Apollo Theatre
This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. (December 2013) |
- Not to be confused with Apollo Theater in Manhattan, New York City or Apollo Victoria Theatre.
Address | Shaftesbury Avenue Westminster, London UK |
---|---|
Owner | Nimax Theatres |
Designation | Grade II |
Type | West End theatre |
Capacity | 775, on 4 levels |
Production | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time |
Construction | |
Opened | 21 February 1901 |
Architect | Lewin Sharp |
Website | |
www.nimaxtheatres.com/nimax/apollo |
The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.[1] Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield,[2][3] it became the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street after opening its doors to the public on 22 February 1901,[3] with the American musical comedy The Belle of Bohemia.[2][3]
History
Henry Lowenfield had bought land on the newly created Shaftesbury Avenue at the turn of the 20th century, next door to the Lyric Theatre which opened in 1888.[3] Resultantly, the Apollo is one of the few theatres in London which is freehold.[2]
The only complete theatre design of architect Lewin Sharp, it was constructed by builder Walter Wallis,[2] designed specifically for musical theatre it was resultantly named after the Greek god of the arts and leader of the muses.[4] Built of plain London brick in keeping with the neighbouring streets, the front piece is in the Renaissance style with sculpted stone fascia by T. Simpson. The structure encloses an auditorium constructed on four levels, with three cantilevered balconies and a first floor central loggia, decorated in the Louis XIV style by Hubert van Hooydonk.[3] In keeping with then European style, each level has its own foyer and promenade.[3]
Due to the death of Queen Victoria the previous month, it became the first London theatre built in the Edwardian period.[3] The capacity on opening was 893, with a proscenium of 9.14 metres (30.0 ft) wide and 8.89 metres (29.2 ft) deep.[2]
Due to a relatively unsuccessful opening, impresario Tom B. Davis took a lease on the building, and hence management of operations, from 1902.[4] The theatre was renovated by Ernest Schaufelberg in 1932, with a private foyer and anteroom installed to the Royal Box.[2] Post VE Day, Prince Littler took control of the theatre in 1944.[4] The capacity today is 796 seats, with the balcony on the 3rd tier considered the steepest in London.[3]
Stoll Moss Group purchased the theatre in 1975, selling it to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group and Bridgepoint Capital in 2000. Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer purchased the theatre and several others in 2005, creating Nimax Theatres, which still owns the theatre.[4]
2013 ceiling collapse
On 19 December 2013, at about 20:15 GMT,[5] part of the ornate plasterwork ceiling collapsed around 40 minutes into a performance of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,[6] trapping two people and injuring 88,[5] including seven seriously.[5] 720 people were in the audience at the time.[5] The incident was preceded by heavy rain.[5] Many casualties were taken to the foyer of the adjacent Gielgud and Queen's theatres,[7] where the emergency services could triage them, before they were taken to hospital, some on a commandeered bus.[5]
Production history
The opening caused a public uproar, with a selected audience for the first performance on Thursday 21 February 1901, and the first public performance scheduled for 22 February.[3] Resultantly, The Times refused to review the private opening, instead waiting until the first public production the following day.[3] The opening production was the American musical comedy The Belle of Bohemia,[2] which survived for 72 performances - 17 more than it had accomplished when produced on Broadway.[3] The production was followed by John Martin-Harvey's season, including A Cigarette Maker's Romance and The Only Way, an adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.[2][3]
George Edwardes produced a series of successful Edwardian musical comedies, including Kitty Grey (1901), Three Little Maids and The Girl from Kays (1902). An English version of André Messager's light opera Véronique became a hit in 1904, starring with Ruth Vincent, who also starred in Edward German's Tom Jones in 1907. Between 1908 and 1912, the theatre hosted H. G. Pelissier's The Follies. After this, the theatre hosted a variety of works, including seasons of plays by Charles Hawtrey in 1913, 1914 and 1924, and Harold Brighouse's Hobson's Choice in 1916.[8] Gilbert Dayle's What Would a Gentleman Do? played in 1918.[2]
