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London Palladium Theatre - Information & History

The London Palladium is situated on Argyll Street, W1, London and first opened its doors on the 26th of December 1910 with a Variety Show and one act play called 'The Conspiracy.'

The London Palladium was designed by the renowned theatre architect Frank Matcham and construction cost a massive £250,000. The Auditorium was built offering 3 levels: Stalls, Dress Circle and the Upper Circle, and offered a massive capacity of 3,435.

The London Palladium site has some history worthy of mention. Originally the site was the London home of the Duke of Argyll [hence the street name]. The Duke's House was also the home of the first Earl of Aberdeen who lived in there until his death in 1860. Then the building was demolished and the land was deep excavated to build 'Bonded Wine Cellars'. The Corinthian Bazaar was a hall built in 1870 but as a temporary structure of wood. The whole site was later acquired by Charles Hengler, who had worked in the Circus all of his life, and he decided to alter the Bazaar structure. He commissioned an architect J.T. Robinson to create a theatre, which was called Grand Cirque in 1871, with a seating capacity of 1090, but the building had to be condemned as it was a poorly designed timber structure. Unperturbed Hengler wanted to continue and in 1894 he paid for the re construction of the structure and even enlarged it, using a more robust structure. However, Hengler died 3 years later in 1887 and, even though both of his sons continued with the business, the concept of having an inner city small circus was losing public interest. Another Circus showman Edward Wuff took over the building but the interest in such venues was lost, and so, in 1895, the structure was pulled down. The site was converted into a Skating Rink and renamed the National Skating Palace, which became popularised as having real ice.

The National Skating Palace continued for almost 10 years until its novelty began to wear off and, yet again, in 1905 it was decided to return the site into another Circus and it was renamed the Royal Italian Circus with an Italian Circus Troupe. But this venture was doomed as it was going to be in direct competition with the already opened London Hippodrome, which was already a major success. The Hippodrome offered a new style of Circus acts and Music Hall combined and was probably the inspiration to create a smaller version on the site.

With this short lived failure the London County Council decided enough was enough and condemned the building. They demanded major structural alterations and improvements to the site which were simply too expensive for the owners to implement, so the building was forced to close. The lease reverted to the consortium that owned the freehold, which was already considering the construction of a brand new development of the prime site for a Music Hall to be called the Palladium.

Prior to the grand opening of the Palladium on Boxing Day 26th of December 1910, the early reviews of the all new Palladium were impressive. Comments as detailed here from the ERA at the time: 'Brilliant in white and Gold, with seating in warm red, the house sounds the last word in luxury and appointment, and the magnificent sweep of the dress circle presents a remarkable appearance from the stage.

In the great Palm Court at the back of the stalls, one thousand persons can be comfortably served with tea. This is a very striking feature of the Palladium and the Palm Court is of all Norwegian Rose granite which, especially, looks extremely attractive. In this Palm Court a ladies' orchestra will play daily between performances. The decorations are very beautiful, Rose du Barri hangings adorn the boxes, and upholstery of the same colour has been employed in the stalls, while the orchestra is enclosed by a marble balustrade. Generally speaking, the colour scheme of the walls is pink, white and gold, with coloured marbles, and certainly there is not a dull note anywhere. The walls of the main vestibule are painted silver. Perhaps the most unique feature is the box to box telephone that has been installed. It will therefore be possible for the occupants of one box, recognising friends in another box, to enter into conversation with them.'

From the opening of the Palladium it was a Variety House where all manner of shows were staged, including Melodrama, Farce, and Operetta and of course as a Music Hall and Variety. Everyone who was anyone in the business performed at the Palladium. Charles Gulliver took over the Palladium in 1912 and staged regular twice nightly shows and three afternoon matinees every week.

The Palladium became extremely popular during the roaring twenties and saw long runs for shows such as: 'Rockets' which ran for 490 performances from 1922; 'Whirl of the World' in 1923 which ran for 627 performances; 'Sky High' in 1925 which ran for 309 performances; 'Follies Bergeres' in 1926; 'The Apache' in 1927. Year after year the Palladium ran with successful productions. And In 1928 The Palladium was purchased as a successful major venue by The General Theatre Corporation. For some bizarre reason, they turned the Palladium into a Cinema, but this was a dismal failure and only lasted three months. Why on earth they chose a change of direction for the Palladium's success was a mystery. The Palladium's very brief spell as a Cinema was soon forgotten and the venue returned to what it could do best, namely Variety.

George Black took over the running of the Palladium and put on his own style of spectacular Variety shows which proved to be successful. It was George Black who created a new kind of weekly entertainment at the Palladium called 'Crazy Week', with titles such as 'Life Begins at Oxford Circus,' Round About Regent Street,' All Night at Oxford Circus,' London Rhapsody,' and 'These Foolish Things.' These performances were largely successful for a group of comedians who together became better known as the 'Crazy Gang', who regularly appeared on the Palladium stage from June 1931 through to Oct 1939. The Crazy Gang became so successful they later had a home of their own and a permanent show that ran for years at the Victoria Palace Theatre.

