The
Prince of Wales Theatre is a
West End theatreWest End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's "Theatreland". Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking world...
on
Coventry StreetCoventry Street is a short London street, within the City of Westminster, running from Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square. The street is the main conduit between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square and at the weekend up to 150,000 people walk from one to another along the street...
, near
Leicester SquareLeicester Square is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west...
in the
City of WestminsterThe City of Westminster is a borough of London with city status. 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....
. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir
Cameron MackintoshSir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. He is described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York Times...
, its current owner. The theatre should not be confused with the former
Scala TheatreThe Scala Theatre was a theatre in London, sited on Charlotte Street, off Tottenham Court Road, in the London Borough of Camden. The first theatre on the site opened in 1772, and the theatre was demolished in 1969, after being destroyed by fire...
in Charlotte Street, off
Tottenham Court RoadTottenham Court Road is a street in Central London, England, running from St Giles' Circus north to Euston Road, near the border of the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, a distance of about three-quarters of a mile...
that was known as the
Prince of Wales Royal Theatre or
Prince of Wales's Theatre from 1865 until its demolition in 1903.
Phipps' theatre
The first theatre on the site opened in January 1884 when C.J. Phipps built the
Prince's Theatre for actor-manager Edgar Bruce. It was a traditional three-tier theatre, seating just over 1,000 people. The theatre was renamed the "Prince of Wales Theatre" in 1886 after the future
Edward VIIEdward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death on 6 May 1910...
. Located between
Piccadilly CircusPiccadilly Circus is a famous road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster,built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly...
and
Leicester SquareLeicester Square is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west...
, the theatre was favourably situated to attract theatregoers.
The first production in the theatre was an 1884 revival of
W. S. GilbertSir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
's
The Palace of TruthThe Palace of Truth is a three-act blank verse "Fairy Comedy" by W. S. Gilbert first produced at the Haymarket Theatre in London on November 19 1870, adapted from Madame de Genlis's fairy story, Le Palais de Vérite. The play ran for a very successful 230 performances and then toured the British...
starring
Herbert Beerbohm TreeSir Herbert Beerbohm Tree was an English actor-manager.-Life and career:Born in Kensington, London as Herbert Draper Beerbohm, Tree was the second son of Julius Ewald Edward Beerbohm , of Dutch, Lithuanian, and German origin, who had come to England in about 1830 and set up as a prosperous corn...
, preceded by a one act comedy,
In Honour Bound. This was soon followed by a free adaptation of Ibsen's
A Doll's HouseA Doll House is an 1879 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Written one year after The Pillars of Society, the play was the first of Ibsen's to create a sensation and is now perhaps his most famous play, and required reading in many secondary schools and universities...
, called
Breaking a Butterfly. In 1885,
Lillie LangtryLillie Langtry , born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton, was a highly successful British actress born on the island of Jersey. A renowned beauty, she was nicknamed the "Jersey Lily" and had a number of prominent lovers, including the future King Edward VII.- From Jersey to London :Emilie was the only...
, reputedly the first "society" lady to become an actress, played in
Princess George and
The School for ScandalThe School for Scandal is a comedy of manners written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on May 18, 1777...
. The first hit production at the theatre was the record-breaking
comic operaComic opera, or light opera, denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
,
DorothyDorothy 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 in London on 25 September 1886, starring Marion Hood in the title role, opposite the popular Hayden Coffin, and with comedians Arthur Williams,...
, starring
Marie TempestDame Marie Tempest DBE was an English singer and actress known as the "queen of her profession".Tempest became the most famous soprano in late Victorian light opera and Edwardian musical comedies. Later, she became a leading comic actress and toured widely in North America and elsewhere...
, which was so successful that its authors used the profits to build the
Lyric TheatreThe Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.Designed by architect C. J. Phipps, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open...
, where it moved in 1888. The wordless mime play
L'Enfant Prodigue premiered in 1891 which, together with
A Pierrot's Life in 1897, brought respectability to mime troupes in Britain.
George EdwardesGeorge Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond....
' musical play,
In TownIn Town is a musical comedy written by Adrian Ross and James T. Tanner, with music by F. Osmond Carr and lyrics by Ross. It was produced by George Edwardes at the Prince of Wales Theatre and opened on 15 October 1892, running for a successful 292 performances...
, often considered the first English
musical comedyMusical theatre is a form of theatre combining music, songs, spoken dialogue and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, was presented at the theatre in 1892 and was followed by Edwardes' even more successful
A Gaiety GirlA Gaiety Girl is an English musical comedy in two acts by a team of musical comedy neophytes: Owen Hall , Harry Greenbank and Sidney Jones . It opened at Prince of Wales Theatre in London, produced by George Edwardes, on 14 October 1893 and ran for 413 performances. The show starred C...
in 1893. In 1895,
Basil HoodBasil Charles Hood was a British librettist and lyricist, perhaps best known for writing the libretti of a half dozen Savoy Operas and for his English adaptations of operettas, including The Merry Widow....
