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 to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

and

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

at 329, Castlereagh Street,

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, 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 Paddy's Markets is a commercial enterprise that has two large markets in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Paddy's Markets are located in Haymarket, New South Wales, Haymarket and Flemington, New South Wales, Flemington and specialise in the ...

, in the block formed by Campbell, 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 domesticate ...

, and Pitt streets, on land leased from the

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

. 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 Darnell "J. D." Williams (born May 22, 1978) is an American actor known for his starring roles in the HBO television programs '' Oz'' as Kenny Wangler, ''The Wire'' as Bodie Broadus and '' Pootie Tang'' as Froggy, '' Surviving Family'' (2012) ...

, 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 Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

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, was the first to have its tiers and galleries built on the

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at 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 cantilev ...

principle, instead of iron columns supporting the front of each tier. The new Adelphi Theatre opened on 5 April 1911 with

George Marlow George Marlow (24 September 1876 – 21 May 1939) (born Joseph Marks) was an Australian theatrical entrepreneur born in London of Jewish extraction, noted for bringing melodrama and pantomime to Sydney audiences in the early 1900s. His name has ...

'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 best known for the many theater (structure), theatres and movie theater, cinemas he designed in New Zealand and Australia in the 1910 ...

to improve sight lines, thus reducing its capacity to 2100 people. The financier and ex-solicitor T. E. Rofe was an early owner or had a large financial interest in the property, as well as, in 1918, the Victoria Theatre.

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 compè ...

, featuring

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

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

Roy Rene Roy Rene (pron. ''reen''; 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 th ...

New Tivoli Theatre

In 1932, two vaudeville performers, Mike Connors and his wife

Queenie Paul Eveline Pauline "Queenie" Paul (30 December 1893 – 31 July 1982) was an Australian performer in vaudeville shows (singer and dancer) and a theatre producer, active from the 1910s until the early 1980s. She was particularly known for her ass ...

, 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 18 ...

'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 George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...

. 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 producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. It was established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...

in 1948, when

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

and

Vivien Leigh Vivien Leigh ( ; born Vivian Mary Hartley; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. After completing her drama school education, Leigh appeared in small roles in four films in 1935 and progress ...

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. 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 Brisb ...

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

Gwen Plumb Gwendoline Jean Plumb Member of the Order of Australia, AM British Empire Medal, 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, (exc ...

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

References

External links

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