Liverpool Empire Theatre
Encyclopedia
Liverpool Empire Theatre is located on the corner of Lime Street
and London Road in Liverpool
, Merseyside
, England. The theatre is the second to be built on the site, and was opened in 1925. It has the largest two-tier auditorium in Britain and can seat 2,350 people. During its time it has hosted many types of entertainment, including variety shows, muscials, operas, pop concerts, and plays. The Beatles
appeared in the theatre in their early days. The theatre has hosted two Royal Command Performance
s and, in 2007, a Royal Variety Performance
to mark Liverpool's being a European City of Culture the following year. It is sited in the William Brown Street Conservation Area
.
, Princess of Wales
. The theatre closed in 1894, but was re-opened the following year when it came into the ownership of Empire Theatre (Liverpool) Ltd. In 1896 the theatre was sold to Messrs. Moss and Thornton for £30,000 (£ as of ), and re-named "The Empire". This theatre closed on 16 February 1924, and it was demolished.
It was replaced by the present larger theatre, which opened on 9 March 1925. In 1977 the theatre was still owned by Moss Empires
, who were making plans to dispose of it. Two years later it was acquired by Merseyside County Council. During the following two years a total of £680,000 was spent on improving the back stage facilities, and extending the stage and orchestra pit. The theatre underwent a further major refurbishment in 1999; this included increasing the size of the stage and improving the facilities for the audience. By 2002 the theatre was owned by Clear Channel Entertainment
. In that year an extension was built on the north side of the building.
façade and brick elsewhere. The architectural style of the façade is free Neoclassical
. The front of the theatre is in five bays
, the central three bays have an attic, and rise higher than the two lateral bays. The ground floor of the central bays contains the entrance doors, and over them is a steel canopy
decorated with medallions and guilloché
bands. In the storey above this there is a balcony with single and paired Ionic
columns, between which are recessed windows. Over this is a dentil
led cornice
and the attic. In the first floor of the side bays there are windows in architrave
s that are flanked by shallow pilaster
s, above which is a plain parapet
.
s".
as a Grade II listed building. When it was opened its design was considered to advanced because of way in which the seats were raked. The theatre seats an audience of 2,350 people, and is the largest two-tier auditorium in Britain. It is sited in the William Brown Street Conservation Area.
, Harry Tate
, Dan Leno
, Florrie Forde
, The Two Bobs, and Wilson, Keppel and Betty
. The first production in the present theatre was Better Days, starring Stanley Lupino
, Maisie Gay, and Ruth French. Subsequent performers have included Frank Sinatra
, Judy Garland
, Bing Crosby
, Mae West
, Laurel and Hardy
, Roy Rogers
and Trigger
, Charlton Heston
, Sarah Bernhardt
, Henry Irving
, Vesta Tilley
, and Arthur Askey
. More recent artistes include Johnny Mathis
, The Carpenters
, Neil Sedaka
, The Osmonds
, Tommy Steel
, Adam Faith
, Bruce Forsyth
, Victoria Wood
, Morecambe and Wise
, Ken Dodd
, Shirley Bassey
, and Cilla Black
. In 1957 a local pop group called The Quarrymen
appeared at the theatre. They returned in 1959, having changed their name to "Johnny and the Moondogs". They returned to the Empire again in 1962, now named The Beatles
. The Beatles gave their last performance in this theatre on 5 December 1965. During the 1970s two Royal Command Performances were held in the Empire, and in 2007 the theatre was the venue for the Royal Variety Performance. marking Liverpool's being a European City of Culture the following year.
dress. As of 2011 the Empire is part of the Ambassador Theatre Group
.
Lime Street, Liverpool
Lime Street in Liverpool, England was created as a street in 1790. Its most famous feature is Lime Street Station. It is part of the William Brown Street conservation area....
and London Road in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, England. The theatre is the second to be built on the site, and was opened in 1925. It has the largest two-tier auditorium in Britain and can seat 2,350 people. During its time it has hosted many types of entertainment, including variety shows, muscials, operas, pop concerts, and plays. The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
appeared in the theatre in their early days. The theatre has hosted two Royal Command Performance
Royal Command Performance
For the annual Royal Variety Performance performed in Britain for the benefit of the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund, see Royal Variety Performance...
s and, in 2007, a Royal Variety Performance
Royal Variety Performance
The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance...
to mark Liverpool's being a European City of Culture the following year. It is sited in the William Brown Street Conservation Area
William Brown Street
William Brown Street in Liverpool, England is a road that is remarkable for its concentration of public buildings. It is sometimes referred to as the "Cultural Quarter"...
.
