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Lyric Theatre (London)
 
 
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The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre
West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's "Theatreland". Along with New York City's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English language world....
 on Shaftesbury Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue

Shaftesbury Avenue is a major street in London, England, named after Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, that runs in a north-easterly direction from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus, London....
 in the City of Westminster
City of Westminster

The City of Westminster is a London borough of London with City status in the United Kingdom. It is located west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, and forms part of Inner London and the bulk of London's central area....
.

Designed by architect
Architect

An architect is trained and licenced in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e....
 C. J. Phipps
C. J. Phipps

Charles John Phipps FSA, known as C.J. Phipps was an England architect best known for his theatres.Born in Bath, Somerset, his first major work was the rebuilding of Theatre Royal, Bath in 1862/3, after the old theatre had been destroyed by fire....
, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier
Alfred Cellier

Alfred Cellier , was an English people composer, orchestrator and conductor.In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing the overtures to some of them, Cellier conducted at many theatres in London, New York and on tour in Britain, America and Au...
 and B. C. Stephenson
B. C. Stephenson

Benjamin Charles Stephenson, or B. C. Stephenson, was a dramatist, lyricist, and librettist in Victorian England....
 hit, Dorothy
Dorothy (opera)

Dorothy is a comic opera in three acts with music by Alfred Cellier and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson. It was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre, London in London on September 25 1886, starring Marion Hood in the title role, opposite the popular Hayden Coffin, and with comedians Arthur Williams , Furneaux Cook and John Le Hay....
, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre
Prince of Wales Theatre

The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre on Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in the City of Westminster. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner....
 to open his new venue on 17 December 1888. It was the second theatre to be constructed on this stretch of Shaftesbury Avenue and is now the oldest on the street. The foyer and bars were refurbished in 1932-33, and the facade was restored in 1994.






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The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre
West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's "Theatreland". Along with New York City's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English language world....
 on Shaftesbury Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue

Shaftesbury Avenue is a major street in London, England, named after Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, that runs in a north-easterly direction from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus, London....
 in the City of Westminster
City of Westminster

The City of Westminster is a London borough of London with City status in the United Kingdom. It is located west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, and forms part of Inner London and the bulk of London's central area....
.

Designed by architect
Architect

An architect is trained and licenced in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e....
 C. J. Phipps
C. J. Phipps

Charles John Phipps FSA, known as C.J. Phipps was an England architect best known for his theatres.Born in Bath, Somerset, his first major work was the rebuilding of Theatre Royal, Bath in 1862/3, after the old theatre had been destroyed by fire....
, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier
Alfred Cellier

Alfred Cellier , was an English people composer, orchestrator and conductor.In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing the overtures to some of them, Cellier conducted at many theatres in London, New York and on tour in Britain, America and Au...
 and B. C. Stephenson
B. C. Stephenson

Benjamin Charles Stephenson, or B. C. Stephenson, was a dramatist, lyricist, and librettist in Victorian England....
 hit, Dorothy
Dorothy (opera)

Dorothy is a comic opera in three acts with music by Alfred Cellier and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson. It was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre, London in London on September 25 1886, starring Marion Hood in the title role, opposite the popular Hayden Coffin, and with comedians Arthur Williams , Furneaux Cook and John Le Hay....
, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre
Prince of Wales Theatre

The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre on Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in the City of Westminster. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner....
 to open his new venue on 17 December 1888. It was the second theatre to be constructed on this stretch of Shaftesbury Avenue and is now the oldest on the street. The foyer and bars were refurbished in 1932-33, and the facade was restored in 1994. At present it seats 967 on four levels, although it originally was designed with a seating capacity of 1,306. The theatre still uses an electric pump to operate its iron curtain.

Early in the theatre's history, it staged mostly comic opera
Comic opera

Comic opera, or light opera, denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Comic opera first developed in 18th-century Italy as opera buffa, an alternative to opera seria....
s, and later it has been a home to light comedies, musicals and straight dramas.

The theatre retains many of its original features (including being built behind an original 1767 house front, at the rear to Great Windmill Street, the former house and museum of Sir William Hunter
William Hunter (anatomist)

William Hunter Fellow of the Royal Society was a Scottish anatomist and physician.He was born at Long Calderwood near East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, the elder brother of John Hunter ....
) and the theatre was Grade II listed
Listed building

A listed building in the United Kingdom is a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural significance....
 by English Heritage
English Heritage

English Heritage is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government with a broad remit of managing the historic built environment of England....
 in September 1960.

