The Grand Theatre, also known as Leeds Grand Theatre and Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House, is 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

opera house An opera house is a theater building used for performances of opera. Like many theaters, it usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, backstage facilities for costumes and building sets, as well as offices for the institut ...

in Briggate, Leeds,

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It seats approximately 1,500 people.

Building

It was designed by James Robinson Watson, chief assistant in the office of Leeds-based architect George Corson, and opened on 18 November 1878. It was built as a complex in three parts: the theatre, a set of six shops and

Assembly Rooms In Great Britain and Ireland, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, assembly rooms were gathering places for members of the higher social classes open to members of both sexes. At that time most entertaining was done at home and there wer ...

, all facing onto New Briggate, in High Victorian style of red brick with stone dressings and a slate roof, the whole being a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The exterior is in a mixture of Romanesque and

Scottish baronial Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th-century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...

styles, and the interior has such Gothic motifs as fan-vaulting and clustered columns. The auditorium and assembly room ceilings are by John Wormald Appleyard.

History

The Assembly Rooms were modified to create a cinema, which opened in 1907 as the Assembly Rooms Cinema, the name being changed to Plaza in 1958. The cinema closed in 1985 and it became rehearsal rooms. In 1970 it was bought by

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. Leeds has had a council since 1626, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 it has been a metropolitan borough council. It provides the ...

and restored, becoming the home of

Opera North Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays a ...

in 1978. For many years it was programmed by

Howard & Wyndham Ltd Howard & Wyndham Ltd was a theatre owning, production and management company named after John B. Howard and Frederick W. P. Wyndham, founded in Glasgow in 1895, and which became the largest of its type in Britain. The company continued well into the ...

and staged plays, musicals, pantomime and revues. The theatre closed at the end of May 2005 for a major refurbishment, ''transformation'', and it reopened on 7 October 2006 with a production of

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma, to a family of moderate means, recei ...

's ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

''. The Stalls area was completely re-seated and re-raked, the orchestra-pit enlarged, technical facilities dramatically improved, and improvements to Opera North to the south of the theatre, accessible via a bridge and at street-level, which includes two new stage-sized rehearsal spaces and increased office space. The cost of the refurbishment has been estimated at £31.5 million. A second phase of ''transformation'' included the restoration of the Assembly Rooms, making a second performance space, the Howard Assembly Room, which is used for recitals, concerts,

chamber opera Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a Chamber music, chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's ''Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas ...

s, experimental and educational work and other events for which the main theatre is unsuitable.

Present use

The theatre is a large scale receiving house and hosts touring productions of West End and Broadway musicals and plays, comedians and music. The theatre is home to

and is regularly visited by

Northern Ballet Northern Ballet, formerly Northern Ballet Theatre, is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a strong repertoire in theatrical dance productions where the emphasis is on story telling as well as classical ballet. The compa ...

. It has hosted many touring productions, musical artists and

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

s. Since the "transformation" at the theatre, particularly after a state-of-the-art automated flying system was introduced, the theatre has been more able to host larger West End Musicals and plays. Productions at the theatre have included: ''

The Phantom Of The Opera The Phantom of the Opera may refer to: Novel * The Phantom of the Opera (novel), ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (novel), 1910 novel by Gaston Leroux Characters * Erik (The Phantom of the Opera), Erik (''The Phantom of the Opera''), the title char ...

'', ''

Dirty Dancing ''Dirty Dancing'' is a 1987 American romance film, romantic drama film, drama Dance in film, dance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb, and directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, it tel ...

'', '' Shrek The Musical'', '' Oliver'', ''

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song by the British rock band Queen from their 1977 album '' News of the World'', written by guitarist Brian May. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA it p ...

'' and ''

Wicked Wicked may refer to: Books * ''Wicked'' (Maguire novel), a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name * ''Wicked'', a 1997 novel series collaboration between Australian children's authors Paul Jennings and Morris ...

''. Leeds Grand Theatre hosted the world stage premier of Kay Mellor's Band Of Gold in November 2019. The theatre is managed by Leeds Heritage Theatres which also manages City Varieties Music Hall and the Hyde Park Picture House. Leeds Heritage Theatres as a unifying brand was launched in August 2020. The theatre was forced to close its doors during the coronavirus pandemic from March 2020 and reopened in June 2021 with

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoje ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, links=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failu ...

and touring productions of

Six (musical) ''Six'' (stylised in all caps) is a British Musical theatre, musical comedy in the style of a pop concert, with music, book, and lyrics by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. It is a modern retelling of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII, presente ...

, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Heathers (musical).

References

* *

External links

Grand Theatre websiteHoward Assembly Room websiteLeeds City Council page on the theatre
* *
Charity Commission record
{{Authority control Theatres in Leeds Opera houses in England Grade II* listed buildings in West Yorkshire Listed buildings in Leeds Grade II* listed theatres Theatres completed in 1878 Music venues completed in 1878 Music venues in Leeds Leeds Blue Plaques

Building

History

Present use

See also

References

External links