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     London Theatre Tickets » List of London Theatres » London Coliseum » History
London Coliseum - Information & History
The London Coliseum Theatre is London's largest theatre and currently home to the English National Opera. However, the Coliseum Theatre was originally built as a Variety Theatre and first opened its doors on Christmas Eve in 1904 with a Variety show.
The London Coliseum is huge in every way. The stage measures a staggering 55' [16.77 meters] wide by 92' [28 meters] deep (compared to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane with a stage measuring 42' [12.8 meters] wide by 80' [24.4 meters] deep, which was the largest prior to the opening of the Coliseum). At the time of construction the Coliseum stage included a revolving facility incorporating 3 concentric circles which could operate independently. This cost a staggering £70,000, which at the time was an expense never before seen on such a facility and the first of its kind for any British Theatre.
The Coliseum was designed by the then famed theatre architect Frank Matcham for Sir Oswald Stoll. The Coliseum was the first Theatre in Europe to provide lifts to the upper parts of the building and to take guests to the tea rooms, restaurants and bars.
The London Coliseum is a grand theatre on a grand scale and, at the time, a very ambitious and expensive project for the developer and the architect to create. It was, and still is, the largest of its kind in terms of scale and panache. The Auditorium can accommodate 2,358 guests on 4 levels, in the Stalls, Dress Circle, Grand Tier and Balcony. Unusually, the Coliseum did not include a pit for the 'cheap bench seats', which was customary for theatre construction at the time. The deliberate decision by the architect Oswald Stoll not to include a pit was to eliminate the 'rowdy' element and lower classes that populated the Victorian theatre pits and music halls at the time. This was in an attempt to raise the standard of audience politeness, so that the Coliseum could hopefully gain a reputation of higher quality audiences. It allowed the audiences to be entertained in comfort and a degree of luxury. Minus the noisy music hall mentality, it was also to make the Coliseum a Family Theatre. The term pit as we still know it is now usually used by the orchestra, but in Victorian Theatre in London, the pit was an area of stalls sectioned off and usually at the back of the stalls under the circle.
Despite the grandiose architecture with its wonderful Terra-Cotta façade, innovative revolving stage, interior luxury and extravagant expenditure the Coliseum was a total financial failure and closed down in 1906, only 2 years after its grand opening. The Coliseum Theatre remained closed for a further year until it was reopened in December of 1907 and then began its reign of success stories.
Perhaps the timing for the Coliseum was just a lit too early for its time but, for whatever reasons, the reopening of the Coliseum saw a steady success story as a Variety Theatre from 1907 right through to 1931. All the great variety stars had performed at the coliseum.
The Coliseum finally hang up its Variety hat in April 1931 when it staged a performance of 'White Horse Inn', a musical, on a huge scale (to match the Coliseum) with a cast of over 160 with a huge chorus and 3 bands. The production cost over £60,000 to stage but more than recouped its costs before it had even opened with advanced bookings and ran for a staggering 651 performances. This production effectively sealed the lid on the Coliseum staging any further variety productions and the Coliseum immediately followed the success of the 'White Horse Inn' with an equally successful production of 'Casanova', supported with music by Johan Strauss, which ran for 429 performances.
An interesting newsworthy story occurred at the Coliseum which hit the front page of the national papers when, on the last night of Casanova, a scuffle occurred between the two leading actors who had played the lead role as Casanova over its 8 month run. The Actors Charles Mayhew and Arthur Fear ended up in a fight when Mayhew, who had played the lead first, objected to Fear from taking a curtain call in costume on the last night and a subsequent fight ensued.
The Coliseum was headline news for more sensible reasons thereafter with success story after success story. Dotted in between these successes, were some productions of Variety and even Ballet. Whilst at Christmas, a new concept of Pantomime began in 1936 with the first staging of Christmas Cinderella which continued as an annual tradition at the Coliseum right up to 1946.
Post Second World War saw a change in popular tastes and more American style productions were staged at the Coliseum, the first being 'Annie Get Your Gun' in 1947, which ran for a staggering 1,304 performances over 3 years, the longest running production at the Coliseum ever. Following the success of 'Annie Get Your Gun' came more from across the Atlantic with performances of 'Kiss Me Kate' in 1951, 'Guys And Dolls' in 1953, the 'Pyjama Game' in 1955 and 'Damn Yankees' in 1957. The success roller-coaster run abruptly came to an end when the production of 'The Bells are Ringing' failed miserably to excite anyone. This sudden change of fortune heralded the entrance of the Sadler's Wells Opera Company who came to the Coliseum with its production of the 'Merry Widow'. But this production was not as popular as the American productions had been and the heady days of rolling success had come to a close for the Coliseum. In 1961 MGM the American Movie Company took a long lease on the Coliseum and it was converted into a Cinema, first opening in June 1961 with its movie production of 'Gone With the Wind'.
The Coliseum was further converted in 1963 to accommodate Cinerama and remained a cinema until 1968 when, after a lengthy process, the Coliseum was finally restored to its former glory to enable the Sadler's Wells Opera Company to move in. They finally did in August 1968 opening with a production of 'Don Giovanni'. The Coliseum was finally back on a success trail as a live performance venue and the Coliseum remained a successful operatic and ballet venue hosting productions from all over the globe.
In 1973 the Sadlers Wells Opera Company became the English National Opera Company [ENO] and in 1992 ENO acquired the freehold for the Coliseum and the once Variety Theatre was now in the hands of the higher levels of entertainment. This is perhaps most fitting and would have been approved by the original owner Mr Oswald Stoll, that the Coliseum had finally become the National Home of the English National Opera Company.
The Coliseum went through an extensive 4 year period from its freehold acquisition of in-depth restoration and decoration. A visit to the largest theatre, the London Coliseum, is an experience one will never forget easily and is a visit well worth making.
London Coliseum | Performances | Information | Directions | History
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