The Palladium Variety Music Hall was a resounding success and through the first half of the 20th century it became a popular venue before changing to the now familiar name of The London Palladium in 1934.

The Palladium became known for a regular annual Christmas event, the Pantomime, and the annual return of 'Peter Pan' was the show to see every Christmas at the London Palladium which ran from 1930 to 1938. With new ownership by Moss Empires and following the death of George Black in 1946, a new impresario was sought to continue the resounding success of the Palladium. Val Parnell was appointed to run the Palladium and its future success was guaranteed.

Val Parnell's management of the Palladium from 1945 was both controversial and daring as he was prepared to try new ways to bring entertainment to the mass population. His decision to book high price big name acts at the London Palladium was both a gamble and also proved to be a fantastic success, with names like the who's who in the entertainment industry, including Petula Clark, Sophie Tucker, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Johnnie Ray, Frankie Laine and Norman Vaughn.

Under Parnell's leadership the Palladium took on a new era of success with the medium of Television, and from 1955 through to 1967 the British public tuned in to watch Sunday Night at the London Palladium. First hosted by Tommy Trinder and then by Bruce Forsyth, the show was broadcast 'live' by ATV [owned by Lou Grade] with a star studded line up every Sunday. It became a must see entertainment show and brought live variety, music and comedy with international stars right into the living rooms of every household.

Val Parnell became involved with a property development company and began to sell shares in his company 'Moss Empires' Theatres and decided to sell the Palladium for redevelopment. When this became known in 1966, that the Palladium could soon be redeveloped, a consortium of theatres got together, namely The Victoria Palace and the Theatre Royal Drury Lane along with Prince Littler [The Littler's- Emile, Prince and their sister Blanche were at one time the most powerful figures in the theatrical world of the West End and Provincial theatre, with almost a total monopoly in producing musicals and pantomime in the United Kingdom]. This consortium made a take over bid for the London Palladium and, this being accepted, Val Parnell retired to live his remaining years in France and leave the London Palladium to continue its success.

Who can forget the live TV variety performances 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium'? Parnell had seen the value of the new medium TV, which post war Britain had purchased more quickly than cars, and his vision brought Variety theatre into every living room every Sunday night. The show was a resounding success and from 1955 to 1967 it was a must see show. The same show was brought back to life in 1973 with his son Jack Parnell leading the orchestra.

The London Palladium had been thrust to the forefront of TV audiences who were eager for more. International Stars alike were aware of the impact the London Palladium had on British audiences, so it became like the chat show to appear on when you came to the UK. Consequently the London Palladium became the venue to appear on and so began a new era of performances and concerts at the London Palladium. Perhaps one of the most famous performances was the joint live performance of international mega stars mother and daughter, Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli in 1960, which packed the house and was viewed by millions on TV.

The Eighties saw the London Palladium take on a new role, as it became famous for putting on large stage productions Musicals such as: 'The King and I' starring Yul Brynner & Virginia McKenna; 'Singin in the Rain' with Tommy Steele; the short lived 'Ziegfeld' with Topol; 'La Cage Aux Follies' with George Hearn and Denis Quilley; the Opera North & Royal Shakespeare Company's production of 'Show Boat'; 'Oliver' with Jonathan Pryce; 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' starring Michael Ball; and 'Barnum' with Michael Crawford to name but a few.

The London Palladium also became a 'gig' venue for live rock and pop performances, notably in January 1973 when the glam rock band Slade packed the house and nearly caused the collapse of the balcony under the weight of dancing teenagers. In 1976 Marvin Gaye recorded his live concert titled Marvin Gaye Live at the London Palladium including his number 1 hit 'Got to Give it Up'.

The London Palladium became ITV's star studded variety show in the late 80's, compered this time by comedian Jimmy Tarbuck. During this period the London Palladium changed hands several times, eventually acquired by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's Company the 'Really Useful Group' in 2000. The London Palladium saw a revival of big stage musicals, such as 'The King and I' starring Elaine Paige in 2002. The old style revolving stage was finally removed to make way for more modern technology with the elaborate production of 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' in 2002. For almost three and half years the production saw a whole host of famous stars and celebrities take part in the show, including Michael Ball, Russ Abbott, Richard O'Brien, Brian Blessed, Gary Wilmot, Paul O'Grady, Stephen Gately, Derek Griffith's, Brian Conley, Wayne Sleep, Lionel Blair, Jason Donovan, Jo Gibb, Christopher Biggins, Louise Gold, Tony Adams & Alvin Stardust. This show proved to be the most successful show at the London Palladium in the theatre's long history.

For Christmas 2005-6, the London Palladium played host to a Christmas production of Scrooge, starring Tommy Steele who returned once again to the Palladium. Since February 2006, the Palladium has played host to a new musical production entitled 'Sinatra at the London Palladium', which features large screen projections and dancers performing before unseen movie clips of Frank Sinatra and including a live band performing Sinatra's greatest hits.

The London Palladium is one of the West End's largest capacity theatre, seating 2,298, and has recently started the much hyped 'Sound of Music' from November 2006.

London Palladium Theatre | Performances | Information | Directions | History

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