's
Gentleman JoeGentleman Joe, The Hansom Cabbie is a farcical musical comedy with music by Walter Slaughter and a libretto by Basil Hood.It opened at that Prince of Wales Theatre on 2 March 1895 and ran for a very successful 391 performances. The show was written as a vehicle for the comedian Arthur Roberts...
, the Hansom Cabby began a long run starring the low comedian, Arthur Roberts, in the title role. The theatre then began to present straight plays with Maeterlinck's
Pelléas et MélisandePelléas and Mélisande is a Symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck about the forbidden, doomed love of the title characters. It was first performed in 1893.-Synopsis:...
(1898) and Wills's adaptation of Dickens'
A Tale of Two CitiesA Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With 200 million copies sold, it is the most printed original English book, the most printed and among the most famous works of fiction.It depicts the plight of the French...
as
The Only Way (1899, also starring Harvey).
Charles HawtreyCharles Hawtrey may be:*Sir Charles Hawtrey , British stage actor*Charles Hawtrey , British film and television actor, best known for the Carry On films...
starred in the successful
A Message from Mars (1901). In 1900-01, Marie Tempest played the title roles in the play
English Nell (based on Simon Dale's novel about Nell Gwynn),
Peg Woffington, a dramatization of
Charles ReadeCharles Reade was an English novelist and dramatist, best known for The Cloister and the Hearth.-Life:Charles Reade was born at Ipsden, Oxfordshire to John Reade and Anne Marie Scott-Waring. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, taking his B.A. in 1835, and became a fellow of his college...
's novel, as well as Becky Sharp in a dramatization of
ThackerayWilliam Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
's
Vanity Fair.
The theatre played more musical comedies beginning in 1903, including the
Frank CurzonFrank Curzon was an English actor who became an important theatre manager, leasing the Royal Strand Theatre, Avenue Theatre, Criterion Theatre, Comedy Theatre, Prince of Wales Theatre and Wyndham's Theatre, among others....
and
Isabel JayIsabel Jay was an English opera singer and actress, best known for her performances in soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and in musical comedies...
hits
Miss Hook of HollandMiss Hook of Holland is an English musical comedy in two acts, with music and lyrics by Paul Rubens with a book by Austen Hurgon and Reubens. The show was produced by Frank Curzon and opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre on the January 31 1907, running for a very successful 462 performances...
(1907, its matinee version,
Little Miss Hook of Holland was performed by children for children),
King of CadoniaKing of Cadonia is an English musical in two acts by Frederick Lonsdale, with lyrics by Adrian Ross and Arthur Wimperis and music by Sidney Jones and Frederick Rosse. It opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London on 3 September 1908, produced by Frank Curzon, and ran for 333 performances. ...
(1908), and
The Balkan PrincessThe Balkan Princess is a British musical in three acts by Frederick Lonsdale and Frank Curzon, with lyrics by Paul Rubens and Arthur Wimperis, and music by Paul Rubens. It opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 19 February 1910. The cast included Isabel Jay and Bertram Wallis...
(1910), and later the
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
hits,
Broadway Jones (1914),
Carminetta (1917), and
Yes, Uncle!Yes, Uncle! is a musical comedy by Austen Hurgen and George Arthurs, with music by Nat D. Ayer and lyrics by Clifford Grey . It was produced by George Grossmith, Jr...
(1917).
The theatre then hosted plays such as
Avery HopwoodAvery Hopwood , who was born in Cleveland and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan , was one of the most successful playwrights of the Jazz Age, having four plays running simultaneously on Broadway in 1920.Hopwood started out as a journalist for a Cleveland newspaper as its New...
's farce
Fair and Warmer (1918) and
Ivor NovelloDavid Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the early 20th century.-Biography:...
's
The Rat (1924, Novello's first play, in which he also starred), and
revueA revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th-century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from ca. 1916-32...
s including
A to Z (1921),
Co-Optimists (1923), and
Charlot's Revue (1924). They starred
Gertrude LawrenceGertrude Lawrence was an English actress and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End and on Broadway.-Early life:...
,
Jack BuchananJack Buchanan was a British theatre and film actor, singer, producer and director. He was known for three decades as the embodiment of the debonair man-about-town in the tradition of George Grossmith Jr...
,
Beatrice LillieBea Lillie was a comic actress. She was born as Beatrice Gladys Lillie in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Following her marriage in 1920 to Sir Robert Peel, she was known in private life as Lady Peel.-Early career:...
