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     Piccadilly Theatre - Information & History
The Piccadilly Theatre is situated on Denman Street hidden behind Piccadilly Circus. Originally the Piccadilly Theatre opened its doors in April 1928 with Jerome Kern's musical 'Blue Eyes', starring one of the most acclaimed actresses of the period, Miss Evelyn Laye.
The Piccadilly Theatre was one of the largest theatres to be built in London at that time. Built on land previously occupied by derelict stables, unlike many other theatres which were built on existing old theatres, for once the Piccadilly theatre occupied dead space, which was unique considering it was in the centre of London's West End. The Piccadilly Theatre souvenir brochure made a claim that ''If all the bricks used in the building were laid in a straight line, they would stretch from London to Paris''.
Built originally as a private theatre for Edward Laurillard, the Piccadilly Theatre was designed by Bertie Crewe and Edward A. Stone with the interior decoration created by Marc-Henri Levy and Gaston Laverdet. The Piccadilly Theatre auditorium seating was on three levels, Stalls, Dress, and Upper Circles, with a capacity on opening of 1,395. The Piccadilly Theatre's stage was large enough for musicals at 29' 10" Wide by 35' Deep.
The Piccadilly Theatre grand opening was followed by a series of other new theatres opening in quick succession that London experienced during 1930, with the opening of the Prince Edward on the 3rd of April, then the Cambridge theatre on the 4th of September, then the Phoenix theatre on the 24th of September, the Whitehall theatre on the 29th of September, then the reconstructed and totally rebuilt Adelphi Theatre on the 3rd of December, and finally the Leicester Square Theatre which opened on December the 19th. What a fantastic year for London's theatre goers.
The opening production at the Piccadilly ran from April to August, when it transferred to the Daly's theatre [now known as the View Cinema Leicester Square], and the Piccadilly Theatre then became available. With a glut of new theatres on the scene, Warner Brothers decided to take over the Piccadilly Theatre and use it to experiment with the latest cinema craze of the time, namely talking pictures. A system known as the Vitaphone System was installed and the very first talking movie, The Singing Fool' with Al Jolson, was shown in Britain in the Piccadilly Theatre to make entertainment history. The Piccadilly Theatre was also the stage that Al Jolson opened as the Jazz Singer in 1928 to rapturous audience responses, and he also appeared afterwards on stage to sing Mammie his kneeling dedication song to his mother.
This craze soon spread to other cinemas and demand for talking movies spread like wild fire. Despite this, the Piccadilly Theatre was still a popular venue as a traditional theatre and, only a year later, the Theatre was back in business in November 1929 with a production of 'The Student Prince'. Then in January 1931 it had its first success with 'Folly To Be Wise', which ran for 257 performances.
These successes were closely followed in September 1933 with Robert Donat and Ernest Thesiger in 'A Sleeping Clergyman', 'Counsellor at Law', in April 1934, 'Queer Cargo' in August, and 'Living Dangerously' in November of the same year.
Unfortunately theatre audiences can be fickle and the Piccadilly Theatre began to lose audience attendance and revenue and the Piccadilly Theatre started to lose money from 1935. The Windmill Theatre Company took over for a while, which gave them more space for their productions.
The Piccadilly Theatre has presented most forms of stage entertainment from classical theatre by the Royal Shakespeare Company, to the first talking movies, comedy, drama, ballet, dance and prose. The Piccadilly Theatre, in its more recent years, staged 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf' (with its original Broadway cast), 'A Night with Dame Edna', and a variety of Royal Shakespeare Company productions, including 'Edward II', starring Ian McKellen. Henry Fonda also made his West End debut at the Piccadilly Theatre.
The Piccadilly has seen a wealth of famous names such as Dame Judi Dench, Michael Pennington, Julia MacKenzie, Eric Sykes, Barbara Dickson and Lynn Redgrave, to name but a few. During the 1990's an expansion in the popularity of Musicals, ballet and dance occurred, and most notably there was the return of 'Swan Lake' at the Piccadilly Theatre.
The Piccadilly Theatre has had something of a chequered history, sometimes successful, but often host to some rather less fortunate productions. Presently, however, Piccadilly Theatre is home to the hit musical 'Guys and Dolls', which opened on the 1st of June 2005 and is still doing very well in 2006.
The Piccadilly Theatre has a stunning green and gold Art Deco interior. The Piccadilly Theatre does have a history of short running productions, and perhaps this is due to its somewhat hidden location behind Piccadilly Circus.
It is currently owned and operated by the Ambassador Theatre Group and the Piccadilly has a seating capacity of 1,232.
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