Theatre Royal Sydney (TRS) is a theatre in

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. Earlier theatres also called the Theatre Royal, on the same site, date back to 1833. The current building, designed by modernist architect Harry Seidler, was built in 1976 and has offered a broad range of entertainment since the 1990s. After being closed in 2016, the theatre reopened in December 2021 under parent company

Trafalgar Entertainment Trafalgar Entertainment is a British multinational entertainment group co-founded in 2017 by Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire after they stepped down from running Ambassador Theatre Group. Based in London, UK, the company primarily f ...

Earlier theatres

First Theatre Royal

Construction by Barnett Levey of the first Theatre Royal commenced in 1827 and was opened on 5 October 1833. It closed in March 1838 and a few days later Joseph Wyatt's 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 sect ...

. Levey's Theatre Royal burned to the ground in 1840 with the "Vic" (Royal Victoria), which abutted the rear, having a narrow escape. However, the "Vic" was itself totally destroyed by fire on 22 July 1880.

Second Theatre Royal

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 was rebuilt by Samuel Lazar and, as the "Theatre Royal", opened in 1875 between

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

and

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streets on

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

, on the other side of which would in 1890 be built the famous

Australia Hotel The Australia Hotel was a hotel on Castlereagh Street, Sydney, 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 premier hotel in S ...

. 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. 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.

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

Lendlease Lendlease is an Australian multinational construction and real estate company, headquartered in Barangaroo, Sydney, New South Wales. History Founding The company was established as Lendlease by Dick Dusseldorp in 1958 to provide finance fo ...

incorporating a replacement 1,180-seat theatre into the design. Designed by Harry Seidler 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. Theatre Royal Sydney (TRS) has hosted a mix of entertainment, with notable productions such 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 childr ...

'', ''

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

'', '' War Horse'', ''

Cats The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

'' (1985-1987), ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

'' (1987-1988), and '' Phantom of the Opera'' (1993-1996). 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 executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...

announced it had taken on a 55-year lease of the theatre from the MLC Centre developers, with the intention to reopen the venue with a private operator. The theatre was acquired by

, the company of British theatre impresarios Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire, and reopened in 2021. In November 2021, Theatre Royal Sydney opened with its first production, ''Jagged Little Pill the Musical''.

References

External links

*
Theatre Royal
at sydney-theatre.com * *

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