Fourteenth appearance in this country of the celebrated New Orleans Ethiopian Serenaders LCCN2014635580

The Princess's Theatre or Princess Theatre was a theatre in

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It marks the notional boundary between the areas of Fitzrovia and Marylebone to t ...

, London. The building opened in 1828 as the "Queen's Bazaar" and housed a

diorama A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional model either full-sized or miniature. Sometimes dioramas are enclosed in a glass showcase at a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies like mili ...

Clarkson Stanfield Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (3 December 179318 May 1867) was an English painter best known for his large-scale paintings of marine art and Landscape painting, landscapes. He was the father of the painter George Clarkson Stanfield and the compo ...

and David Roberts. It was converted into a theatre and opened in 1836 as the Princess's Theatre, named for then Princess Victoria before her accession as queen. After an unsuccessful series of

promenade concert Promenade concerts were musical performances in the 18th and 19th century pleasure gardens of London, where the audience would stroll about while listening to the music. The term derives from the French ''se promener'', "to walk". Today, the t ...

s, alterations were made on the interior, and the theatre was reopened on 26 December 1842 with

Vincenzo Bellini Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (; ; 3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was an Italian opera composer famed for his long, graceful melodies and evocative musical settings. A central figure of the era, he was admired not only ...

's opera ''

La sonnambula ''La sonnambula'' (; ''The Sleepwalker'') is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the ''bel canto'' tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ''ballet-pantomime'' written by Eu ...

''. The theatre, by now under the management of

John Medex Maddox John Medex Maddox (1789–1861) was a Victorian-era playwright and one-time manager of the Princess's Theatre in London's Oxford Street. Of Jewish descent, Maddox had been born John Medex and used "Maddox" as an ornamental suffix. His brother, ...

, presented operas and other entertainments, such as

General Tom Thumb Charles Sherwood Stratton (January 4, 1838 – July 15, 1883), better known by his stage name "General Tom Thumb", was an American with dwarfism who achieved great fame as a performer under circus pioneer P. T. Barnum. Childhood and early ...

. The theatre is best remembered for

Charles Kean Charles John Kean (18 January 181122 January 1868) was an Irish-born English actor and theatre manager, best known for his revivals of Shakespearean plays. Life Kean was born at Waterford, Ireland, a son of actor Edmund Kean and actress Mary ...

's Shakespeare revivals, beginning in 1849 and continuing for ten years. Kean presented these in lavish and well-researched "authentic" productions and also presented French drama.

Dion Boucicault Dionysius Lardner "Dion" Boucicault (né Boursiquot; 26 December 1820 – 18 September 1890) was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the ...

became the theatre's leading actor, and

Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry (27 February 184721 July 1928) was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and toured ...

and

Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...

got their starts at the theatre. Thereafter, the theatre presented mainly melodrama.

H. J. Byron Henry James Byron (8 January 1835 – 11 April 1884) was a prolific English dramatist, as well as an editor, journalist, director, theatre manager, novelist and actor. After an abortive start at a medical career, Byron struggled as a provincia ...

wrote a series of Christmas

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

s for the theatre, beginning in 1859 with ''Jack the Giant Killer, or, Harlequin, King Arthur, and ye Knights of ye Round Table''Lee, Amy Wai Sum
"Henry J. Byron"
Hong Kong Baptist University and followed the next year by ''Robinson Crusoe, or Harlequin Friday and the King of the Caribee Islands!'' In 1863, Sefton Parry, recently returned from Cape Town, appeared as Cousin Joe in the farce ''The Rough Diamond.'' In 1864, a particularly popular drama was presented at the theatre called ''The Streets of London''. The theatre was demolished and rebuilt in 1879–80. After this, the theatre continued to present melodramas, including ''

The Lights o' London ''The Lights o' London'' is a melodramatic play, by George R. Sims, first produced in London on 10 September 1881 at the Princess's Theatre, produced by and starring Wilson Barrett. The play was a hit, running for 226 nights, and was frequentl ...

'' (1881) and ''The Silver King'' (1882). In 1887, the theatre hosted the

farcical Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

comedy ''Romany Rye'' written by

George Robert Sims George Robert Sims (2 September 1847 – 4 September 1922) was an English journalist, poet, dramatist, novelist and ''bon vivant''. Sims began writing lively humour and satiric pieces for ''Fun'' magazine and '' The Referee'', but he was soon ...

, performed by the company of Gilbert Elliott, and the show toured from there to the

Theatre Royal, Exeter The Theatre Royal, Exeter was the name of several theatres situated in the city centre of Exeter, Devon, England in the United Kingdom. Early theatres and fires The name "Theatre Royal" was first applied in Exeter by the mid-1830s to what ha ...

, where the opening night resulted in the

Exeter Theatre Royal fire On 5 September 1887, a fire broke out in the backstage area of the Theatre Royal, Exeter, Theatre Royal in Exeter, England, during the production of ''The Romany Rye (play), The Romany Rye''. The fire caused panic throughout the theatre, with 18 ...

, which was the deadliest theatre disaster in UK history, killed 186 people. The theatre closed permanently in 1902 after its last success, ''

The Fatal Wedding ''The Fatal Wedding'' is a play by Theodore Kremer and a 1911 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on the melodrama, which he and Lottie Lyell toured around Australia.

'' by

Theodore Kremer Theodore Kremer (1871–1923) was a German-born playwright whose works include ''The Fatal Wedding'' and a non-musical stage adaptation of ''Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was ...

, and the building became a warehouse. It was demolished in 1931 and replaced by the

art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

Princess House (at 150 Oxford Street). This initially housed a Woolworths store, then subsequently (in 1986) the flagship

HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...

store, which closed in 2014 and was replaced by a

Sports Direct Sportsdirect.com Retail Limited, trading as Sports Direct, is a British retail company owned by Frasers Group. The company was founded in 1982 by Mike Ashley (businessman), Mike Ashley and was originally based in Maidenhead, England. It specialises ...

store.

References

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External links

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures demolished in 1931 Former theatres in London Former buildings and structures in the City of Westminster Theatres completed in 1828 1902 disestablishments in England Demolished buildings and structures in London