History
The first theatre on the site, opening on 15 October 1866, was named the "New Prince of Wales Theatre and Opera House". It was at that time Liverpool's largest theatre. On 29 July 1867 its name was changed to the "Royal Alexandra Theatre and Opera House" in honour of Princess AlexandraAlexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom...
, Princess of Wales
Princess of Wales
Princess of Wales is a British courtesy title held by the wife of The Prince of Wales since the first "English" Prince of Wales in 1283.Although there have been considerably more than ten male heirs to the throne, there have been only ten Princesses of Wales. The majority of Princes of Wales...
. The theatre closed in 1894, but was re-opened the following year when it came into the ownership of Empire Theatre (Liverpool) Ltd. In 1896 the theatre was sold to Messrs. Moss and Thornton for £30,000 (£ as of ), and re-named "The Empire". This theatre closed on 16 February 1924, and it was demolished.
It was replaced by the present larger theatre, which opened on 9 March 1925. In 1977 the theatre was still owned by Moss Empires
Moss Empires
Moss Empires was a British company formed in Edinburgh from the merger of the theatre companies owned by Sir Edward Moss and Sir Oswald Stoll in 1898. This created the largest British chain of music halls...
, who were making plans to dispose of it. Two years later it was acquired by Merseyside County Council. During the following two years a total of £680,000 was spent on improving the back stage facilities, and extending the stage and orchestra pit. The theatre underwent a further major refurbishment in 1999; this included increasing the size of the stage and improving the facilities for the audience. By 2002 the theatre was owned by Clear Channel Entertainment
Live Nation
Live Nation is a live-events company based in Beverly Hills, California, focused on concert promotions. Live Nation formed in 2005 as a spin-off from Clear Channel Communications, which then merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 to become Live Nation Entertainment....
. In that year an extension was built on the north side of the building.
Exterior
The theatre was designed by W. and T. R. Milburn for Moss Empires; the carving and the ornamentation in the auditorium was carried out by E. 0. Griffiths. It is constructed on a steel frame, with a Portland stonePortland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...
façade and brick elsewhere. The architectural style of the façade is free Neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
. The front of the theatre is in five bays
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
, the central three bays have an attic, and rise higher than the two lateral bays. The ground floor of the central bays contains the entrance doors, and over them is a steel canopy
Canopy (building)
A canopy is an overhead roof or else a structure over which a fabric or metal covering is attached, able to provide shade or shelter. A canopy can also be a tent, generally without a floor....
decorated with medallions and guilloché
Guilloché
Guilloché is a decorative engraving technique in which a very precise intricate repetitive pattern or design is mechanically engraved into an underlying material with fine detail...
bands. In the storey above this there is a balcony with single and paired Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
columns, between which are recessed windows. Over this is a dentil
Dentil
In classical architecture a dentil is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect Vitruvius In classical architecture a dentil (from Lat. dens, a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect...
led cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
and the attic. In the first floor of the side bays there are windows in architrave
Architrave
An architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural element in Classical architecture.-Classical architecture:...
s that are flanked by shallow pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s, above which is a plain parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
.
Interior
On the ground floor is a foyer, with stairs at the sides rising to the upper floor. Inside the auditorium there is a balcony. The seats are raked both to the sides and to the rear in order to improve the lines of sight. The internal decoration is in Louis XVI style. It contains "many curious decorative features including carved elephant caryatidCaryatid
A caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term karyatides literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town of Peloponnese...
s".
Assessment
On 16 October 1990 the theatre was designated by English HeritageEnglish Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
as a Grade II listed building. When it was opened its design was considered to advanced because of way in which the seats were raked. The theatre seats an audience of 2,350 people, and is the largest two-tier auditorium in Britain. It is sited in the William Brown Street Conservation Area.
Past performances
Performers in the original theatre included George Formby SeniorGeorge Formby, Sr.
George Formby , born James Booth, was an English comedian and musician. He was a star in Edwardian music halls, singing and clowning in a sardonic style that influenced the young Charlie Chaplin. Formby was plagued by ill-health and suffered from tuberculosis, but despite this was one of the...
, Harry Tate
Harry Tate
Harry Tate was an English comedian who performed both in the music halls and in films. Born in 1872 as Ronald Macdonald Hutchinson, he worked for Henry Tate & Sons, Sugar Refiners before going on the stage, and took his stage name from them.-Career:Tate made his debut at the Oxford Music Hall in...
, Dan Leno
Dan Leno
Dan Leno , born George Wild Galvin, was an English comedian and actor, famous for appearing in music hall and dozens of comic plays, pantomimes, Victorian burlesques and musical comedies during the Victorian era...