Notable productions

  • 1888: Dorothy
    Dorothy (opera)

    Dorothy is a comic opera in three acts with music by Alfred Cellier and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson. It was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre, London in London on September 25 1886, starring Marion Hood in the title role, opposite the popular Hayden Coffin, and with comedians Arthur Williams , Furneaux Cook and John Le Hay....
     (transferred to the theatre in 1888, opening elsewhere in 1887)
  • 1889: Doris
    Doris (opera)

    Doris is a "comedy opera" in three acts by Alfred Cellier, with a libretto by B. C. Stephenson. After the phenomenal success of Cellier and Stephenson's Dorothy , the pair were hoping for another big hit....
     and The Red Hussar
    The Red Hussar

    The Red Hussar is a comedy opera in three acts by Edward Solomon, with a libretto by Henry Pottinger Stephens, which opened at the Lyric Theatre in London on 23 November 1889, running for 175 performances....
  • 1892: The Mountebanks
  • 1894: His Excellency
    His Excellency (opera)

    His Excellency is a two-act comic opera with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by F. Osmond Carr. It was premiered under the management of George Edwardes at the Lyric Theatre in London on October 27 1894, closing on April 6 1895 after a run of 161 performances....
  • 1896: The Sign of the Cross
    The Sign of the Cross

    The Sign of the Cross: Travels in Catholic Europe is a non-fiction book published in 1994 by Ireland novelist Colm T?ib?n.In the book, T?ib?n describes successive Holy Weeks spent in Poland, Seville, Bavaria, Rome, and the Balkans and reflects on the condition of Catholicism in every place making it an intellectual survey of the state o...
  • 1899: Florodora
    Florodora

    Florodora was one of the first successful Broadway theatre musicals of the 20th century. The book was written by Jimmy Davis under the pseudonym Owen Hall, music was by Leslie Stuart with additional songs by Paul Rubens , and lyrics by Edward Boyd-Jones and Rubens....
  • 1910: The Chocolate Soldier
    The Chocolate Soldier

    The Chocolate Soldier is an operetta composed in 1908 by Oscar Straus based on George Bernard Shaw's 1894 play, Arms and the Man. The German language libretto was by Rudolf Bernauer and Leopold Jacobson....
  • 1911: The Girl in the Taxi
    The Girl in the Taxi

    The Girl in the Taxi is the English-language adaptation by Frederick Fenn and Arthur Wimperis of the operetta, Die keusche Susanne , with music by Jean Gilbert....
  • 1919: The Bird of Paradise, which starred Henry Daniell
    Henry Daniell

    Henry Daniell was an England actor, best known for his villainous screen roles, but who had a long and prestigious career on stage as well as in films....
     as Hoheno
  • 1922: Lilac Time
    Das Dreimäderlhaus

    Das Dreim?derlhaus , adapted into English language versions as Blossom Time and Lilac Time, is a Viennese pastiche 'operetta' with music by Franz Schubert, rearranged by Hungarian Heinrich Bert? , and a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and Heinz Reichert....
  • 1924: The Street Singer
    The Street Singer

    The Street Singer was a 1912 in film short silent film drama. The film starred Earle Foxe and Alice Joyce. It was Foxe's first film, aged seventeen....
  • 1926: The Gold Diggers starred Tallulah Bankhead
    Tallulah Bankhead

    Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an United States actress, talk-show host and wikt:bon vivant....
  • 1931: Strange Interlude
    Strange Interlude

    Strange Interlude is an experimental play by USA playwright Eugene O'Neill. O'Neill finished the play in 1923, but it was not produced on Broadway until 1928, when it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama....
  • 1934: The Royal Family, by George S. Kaufman
    George S. Kaufman

    George Simon Kaufman was an American playwright, theatre director and theatre producer, humorist, and drama critic....
    , directed by Noel Coward
    Noël Coward

    Sir No?l Peirce Coward was an English people playwright, composer, Theatre director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise"....
    , with Madge Titheradge
    Madge Titheradge

    Madge Titheradge was an actress, born into a theatrical family in Melbourne, Australia....
    , Marie Tempest
    Marie Tempest

    Dame Marie Tempest Order of the British Empire was an English people singer and actress known as the "queen of her profession".Tempest became the most famous soprano in late Victorian era light opera and Edwardian musical comedies....
     and Laurence Olivier
    Laurence Olivier

    Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, Order of Merit was an English people Stage actor, Theatre director, and Theatrical producer. He is one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft and Ralph Richardson....
  • 1935: Tovarich
  • 1946: The Winslow Boy
    The Winslow Boy

    The Winslow Boy is an England Play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an George Archer-Shee in the Edwardian era, which took place at the Royal Naval College, Osbourne....
  • 1950: The Little Hut
    The Little Hut

    The Little Hut is a 1957 in film comedy film made by MGM. It was directed by Mark Robson, produced by Mark Robson and F. Hugh Herbert, from a screenplay by F....
  • 1950: Vortex
    Vortex

    A vortex is a Rotation, often Turbulence,flow of fluid. Any spiral motion with closed Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines is vortex flow....
  • 1955: South Sea Bubble
    South Sea Bubble (play)

    South Sea Bubble is a play by United Kingdom actor and playwright No?l Coward. It written in 1949 but not performed until 1951. The play was moderately successful but failed to match the popularity of Coward's pre-war hits....
  • 1958: Irma La Douce
    Irma la Douce

    Irma La Douce is a 1963 comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine....
  • 1964: Robert and Elizabeth
    Robert and Elizabeth

    Robert and Elizabeth is a musical theater. It has music by Ron Grainer and lyrics and book by Ronald Millar. The story was based on an unproduced musical titled The Third Kiss by Judge Fred G....
  • 1969: Plaza Suite
    Plaza Suite