,
Stanley HollowayStanley Augustus Holloway OBE was an English Stage and Film Actor, Comedian, Singer and Entertainer, famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady...
, and
Jessie MatthewsJessie Matthews, OBE was an English actress, dancer and singer of the 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period.-Early life:...
. Ms Matthews also starred, along with Richard Hearne, in "Wild Rose", featuring the memorable Jerome Kern song "
Look for the Silver Lining"Look for the Silver Lining" is a popular song with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by B.G. DeSylva. It was written in 1919 for the unsuccessful musical Zip, Goes a Million. In 1920 it was published and reused in the musical Sally whence it was popularized by Marilyn Miller.A 1949 biopic with the...
". These were followed by
The Blue Train (1927),
Alibi (1928, directed by
Gerald du MaurierSir Gerald Hubert Edward Busson du Maurier was an English actor and manager. He was the son of the writer George du Maurier, brother of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, and father of the writers Angela du Maurier and Dame Daphne du Maurier. He was also a friend of Henry James...
with
Charles LaughtonCharles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and two-time director.While best known for his historical roles in films, he started his career as a remarkable stage actor...
as
Hercule PoirotHercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. Along with Miss Marple, Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, appearing in 33 novels and 51 short stories that were published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era.Poirot has been...
),
By Candlelight (1928), and
Journey's End (1929). In 1930,
Edith EvansDame Edith Mary Evans DBE was an actress who was known for her work on the British stage. She also appeared in a number of films, for which she received three Academy Award nominations, plus a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award.Evans was particularly effective at portraying haughty aristocratic...
became the manager at the theatre, presenting and starring in
Delilah, which was not a success. Beginning in 1932, the theatre presented a series of risqué "Folies"-style revues, including
Voila! Les Dames (1935) and its last production,
Encore les Dames (1937). These shows were so successful that they funded the rapid rebuilding of the theatre in 1937.
Cromie's theatre
After 50 years, the theatre's 800 seats were deemed insufficient for productions of the day, and it was demolished. On 17 June 1937,
Gracie FieldsDame Gracie Fields, DBE , born Grace Stansfield, was an English-born, later Italian-based actress, singer and comedienne widely hailed as one of the greatest stars of both cinema and music hall.-Early life:...
sang to the workmen as she laid the foundation stone of the new
Art DecoArt Deco was a popular international art design movement from 1925 until the 1940s, affecting the decorative arts such as architecture, interior design, and industrial design, as well as the visual arts such as fashion, painting, the graphic arts, and film...
-decorated theatre, designed by Robert Cromie, and the theatre opened on 27 October that year. The new theatre's seating capacity was about 1,100, and it had a larger stage and improved facilities for both the artists and the public, including a large, stylish stalls bar (the bar itself was 14 metres long), complete with dance floor. The first productions at the new theatre were
Les Folies de Paris et Londres, starring
George RobeyGeorge Edward Wade , better known by his stage name, George Robey, was an English music hall comedian and star. He was marketed as the "Prime Minister of Mirth".-Early life:...
, followed by
Folies De Can-Can in 1938, a continuation of the old theatre's series of successful risqué revues, which ran continuously until 2am every night. The musical comedy,
Present Arms, was offered in 1940, and in 1941 the theatre screened the UK premiere of
Charlie ChaplinSir Charles Spencer Chaplin, KBE was an English comedic actor and film director. Chaplin became one of the most famous actors as well as a notable filmmaker, composer and musician in the early to mid Classical Hollywood era of American cinema.Chaplin acted in, directed, scripted, produced and...
's
The Great DictatorThe Great Dictator is a comedy film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin. First released in October 1940, it was Chaplin's first true talking picture, and more importantly was the only major film of its period to bitterly satirize Nazism and Adolf Hitler.The film is unusual for its period, as...
. The film had been banned in many parts of Europe, and the theatre's owner, Alfred Esdaile, was fined for showing it .
In 1943,
Strike a New Note was notable for
Sid FieldSid Field was an English comedy entertainer. He was born Sidney Arthur Field in Ladywood, Birmingham, son of Albert and Bertha . Field spent most of his childhood at 152 Osborn Road, Sparkbrook, Birmingham.Field had entertainment in his blood from an early age...
's London debut, and he returned to the theatre in
Strike it Again (1944), and yet again in
Piccadilly Hayride (1946, a revue that ran for 778 performances). In 1949,
HarveyHarvey is a 1944 play by American playwright Mary Chase. Directed by Antoinette Perry, the play premiered on 1 November 1944 at the 48th Street Theatre on Broadway where it was staged for 1,775 performances before closing on January 15 1949. The original production was directed by Antoinette Perry...
,
Mary Coyle ChaseMary Coyle Chase was an American journalist, playwright and screenwriter, known primarily for writing the Broadway play Harvey, later adapted for film starring James Stewart...