, Florrie Forde
Florrie Forde
Florrie Forde , born Flora May Augusta Flannagan, was an Australian popular singer and entertainer. She was one of the greatest stars of the early 20th century music hall....
, The Two Bobs, and Wilson, Keppel and Betty
Wilson, Keppel and Betty
Wilson, Keppel and Betty were a popular British music hall act in the middle decades of the 20th century who capitalised on the trend for Egyptian imagery following the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Their stage act, called the "sand dance", was a parody of Egyptian postures, combined with...
. The first production in the present theatre was Better Days, starring Stanley Lupino
Stanley Lupino
Stanley Lupino was an English actor, dancer, singer, librettist, director and short story writer.-Early career:Lupino began his career as an acrobat and made his stage debut in 1913 and first became known as a music hall performer and played in pantomimes at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane...
, Maisie Gay, and Ruth French. Subsequent performers have included Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
, Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
, Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...
and Trigger
Trigger (horse)
Trigger was a palomino horse, made famous in American Western films with his owner/rider, cowboy star Roy Rogers.-Pedigree:...
, Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
, Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas...
, Henry Irving
Henry Irving
Sir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
, Vesta Tilley
Vesta Tilley
Matilda Alice Powles , was an English male impersonator. At the age of 11, she adopted the stage name Vesta Tilley becoming the most famous and well paid music hall male impersonator of her day...
, and Arthur Askey
Arthur Askey
Arthur Bowden Askey CBE was a prominent English comedian.- Life and career :Askey was born at 29 Moses Street, Liverpool, the eldest child and only son of Samuel Askey , secretary of the firm Sugar Products of Liverpool, and his wife, Betsy Bowden , of Knutsford, Cheshire...
. More recent artistes include Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
, The Carpenters
The Carpenters
Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of sister Karen and brother Richard Carpenter. The Carpenters were the #1 selling American music act of the 1970s. Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and...
, Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...
, The Osmonds
The Osmonds
The Osmonds are an American family music group with a long and varied career—a career that took them from singing barbershop music as children, to achieving success as teen-music idols, to producing a hit television show, and to continued success as solo and group performers...
, Tommy Steel
Tommy Steel
Tommy Steel was an American soccer goalkeeper who earned one cap with the U.S. national team in 1925. He also spent five seasons in the American Soccer League.-Professional career:...
, Adam Faith
Adam Faith
Terence "Terry" Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith was a Teen idol English singer, actor and later financial journalist. He was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5...
, Bruce Forsyth
Bruce Forsyth
Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson, CBE , commonly known as Bruce Forsyth, or Brucie, is an English TV personality...
, Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood CBE is a British comedienne, actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and director. Wood has written and starred in sketches, plays, films and sitcoms, and her live stand-up comedy act is interspersed with her own compositions, which she accompanies on piano...
, Morecambe and Wise
Morecambe and Wise
Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, usually referred to as Morecambe and Wise, or Eric and Ernie, were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984...
, Ken Dodd
Ken Dodd
Kenneth Arthur Dodd OBE is a British comedian and singer songwriter, famous for his frizzy hair or “fluff dom” and buck teeth or “denchers”, his favourite cleaner, the feather duster and his greeting "How tickled I am!", as well as his send-off “Lots and Lots of Happiness!”...
, Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
, and Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
. In 1957 a local pop group called The Quarrymen
The Quarrymen
The Quarrymen are a British skiffle and rock and roll group, initially formed in Liverpool in 1956, that eventually evolved into The Beatles in 1960...
appeared at the theatre. They returned in 1959, having changed their name to "Johnny and the Moondogs". They returned to the Empire again in 1962, now named The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
. The Beatles gave their last performance in this theatre on 5 December 1965. During the 1970s two Royal Command Performances were held in the Empire, and in 2007 the theatre was the venue for the Royal Variety Performance. marking Liverpool's being a European City of Culture the following year.
Present day
The Empire Theatre continues to stage productions in various genres, including musicals, pop concerts, comedians, plays, opera, and wrestling. The theatre is reputed to be haunted by at least two ghosts, one a former painter at the theatre called Len, the other a girl aged about nine or ten in VictorianVictorian fashion
Victorian fashion comprises the various fashions and trends in British culture that emerged and grew in province throughout the Victorian era and the reign of Queen Victoria, a period which would last from June 1837 to January 1901. Covering nearly two thirds of the 19th century, the 63 year reign...
dress. As of 2011 the Empire is part of the Ambassador Theatre Group
Ambassador Theatre Group
The Ambassador Theatre Group is an independent operator of theatres in the United Kingdom. Formed in 1992, by Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire,OBE, it acquired the Live Nation theatre group in November 2009.-List of theatres:...
.