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List Of The Longest-running West End Shows
This is a list of the longest-running shows (3,000 performances or more) in the West End, a well known professional theatre district in London. Nine currently running shows (two plays, seven musicals) have played more than 3,000 performances: '' The Mousetrap'', ''Les Misérables'', '' The Phantom of the Opera'', '' Mamma Mia!'', ''The Lion King'', '' Wicked'', '' Matilda'', '' The Book of Mormon, and The Play That Goes Wrong''. List Unless otherwise stated, the number of performances listed is for the original West End production of the show. M denotes a musical, P denotes a straight play, R denotes a revue, D denotes a dance musical, and S denotes a special case. An asterisk indicates an announced closing date for a currently-running show. All shows that are currently running are bolded. See also * Long-running musical theatre productions *List of the longest-running Broadway shows This is a list of Broadway theatre, Broadway shows with 1,000 or more performances, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West End Theatre
West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes"West End"in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1195, Along with New York City's Broadway theatre, West End theatre represents the highest level of Theatre of the United Kingdom, commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London. Prominent screen actors, Cinema of the United Kingdom, British and World cinema, international alike, frequently appear on the London stage. There are approximately 40 theatres in the West End, with the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, opened in May 1663, the oldest theatre in London. The Savoy Theatre—built as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan—was entirely lit by electricity in 1881. Society of London Theatre, The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) announced that 201 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ambassadors Theatre (London)
The Ambassadors Theatre (known as the New Ambassadors Theatre from 1999 to 2007) is a West End theatre located on West Street, London, West Street, next to St Martin's Theatre and opposite The Ivy (United Kingdom), The Ivy, in the City of Westminster. Opened in 1913, it is one of the smallest of West End theatres, seating just over four hundred people. Building Previous applications to build a new theatre on the site of the Ambassadors had been rejected due to the narrowness of the surrounding streets. In 1912 architect W G R Sprague was granted permission for his "comparatively small theatre" (506 seated, 40 standing) on the condition that the adjacent Tower Court was widened to twenty feet. The theatre was designed by Sprague with a Classical style exterior and Louis XVI style interiors, and built by Kingerlee and Sons of Oxford; its intended height had to be lowered due to a neighbouring building's "right to light, ancient lights," resulting in the stalls being situated below ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prince Edward Theatre
The Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, London. History The theatre was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with an interior designed by Marc-Henri Levy and Gaston Laverdet.Earl and Sell (2000) pp. 132 It cost over £400,000 to be built. Named after Prince Edward (at the time Prince of Wales, briefly Edward VIII and later Duke of Windsor), it opened on 3 April 1930 with a performance of the musical '' Rio Rita''. Other notable events in its opening years included the London debut of famed cabaret artiste Josephine Baker, who performed her famous 'Bananas Dance'. The theatre was a failure and in 1935, Stone converted the theatre to a dance and cabaret hall at a further cost of £50,000, being renamed the "London Casino" offering dinner or supper dancing with a cabaret revue. The Casino closed but was reopened in 1939 after being bought by a syndicate led by Charles Clore and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jukebox Musical
A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which a majority of the songs are well-known, pre-existing popular music songs, rather than original music composed for the musical. Some jukebox musicals use a wide variety of songs, while others confine themselves to songs performed by one singer or band, or written by one songwriter. In such cases, the plot is often a biography of the artist or artists. In other jukebox musicals, the plot is purely fictional. For musicals about a musician or musical act, some of the songs can be diegetic, meaning that they are performed within the world of the play or film. Works in which all of the music is diegetic, however, such as a biographical film about a singer who is at times shown performing their songs, are generally not considered jukebox musicals. Revues that lack a plot are also usually not described as jukebox musicals, although plotless shows that include a dance element sometimes are. History In Europe in the 17th and 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortune Theatre
The Fortune Theatre is a 432-seat West End theatre in Russell Street, near Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster. From 1989 until 2023 the theatre hosted the long running play '' The Woman in Black''. History The site was acquired by author, playwright and impresario Laurence Cowen, and had previously been the location of the old Albion Tavern, a public house that was frequented by Georgian and Victorian actors. The theatre is situated next to Crown Court Church, and dwarfed by the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on the opposite side of the road. Cowen commissioned architect Ernest Schaufelberg to design the theatre in an Italianate style. Constructed from 1922 to 1924, it was the first theatre to be built in London after the end of the First World War. One of the first buildings in London to experiment with concrete, its façade is principally made of bush hammered concrete, with brick piers supporting the roof. Since the demolition of the original Wembley Stadium, the th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Playhouse Theatre
The Playhouse Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square, central London. The Theatre was built by F. H. Fowler and Hill with a seating capacity of 1,200. It was rebuilt in 1907 and still retains its original substage machinery. As of November 2021, the theatre has been refurbished and advertised as the Kit Kat Club while it is hosting a revival of the musical ''Cabaret (musical), Cabaret''. History Early years Built by Sefton Henry Parry as the Royal Avenue Theatre, it opened on 11 March 1882 with 1,200 seats. The first production at the theatre was Jacques Offenbach's ''Madame Favart''. In its early seasons, the theatre hosted comic operas, Victorian burlesque, burlesques and farces for several years. For much of this time, the low comedian Arthur Roberts (comedian), Arthur Roberts, a popular star of the music halls, starred at the theatre. By the 1890s, the theatre was presenting drama, and in 1894 Anni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novello Theatre
The Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster. It was known as the Strand Theatre between 1913 and 2005. History The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of The Waldorf Hilton, London, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre was opened by The Shubert Organization as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was renamed the Strand Theatre, in 1909. It was again renamed as the Whitney Theatre in 1911, before again becoming the Strand Theatre in 1913. In 2005, the theatre was renamed by its owners (Delfont Mackintosh Theatres) the Novello Theatre in honour of Ivor Novello, who lived in a flat above the theatre from 1913 to 1951. The black comedy ''Arsenic and Old Lace (play), Arsenic and Old Lace'' had a run of 1337 performances here in the 1940s, and ''Sailor Beware! (play), Sailor Beware!'' ran for 1231 performances from 1955. Stephen Sondheim's musical ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyric Hammersmith
The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a nonprofit theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London."About the Lyric" > "History" ''Lyric'' official website. Retrieved January 2024. Background The Lyric Theatre was originally a music hall established in 1888 on Bradmore Grove, Hammersmith. Success as an entertainment venue led it to be rebuilt and enlarged on the same site twice, firstly in 1890 and then in 1895 by the English theatrical architect Frank Matcham. The 1895 reopening, as The New Lyric Opera House, was accompanied by an opening address by the famous actress Lillie Langtry. In 1966 the theatre was due to be closed and demolished. However, a successful campaign to save it led to the auditorium being dismantled and reinstalled piece by piece within a modern shell on its current site on King Street a short distance from the former Bradmore Grove location. The relocated theatre opened in 1979.John Earl"Presidential Address: The Crest of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Joseph Theatre
The Stephen Joseph Theatre is a theatre in the round in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England that was founded by Stephen Joseph and was the first theatre in the round in Britain. In 1955, Joseph established a tiny theatre in the round on the first floor of the Public Library. The theatre flourished and in 1976 moved to a supposedly temporary home on the ground floor of the former Scarborough Boys' High School. However, a permanent home proved difficult to find and it was not until late 1988 and the closure of the local Odeon cinema by Rank Leisure that the theatre's long-standing Artistic Director, Alan Ayckbourn, found a suitable venue. Ayckbourn launched a £4 million appeal to transform the old cinema with a view to opening it up in 1995. The new theatre, known simply as the Stephen Joseph Theatre, opened in 1996 and comprises two auditoria: ''The Round'', a 404-seat theatre in the round, and ''The McCarthy'', a 165-seat end-on stage/cinema. The building also contai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Woman In Black (play)
''The Woman in Black'' is a 1983 gothic horror novel by English writer Susan Hill, about a mysterious spectre that haunts a small English town. A television film based on it, also called '' The Woman in Black'', was produced in 1989, with a screenplay by Nigel Kneale. In 2012, another film adaption was released starring Daniel Radcliffe. The book has also been adapted into a stage play by Stephen Mallatratt. The original London production ran 13,232 performances and is the second longest-running play in the history of the West End, after ''The Mousetrap''. Plot The novel is narrated by Arthur Kipps, who formerly worked for Mr. Bentley. One Christmas Eve he is at home with his second wife Esmé and four stepchildren who are sharing ghost stories. When he is asked to tell a story, he becomes irritated, leaves the room and decides to write the following horrific experiences from his past in the hope that doing so will exorcise them from his memory. Many years earlier, whil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
His Majesty's Theatre, London
His Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated in the Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The building, designed by Charles J. Phipps, was constructed in 1897 for the actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) at the theatre. In the early decades of the 20th century Tree produced spectacular productions of William Shakespeare, Shakespeare and other classical works, and the theatre hosted premieres by such playwrights as George Bernard Shaw, Bernard Shaw, J. M. Synge and, later, Noël Coward and J. B. Priestley. Since the First World War the wide stage has made the theatre suitable for large-scale musical productions, and His Majesty's has accordingly specialised in hosting musical theatre, musicals. It has been home to record-setting musical theatre runs such as the First World War hit ''Chu Chin Chow'' and Andrew Lloyd Webber's ''The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical), The Phantom of the Oper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palace Theatre, London
The Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. Its red-brick facade dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus, London, Cambridge Circus behind a small plaza near the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road. The Palace Theatre seats 1,400. Richard D'Oyly Carte, producer of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, commissioned the theatre in the late 1880s. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and intended to be a home of English grand opera. The theatre opened as the Royal English Opera House in January 1891 with a lavish production of Arthur Sullivan's opera ''Ivanhoe (opera), Ivanhoe''. Although this ran for 160 performances, followed briefly by André Messager's ''La Basoche'', Carte had no other works ready to fill the theatre. He leased it to Sarah Bernhardt for a season and sold the opera house within a year at a loss. It was then converted into a grand music hall and renamed the Palace Theatre of Varieties, managed successfu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
