in repertory with ''Ivanhoe'', and then ''La Basoche'' alone, closing in January 1892. Carte had no other works ready, and so he leased the theatre to Sarah Bernhardt for a season, and after months of negotiation he sold the opera house at a loss to the new Palace Theatre Company, headed by Sir Augustus Harris."Palace Theatre", ''The Times'', 12 December 1892, p. 7 The architect Walter Emden converted the opera house into a grand and ornate music hall, which was renamed the Palace Theatre of Varieties. Harris's opening programme included a lavish and highly praised ballet, with music by Gaston Serpette; he engaged some of the best variety turns then available, before handing over the day-to-day running of the theatre to Charles Morton, known as the "Father of the Music Halls", whose biographers record: Denied permission by the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

to construct a promenade, which was a popular feature of adult entertainment at the Empire and Alhambra theatres, the Palace countered with its tableaux vivants, which featured apparently nude women (though patrons were reassured that they were actually wearing flesh toned body stockings).Weightman, pp. 94–95 In March 1897, the theatre began to screen films from the

American Biograph Company The Biograph Company, also known as the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1916. It was the first company in the United States devoted entirely to film production and exhibition, ...

as part of its programme of entertainment. These films pioneered the 70 mm format which helped give an exceptionally large and clear image filling the proscenium arch. The performances included early

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, inform ...

s from around the world, many of them made by film pioneer William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, including film of the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

(1900). The Palace continued to show films as part of its variety and musical programmes.

20th century

In 1904, Morton was succeeded as manager by his deputy, Alfred Butt. Butt introduced many innovations, including dancers such as

Maud Allan Maud Allan (born as either Beulah Maude Durrant or Ulah Maud Alma Durrant;Birthname given as Ulah Maud Alma DurrantMcConnell, Virginia A. ''Sympathy for the Devil: The Emmanuel Baptist Murders of Old San Francisco'', University of Nebraska Pr ...

, who created something of a sensation with her ''Vision of Salome'', and

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova ( , rus, Анна Павловна Павлова ), born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova ( rus, Анна Матвеевна Павлова; – 23 January 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20t ...

, and the elegant pianist-singer Margaret Cooper.

Oliver G Pike Oliver Gregory Pike, FZS, FRPS. (usually credited as Oliver G. Pike; 1 October 1877 – 17 October 1963) was a British naturalist, wildlife photographer, author and early nature documentary pioneer, specialising in the study of bird life. ...

premièred his first film, ''In Birdland'', at the theatre in August 1907. This was the first British wildlife film to be screened to a paying audience. On 26 February 1909, the general public first saw Kinemacolor in a programme of 21 short films shown at the theatre. The name of the theatre was finally changed to The Palace Theatre in 1911. Herman Finck was musical director from 1900 until 1920, and made many recordings with the theatre's orchestra. The theatre was famous not only for its orchestra, but also for the beautiful Palace Girls, for whom Finck composed many dances. In 1911, the Palace Girls performed a song and dance number, which was originally called ''Tonight'' but became very popular as a romantic instrumental piece ''In The Shadows''. In 1912, the theatre hosted the first

Royal Variety Performance The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal ...

in Britain, commanded by King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Q ...

, and produced by Butt. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, the theatre presented

revues A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own du ...

, and

Maurice Chevalier Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor and entertainer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", "Valentine", " Louise", "Mimi", and "Thank Heav ...

became known to British audiences. After the war, the theatre was used mostly for films for a few years.Ellacott, Vivyan
"Palace Theatre, Cambridge Circus"
London Theatres Encyclopaedia, Over the Footlights: A History. Retrieved 18 June 2014 On 11 March 1925, the musical comedy '' No, No, Nanette'' opened at the Palace Theatre starring Binnie Hale and

George Grossmith Jr. George Grossmith Jr. (11 May 1874 – 6 June 1935) was an English actor, theatre producer and Actor-manager, manager, director, playwright and songwriter, best remembered for his work in and with Edwardian musical comedies. Grossmith was also a ...

The run of 665 performances made it the third longest-running

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

musical of the 1920s. '' Princess Charming'' ran for 362 performances beginning in 1926. The Palace Theatre was also the venue for Rodgers and Hart's '' The Girl Friend'' (1927) and

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...

