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     Her Majesty's Theatre - Information & History
Her Majesty's Theatre is situated on the Haymarket and first opened its doors on the 28th of April 1897 at the close of the Victorian era. The opening production was a play by Gilbert Parker called 'Seats of the Mighty'.
The current Her Majesty's Theatre is in fact the fourth theatre on the site. The first theatre was the Queen's Theatre, named after Queen Anne in April 1705 and was built by the famous architect Sir John Vanburgh from Greenwich on land that was originally a stable yard in the Haymarket. This first theatre opened with an Opera called 'The Loves of Ergasto' by Giacomo Greber.
Unfortunately the theatre did not prove to be a success as the acoustics were terrible, and it was described at the time as being more attractive than enjoyable as a theatre. The theatre was soon handed over to the Italian Opera in 1709, which did prove to suit the large cavernous auditorium, and it was here that Handel produced his first operatic works in England. One such production was Handel's 'Rinaldo' which was very successful and Handel went on to produce a number of operas at the 'Queens'. Upon Queen Anne's death in 1714 it was decided to rename the theatre the 'Kings' theatre according to the monarch on the throne. Handel went on to produce a string of productions until 1734.
The theatre was fortunate to have its interior redecorated by the accomplished interior designer and artist Robert Adam in 1778 and then again in 1782, but then the theatre was burnt to the ground by a mysterious fire on the 17th of June 1789. Such fires were responsible for the destruction of many of London's famous theatres, and was due to the lack of smoking controls. Theatres were often filled with smoke and poor after performance cleaning meant that burning cigarettes and tobacco was left to smoulder and eventually ignite the wooden seating frames during the night.
The second theatre was constructed on the same site and this was also called the Kings Theatre. It was built by Michael Novosielski and opened its doors on the 26th of March 1791 with a debut performance of a song and dance production. The grand opening was a celebration as the new theatre was acclaimed to have the largest seating capacity in England. It became the temporary home for the Theatre Royal Drury Lane Theatre Company for 3 years until 1794 whilst the Drury Lane was being rebuilt due to a fire.
The Theatre was reconstructed by John Nash and George Repton over a 2 year period from 1816 to 1818, when the auditorium was totally redesigned, with a new increased seating capacity of around 2,500. Despite these expensive refurbishments, the theatre did not become successful until 1830 when it was renamed the Italian Opera House and became society's place to be seen in and to visit. The theatre became the 'in place' and became a society magnet for the rich and socialites, as it became the home to ballet and opera and out of reach of the ordinary citizen. This was in the same way as how expensive elitist restaurants became venues for famous people to eat in, and it was the turn of cultural theatres to be the places to mingle.
In 1837 the theatre changed its name once again to His Majesty's Theatre, Italian Opera House but it was shortened to His Majesty's Theatre 10 years later in 1847. It was during 1847 that His Majesty's Theatre played host to the star of the day namely Jenny Lind. So successful were her performances, that His Majesty's Theatre became known as 'Lind Mania' for almost 20 years until finally this theatre was consumed by yet another fire. The fire reduced the building to a smouldering heap in little over 1 hour, taking with it many of the adjacent shops and the adjoining Opera Arcade, which was a colonnaded shopping street.
It was time once again for His Majesty's Theatre to rise from the ashes and this third one was designed by Charles Lee and was built by George Trollope & Sons within the standing burnt out shell and was completed in only 1 year in 1869. Unfortunately, no company was prepared to take on the theatre and it remained empty for 5 years. When in 1874 it was purchased for £31,000 and used for Revivalist spiritual meetings, the seating capacity had been wisely reduced to 1,890, but it was still a vast number of seats to fill for any standard production company. His Majesty's Theatre did not resume theatrical performances until 1877 when it staged a production of Opera.
His Majesty's Theatre held the first ever performance of Bizet's 'Carmen' on June 22nd in 1878. The theatre was unfortunately demolished in 1892.
The fourth and present His Majesty's Theatre was built on the majority of the site in 1896, whilst the remainder became the Carlton hotel and eventual companion to the fourth theatre. This hotel was eventually demolished to make way for the somewhat unattractive and rather obtrusive New Zealand House. The new His Majesty's Theatre finally opened on the 28th of April 1897, with a much reduced seating capacity of only 1,319, on four levels at a construction cost of £55,000.
In 1911 His Majesty's Theatre held a Gala in honour of the coronation of King George V. Surprisingly His Majesty's Theatre staged what was going to be a phenomenal success with tales of the Orient called 'Chu Chin Chow', which opened on the 31st of August 1916 in the middle of the First World War. This musical tale ran for a staggering 2,238 performances and became the longest running production in London's theatrical history at that time. It was only superseded by the 'Mouse Trap' some 60 years later, which ran from 1958.
The Mouse Trap originally opened at the Ambassadors Theatre on the 25th of November 1952. It transferred to St.Martin's Theatre in 1974 and it is still going strong after being performed for more than half a century, celebrating its 54th year in 2006.
The theatre changes its name to either Her Majesty's Theatre or His Majesty's Theatre according to the monarch on the British throne. Currently Her Majesty's Theatre has had numerous successful productions throughout the hundred years or so of its existence. The most recent ones are: 'The Co-Optimists' in 1925 and 1926; Noel Coward's 'Bitter Sweet' in 1929; 'Henry IV', part 1 in 1935; 'The Happy Hypocrite' with Ivor Novello and Vivien Leigh in 1936; 'The Merry Widow' in 1943; 'Irene' in 1945; 'Brigadoon' in 1949; 'West Side Story' from 1958 to 1961; 'The Pirates of Penzance' and 'H.M.S. Pinafore' in 1962; 'The Right Honourable Gentleman' in 1964; 'Fiddler on the Roof' from 1967 to 1971 with 2,030 performances; perhaps the most controversial opening of the production of 'Hair' in 1973; 'Bugsy Malone' in 1983; and of course 'The Phantom Of The Opera' which opened on the 9th of October 1986 and is still there in 2006, twenty years later!
The current theatre has a reduced capacity to a more modest amount of seats to 1210 after the stage was changed in 2006.
Her Majesty's Theatre | Performances | Information | Directions | History
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