George Grossmith, Jr. and Edward Laurillard managed the theatre from 1920 to 1923, presenting a series of plays and revivals, including Such a Nice Young Man by H.F. Maltby (1920) and the stage version of George Du Maurier's novel Trilby (1922). They had produced The Only Girl here in 1916 and Tilly of Bloomsbury in 1919. The Fake was produced in 1924, starring Godfrey Tearle. 1927 saw Abie's Irish Rose and Whispering Wires, with Henry Daniel. The next year, Laurence Olivier starred in R. C. Sherriff's Journey's End. Sean O'Casey's The Silver Tassie and Ivor Novello's A Symphony in Two Flats both played in 1929. Diana Wynyard starred as Charlotte Brontë in Clemence Dane's Wild Decembers in 1932, and Raymond Massey starred in Robert Sherwood's Pulitzer Prize-winning Idiot's Delight in 1938. Patrick Hamilton's play Gas Light held the stage in 1939, and Terence Rattigan's Flare Path played in 1942.[8]
Control of the theatre transferred to Prince Littler in 1944. John Clements and Kay Hammond starred in Noël Coward's Private Lives, and Margaret Rutherford starred in The Happiest Days of Your Life in 1948, followed by Sybil Thorndike and Lewis Casson in Treasure Hunt, directed by John Gielgud in 1949. After this, Seagulls Over Sorrento ran for over three years beginning in 1950. The theatre's longest run was the comedy Boeing Boeing, starring Patrick Cargill and David Tomlinson, which opened in 1962 and transferred to the Duchess Theatre in 1965. In 1968, Gielgud starred in Alan Bennett's Forty Years On and in 1969, he returned in David Storey's Home, with Ralph Richardson. He returned to the theatre in 1988, at the age of 83, in Best of Friends by Hugh Whitemore.[8]
A number of hit comedies transferred to or from the theatre in the 1970s and 1980s, and other important plays here during the period included Rattigan's Separate Tables, with John Mills in 1976, Lyle Kessler's Orphans in 1986 with Albert Finney, I'm Not Rappaport the same year, with Paul Scofield, and Dorothy Tutin, Eileen Atkins and Siân Phillips in Thursday's Ladies in 1987. Driving Miss Daisy played in 1988, starring Wendy Hiller, and 1989 saw Zoe Wanamaker in Mrs Klein, Vanessa Redgrave in A Madhouse in Goa, and Peter O'Toole in Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell. Penelope Wilton starred in Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea in 1993, and In Praise of Love played in 1995, with Peter Bowles. Mark Little starred in the Laurence Olivier Award-winning one-man show, Defending the Caveman in 1999.
Selected recent productions
- Side Man (2000) with Jason Priestley
- Fallen Angels (2000) with Felicity Kendal and Frances de la Tour
- The Odd Couple (2001)
- Noël Coward's Star Quality (2001) with Penelope Keith and Una Stubbs
- Arthur Miller's The Price (2003) with Warren Mitchell
- The Goat or Who is Sylvia? (2004) with Jonathan Pryce
- David Mamet's A Life in the Theatre (2005) with Patrick Stewart and Joshua Jackson
- Mary Stuart (2005) with Harriet Walter
- Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (2006) with Kathleen Turner
- Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke (2006) with Rosamund Pike
- The Glass Menagerie (2007) with Jessica Lange
- The Last Five Years (2007)
- Glengarry Glen Ross (2007) with Jonathan Pryce
- An Audience with the Mafia (2008)
- The Vortex (2008) with Felicity Kendal
- Divas (2008)
- Rain Man (2008) with Josh Hartnett and Adam Godley
- Three Days of Rain (2009) with James McAvoy and Nigel Harman
- Carrie's War (2009) with Prunella Scales
- Jerusalem (2010)
- All My Sons (2010) with David Suchet and Zoë Wanamaker
- Blithe Spirit (2011) with Alison Steadman
- Yes Prime Minister (2011)
- Jerusalem (2011–2012)
- The Madness of George III (2012)
- Long Day's Journey Into Night (2012) with David Suchet
- Richard III and Twelfth Night (2012) with Mark Rylance and Stephen Fry
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2013)
Notes
- ^ English Heritage listing accessed 28 April 2007
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Apollo Theatre". Arthur Lloyd. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Information about the theatre at the This Is Theatre site
- ^ a b c d "Apollo The atre". Nimax Theatres. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Apollo Theatre balcony collapses". BBC News. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ "Apollo Theatre Collapse Causes Injuries". news.sky.com. Sky News. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ "'Roof collapses' at West End's Apollo Theatre, serious injuries reported". whatsonstage.com. Whats On Stage. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ a b c History of the Apollo Theatre
References
- Guide to British Theatres 1750–1950, John Earl and Michael Sell pp. 98–9 (Theatres Trust, 2000) ISBN 0-7136-5688-3
- Who's Who in the Theatre, edited by John Parker, tenth edition, revised, London, 1947, pps: 477–478.
External links
- Apollo Theatre History (Arthur Lloyd)
- Apollo Theatre official website