September 3, 2010
Her Majesty’s Theatre London
The present-day Her Majesty’s Theatre is in reality the 4th theatre to occupy this site. The first was named The Queen’s Theatre, being constructed by Sir John Vanbrugh and opened on 9th April 1705. The theatre switched it’s name to The Kings Theatre in 1714 when King George I ascended the throne. This theatre was associated with opera, until 1789 when the theatre was destroyed by fire. The 2nd theatre was by designed by Michael Novosielski and opened in March 1791. This theatre was again associated with opera, as well as ballet. It was here that some of Mozart’s opera were first presented in London. In 1837 the name of the theatre was changed to Her Majesty’s Theatre, Italian Opera House when Queen Victoria ascended to the throne. The ‘Italian Opera House’ part of the name was subsquently dropped in 1847. Then, in December 1867, the theatre was once again destroyed by fire. The theatre was rebuilt in 1869, this time designed by Charles Lee. In 1892 the theatre was demolished, leaving just the Royal Opera Arcade. The current, and 4th theatre on this site was designed by C J Phipps and opened on 28th April 1897. From this time, mostly plays were presented here, with just the occasional opera. Then in 1916 Chu Chin Chow started a record-breaking run of 2,238 performances. In 1929 Noel Coward’s Bitter Sweet was produced here and enjoyed a run of 697 performances. After the Second World War the theatre mostly presented musicals, which included Brigadoon in 1949, Paint Your Wagon in 1953, West Side Story in 1958 and Fiddler On The Roof in 1967 which had a run of 2,030 performances. The current production, Phantom of the Opera, opened here on 9th October 1986.
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