    Plaza Suite is a play by Neil Simon.It is composed of three acts, each involving different characters but all set in Suite 719 of New York City's Plaza Hotel....
  • 1972: How the Other Half Loves
  • 1981: Tonight at 8:30
    Tonight at 8:30

    Tonight at 8.30 is a cycle of ten one-act plays by No?l Coward. In the introduction to a published edition of the plays, Coward wrote, "A short play, having a great advantage over a long one in that it can sustain a mood without technical creaking or over padding, deserves a better fate, and if, by careful writing, acting and producing I...
    ; Arms and the Man
    Arms and the Man

    'Arms and the Man' is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw. Its title comes from the opening words of Virgil's Aeneid:"Arma virumque cano" . The play was first produced on April 21, 1894 at the Avenue Theatre, and published in 1898 as part of Shaw's Plays Pleasant volume, which also included Candida , You Never Can Tell, and Th...
  • 1983: Blood Brothers; Pack of Lies
    Pack of Lies

    Pack of Lies is a 1983 play by United Kingdom writer Hugh Whitemore.Based on a true story, the plot centers on Bob and Barbara Jackson and their daughter Julie , a television reporter and newspaper journalist in the UK....
  • 1984: Loot
    Loot (play)

    Loot is a play by Joe Orton. The play is an extremely Black comedy farce which satirises the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death, and the integrity of the police force....
  • 1989: Steel Magnolias
    Steel Magnolias

    Steel Magnolias, by Robert Harling , is a 1987 off-Broadway Play , made into a film in 1989. Based on the author's experience with the death of his sister, Steel Magnolias is a comedy-drama about the bond among a group of Southern United States women in northwest Louisiana....
  • 1990: Five Guys Named Moe
    Five Guys Named Moe

    Five Guys Named Moe is a musical theatre with a book by Clarke Peters and lyrics and music by Louis Jordan and others.His woman has left him, he's flat broke, and it's almost five o'clock in the morning when Nomax suddenly finds Big Moe, Four-Eyed Moe, Eat Moe, No Moe, and Little Moe emerging from his 1930s-style radio to comfort him wi...
  • 1995: Ain't Misbehavin'
    Ain't Misbehavin'

    Ain't Misbehavin' is a musical revue with a book by Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby, Jr., music by Fats Waller, and lyrics by various writers....
  • 1998: An Ideal Husband
    An Ideal Husband

    An Ideal Husband is an 1895 comedic stage play by Oscar Wilde which revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour....
  • 2000: Brief Encounter
    Brief Encounter

    Brief Encounter is a 1945 in film British film directed by David Lean about the mores of British suburban life, centring on a housewife for whom real love was an unexpectedly "violent" thing....
  • 2001: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
    Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

    Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a Play by Tennessee Williams. The play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955 in literature....
  • 2002: The Constant Wife
    The Constant Wife

    The Constant Wife, a comedy of manners, was written by W. Somerset Maugham in 1926 and later published for general sales in April 1927....
  • 2004: Beautiful and Damned
    Beautiful and Damned

    Beautiful and Damned is a musical theatre with a book by Kit Hesketh Harvey and music and lyrics by Les Reed and Roger Cook .Drawing its title from F....
  • 2005: Death of a Salesman
    Death of a Salesman

    Death of a Salesman is a 1949 Play by American playwright Arthur Miller and is a classic of American theater. The play ran for 742 performances, directed by Elia Kazan with Lee J....
  • 2006: The Night of the Iguana
    The Night of the Iguana

    The Night of the Iguana is a stageplay written by United States author Tennessee Williams. Based on Williams' 1948 short story, the play premiered on Broadway theatre in 1961....
    , Smaller, Grumpy Old Women
    Grumpy Old Women

    For the live show, see Grumpy Old Women LiveGrumpy Old Women is a United Kingdom television series, continuing in the same vein as its predecessor, Grumpy Old Men ....
     and Cabaret
    Cabaret (musical)

    Cabaret is a Musical theater with a book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and music by John Kander. The 1966 Broadway theatre production became a hit and spawned an acclaimed 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
  • 2008: Hairspray: The School Musical
    Hairspray: The School Musical

    Hairspray: The School Musical is a 2008 reality television series, broadcast on Sky1 in the UK, charting the development of a comprehensive school's production of the Broadway theatre and West End theatre musical Hairspray ....
     and Flamenco Flamen'ka
  • 2008: Eddie Izzard
    Eddie Izzard

    Edward John "Eddie" Izzard is an Emmy Award-winning British stand-up comedy and dramatic actor. He is also known for his transvestitism. His comedy style is expressed in rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime....
     (Stripped)
  • 2009: Thriller - Live starring Denise Pearson
    Denise Pearson

    Denise Pearson is an England singer-songwriter. Best known for being the lead singer with the British pop music/Rhythm and blues group Five Star since she and her four siblings formed the group in 1983 until the group disbanded in 2006....


External links

  • [https://www.nimaxtheatres.com/lyrictheatre.asp History of productions at the theatre]