's final stage musical '' Gay Divorce'' (1933). The

appeared at the theatre in 1931, performing selections from their Broadway shows. The theatre was twice threatened with demolition in the early 1930s; offers of £400,000 and £450,000 were made for the site: one offer was from an American chain which proposed to build a department store on the site, but the directors, led by C. B. Cochran refused to sell. In 1939–1940, Cicely Courtneidge and

Jack Hulbert John Norman Hulbert (24 April 189225 March 1978) was a British actor, director, screenwriter and singer, specializing primarily in comedy productions, and often working alongside his wife (Dame) Cicely Courtneidge. Biography Born in Ely, Cam ...

appeared at the Palace in ''Under Your Hat'', a spy story co-written by Hulbert, with music and lyrics by Vivian Ellis, which ran for 512 performances.Herbert, p. 1282 Later musical theatre works that played with success at the theatre included '' Song of Norway'' (1946, 525 performances), '' King's Rhapsody'' (1949, 841 performances), '' Where's Charley?'' (1958, 380 performances), and '' Flower Drum Song'' (1960) among others.Mander and Mitchenson, p. 125 ''

The Entertainer An entertainer is a person who entertains (singer, actor, comedian, etc.) The Entertainer may refer to: Music Songs * "The Entertainer" (rag), a 1902 classic piano rag written by Scott Joplin *"The Entertainer", rearrangement of the Joplin rag by ...

'', starring

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage o ...

, transferred to the theatre from the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal ...

in 1957. In the 1960s, ''

'' ran for 2,386 performances, from 1961, and ''

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...

'' followed in 1968 (336 performances).Herbert, p. 1313 The Danny La Rue revue ''Danny at the Palace'' (1970) ran for 811 performances. 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 I ...

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 ...

in June 1960. PalaceTheatre

Two exceptional runs took place at the Palace during the last decades of the 20th century: ''

'' (3,358 performances from 1972 to 1980) and ''

'', which played at the theatre for nineteen years after moving from the Barbican Centre on 4 December 1985. The production moved to the Queen's Theatre in April 2004 to continue its record-setting run. In between, '' Song and Dance'' played from 1982 to 1984. In 1983,

purchased the theatre for £1.3 million and began a series of renovations to the auditorium. He restored the theatre's facade, later commenting: "I removed the huge neon sign that defaced the glorious terracotta exterior, much to the chagrin of West End producers who told me I had removed the greatest theatre advertising sight in London."

21st century

After ''Les Misérables'' left the theatre in 2004, Lloyd Webber refurbished and restored the auditorium and front of the house, removing the paint that covered the onyx and Italian marble. Lloyd Webber premiered his musical '' The Woman in White'' at the Palace later in 2004, which ran for 19 months. ''

's Spamalot'' opened in 2006 and ran until 2009. It was replaced by '' Priscilla Queen of the Desert'', which played through 2011, and ''

'' played from 2012 to 2013. In 2012, it was one of the 40 theatres featured in the DVD documentary series '' Great West End Theatres'', presented by

Donald Sinden Sir Donald Alfred Sinden (9 October 1923 – 12 September 2014) was a British actor. Sinden featured in the film '' Mogambo'' (1953), and achieved early fame as a Rank Organisation film star in the 1950s in films including '' The Cruel Sea ( ...

. In April 2012, Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group sold the building to

Nimax Theatres Nimax Theatres Ltd. is a theatre group owned and operated by Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer. In July 2005, Weitzenhoffer and Burns announced they were forming Nimax to buy four of London’s playhouses from Andrew Lloyd Webber, namely the Apollo ...

( Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer). Nimax purchased the

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

Duchess Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

, Garrick and

Lyric Lyric may refer to: * Lyrics, the words, often in verse form, which are sung, usually to a melody, and constitute the semantic content of a song * Lyric poetry is a form of poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view * Lyric, from ...

Theatres from Really Useful in 2005. The next show was '' The Commitments'' from 2013 to 2015. ''

'', a two-part play written by

Jack Thorne Jack Thorne FRSL (born 6 December 1978) is a British playwright, television writer, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for writing the stage play '' Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'', the films '' Wonder'' and '' Enola Holmes'', a ...

based on an original story by Thorne, J. K. Rowling and John Tiffany, began previews at the theatre on 7 June 2016, Both parts opened officially on 30 July. The production was suspended in March 2020 due to the

. 14 October 2021 marked the reopening night for the play, after a 19-month break.

In popular culture

In the 1977 Doctor Who serial '' The Talons of Weng-Chiang'', the villain Li H'sen Chang masquerades as magician and ventriloquist performing at the Palace Theatre when the Doctor brings Leela there to discover the customs of her

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

ancestors. In the 2004 novel ''Full Dark House'', by Christopher Fowler, a series of gruesome murders take place in the Palace during the

London Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

amid a production of ''

Orpheus in the Underworld ''Orpheus in the Underworld'' and ''Orpheus in Hell'' are English names for (), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux, Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act "op� ...

''.Girvan, Ray
"''Full Dark House''"
JSBookReader, 4 May 2012

Nearby tube stations

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...

Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR) is a major road in Central London, almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden. The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road ...

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * *

External links

Official website

{{Authority control West End theatres Theatres in the City of Westminster Grade II* listed buildings in the City of Westminster Grade II* listed theatres Theatres completed in 1891 Former music hall venues in the United Kingdom 1891 establishments in England Thomas Edward Collcutt buildings