Theatre Royal Sydney is a theatre in Sydney, Australia built in 1976 and has offered a broad range of entertainment since the 1990s. The theatre reopened in December 2021 under parent company Trafalgar Entertainment with patrons now able to book tickets directly from the venue itself with its Box Office operating 7 days a week. Earlier theatres also called the Theatre Royal, on the same site, date back to 1833.

Earlier theatres

The name Theatre Royal had originally been used for a theatre upon which building work commenced in 1827 behind the Royal Hotel by

Barnett Levey Barnett Levey (1798 – 2 October 1837) was a Jewish English–Australian merchant and theatre director. Levey was born in London and migrated to Sydney in December 1821 as the first free Jewish settler. From 1826 Levey had joined concerts as a s ...

. This new playhouse was opened on 5 October 1833. It was closed in March 1838 and a few days later the Royal Victoria Theatre, a much larger building, was opened, with an entrance on

Pitt Street Pitt Street is a major street in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. The street runs through the entire city centre from Circular Quay in the north to Waterloo, although today's street is in two disjointed sec ...

, by Joseph Wyatt. Levey's Theatre Royal burned to the ground in 1840 with the "Vic" (Royal Victoria), which abutted the rear, having a narrow escape. However, it was still destined to be consumed by fire – on 22 July 1880 it was totally destroyed. The second Theatre Royal was built in 1875 for producer and manager

Samuel Lazar Samuel Lazar (1838 – 14 November 1883) was an Australian theatre manager, producer of pantomimes and operas, and occasional actor. History Lazar was a son of theatre manager John Lazar, and as a child frequently appeared on stage in his father' ...

Castlereagh Street Castlereagh Street is a major street located in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. The street runs in a north-to-south, in a one way direction only. Description Castlereagh Street's northern terminus is at the ...

between

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

and Rowe Street, the other side of which would in 1890 be built the famous

Australia Hotel The Australia Hotel was a hotel on Castlereagh Street, Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. From its opening in 1891 until its closure on 30 June 1971 and subsequent demolition, the hotel was considered "the best-known hotel in Australia", "the ...

. The theatre was leased by J. C. Williamson's from 1882 to 1978. On 17 June 1892 the auditorium was largely destroyed by fire. :This was the third theatre fire on the site. The Royal's predecessor, the

Prince of Wales Theatre The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre ...

, was built in 1855 and destroyed by fire in 1860, rebuilt and burned down again in 1872. It reopened on 7 January 1893 with a much improved electric lighting system. Its interior was substantially remodelled in 1921 by architect

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 ...

Current theatre

In 1971–72 the theatre, along with the Hotel Australia, and much of the block on which it was situated, was demolished to construct the

MLC Centre 25 Martin Place (formerly the MLC Centre) is a skyscraper in Sydney, Australia. Designed by architect Harry Seidler, it stands at a height of 228 metres (748 ft) with 67 storeys, and remains one of his most definitive works. The building ...

. Public agitation and action by construction unions once it was closed to save it resulted in the developer

Lendlease Lendlease is a globally integrated real estate company that creates and invests in communities, workplaces, retail, and infrastructure projects, headquartered in Barangaroo, New South Wales, Australia. History Founding The company was estab ...

incorporating a replacement 1,180-seat theatre into the design. Designed by

Harry Seidler Harry Seidler (25 June 19239 March 2006) was an Austrian-born Australian architect who is considered to be one of the leading exponents of Modernism's methodology in Australia and the first architect to fully express the principles of the B ...

in a plain modernist style, along with the rest of the complex, the current Theatre Royal opened in 1976, with entry from King Street, between

and Castlereagh Street. The theatre has hosted a mix of entertainment from dramas, comedies and musicals, with notable productions such productions as ''

The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the childre ...

'', ''

The Rocky Horror Picture Show ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' is a 1975 musical comedy horror film by 20th Century Fox, produced by Lou Adler and Michael White and directed by Jim Sharman. The screenplay was written by Sharman and actor Richard O'Brien, who is also ...

'' and ''

War Horse The first evidence of horses in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons. By 1600 BC, improved harness and chariot designs ...

''. The theatre closed in March 2016 amid development of the MLC Centre and calls for a new larger lyric theatre to be built. In March 2019, the

NSW Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

announced it had taken on a 55-year lease of the theatre from the MLC Centre developers, with the intention to re-open the venue with a private operator. It was announced that the theatre will reopen in late 2021, after it was acquired by Trafalgar Entertainment, the company of British theatre impresarios

Sir Howard Panter Sir Howard Hugh Panter is a British theatre impresario and theatre operator. With his wife Rosemary Squire he ran the Ambassador Theatre Group from about 1995 until 2016; they remain directors and shareholders of the company. When they left t ...

and

Dame Rosemary Squire Dame Rosemary Anne Squire, DBE (born 27 May 1956) is a British commercial theatre owner and entrepreneur. She was the founder, co-owner and joint chief executive of the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) Ltd. Squire and her husband/business partn ...

. In November 2021, Theatre Royal Sydney opened with its first production, ''Jagged Little Pill the musical'' commencing the same week with it proceeded by ''Girl From The North Country'' and ''An American In Paris.''

References

"Reopening of Theatre Royal Sydney marks a ‘new era’ for Australian entertainment". ''Australasian Leisure Management''. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2022.

External links

Theatre Royal
at sydney-theatre.com * *

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/lyric ...

] {{Authority control Theatres in Sydney 1827 establishments in Australia Sydney central business district Green bans Buildings and structures demolished in 1972