's comedy about an imaginary rabbit, was a success, as was
Diamond Lil in 1948 starring
Mae WestMae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter, and sex symbol.Known for her bawdy double entendres, West made a name for herself in Vaudeville and on the stage in New York before moving to Hollywood to become a comedienne, actress and writer in the motion picture industry...
. In the 1950s, the theatre hosted variety and revues, starring such famous performers as
Norman WisdomSir Norman Wisdom OBE is a mostly retired English comedian, singer, songwriter, actor and musician.-Early years:Norman Wisdom was born in the Marylebone district of London. His parents were Frederick, a chauffeur, and Maud Wisdom , a dressmaker who often worked for West End theatres. The couple...
,
Peter SellersRichard Henry Sellers, CBE, commonly known as Peter Sellers was a British comedian and actor best known for his roles in Dr...
,
Bob HopeBob Hope, KBE, KCSG was an American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO tours entertaining American military personnel...
,
Gracie FieldsDame Gracie Fields, DBE , born Grace Stansfield, was an English-born, later Italian-based actress, singer and comedienne widely hailed as one of the greatest stars of both cinema and music hall.-Early life:...
,
Benny HillAlfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill was an English comedian, actor and singer, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.- Beginnings :...
,
Hughie GreenHughie Green was the host of numerous British television shows.-Biography:Born in London, his Scottish father was a former British Army Major who made his fortune supplying tinned fish to the Allied forces in World War I, while his mother Violet was the Surrey-born daughter of an Irish gardener...
,
Frankie HowerdFrankie Howerd OBE , was a distinctive English comedian and comic actor whose career spanned six decades.-Biography:...
, and
Morecambe and WiseEric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, usually referred to as Morecambe and Wise, 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. They have been described as "the most illustrious, and...
. In 1959,
Paul OsbornPaul Osborn was a playwright and screenwriter most well known for writing the screen adaptation of East of Eden as well as South Pacific, The Yearling, The World of Susie Wong and Sayonara.- Career :...
's
The World of Susie Wong became the theatre's longest running play to date with 832 performances.
Neil SimonMarvin Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. His numerous Broadway succcesses have led to his work being among the most regularly performed in the world...
's play,
Come Blow Your HornCome Blow Your Horn was Neil Simon's first play, which premiered in the United States in 1961 and had a London production in 1962 at the Prince of Wales Theatre.-Act Summaries:Time: The Present...
, starring
Michael CrawfordMichael Crawford OBE is an English actor and singer, known for his tenor voice and powerful performances. He has won critical acclaim and numerous awards during his career, which includes radio, television and stage .Although he most often appears on stage, in musicals such...
, played in 1962, followed by a season of
Martha GrahamMartha Graham was an American dancer and choreographer regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, whose influence on dance can be compared to the influence Stravinsky had on music, Picasso had on the visual arts, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture...
's dance company, including the world première of her ballet
Circe. Next was a string of Broadway musicals, including
Funny Girl in 1966 with
Barbra Streisand Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, film and theatre actress. She has also achieved note as a composer, liberal political activist, film producer, and film director. She has won two Academy Awards, ten Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, and a Peabody all by the age of...
,
Sweet CharitySweet Charity is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It is based on Federico Fellini's screenplay for Nights of Cabiria...
(1967), and
Promises, PromisesPromises, Promises is a musical based on the 1960 film The Apartment written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond. The music is by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David, and book by Neil Simon. Musical numbers for the original Broadway production were choreographed by Michael Bennett; Robert Moore...
(1969).
The Threepenny OperaThe Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...
was revived in 1972. In 1976,
Bernard SladeBernard Slade is a Canadian playwright and screenwriter.Born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Slade began his career as an actor with the Garden Center Theatre in Vineland, Ontario. In the mid-1960s, he relocated to Hollywood and began to work as a writer for television sitcoms, including Bewitched...
's
Same Time, Next YearSame Time, Next Year is 1975 comedy play by Bernard Slade. The plot focuses on two people, married to others, who meet for a romantic tryst once a year for two dozen years.-Plot synopsis:...
was a hit, as was
I Love My WifeI Love My Wife is a musical with a book and lyrics by Michael Stewart and music by Cy Coleman, based on a play by Luis Rego.A satire of the sexual revolution of the 1970s, the musical takes place on Christmas Eve in suburban Trenton, New Jersey, where two married couples who have been close friends...
(1977), and
Bedroom FarceBedroom Farce is a 1975 comedic play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It had a London production at the Prince of Wales Theatre in 1978.-Overview:...
(1978). In 1982,
Underneath the Arches was a long-running hit.
Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre, the elder son of organist William Lloyd Webber and brother of the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber...
's
Aspects of LoveAspects of Love is a musical with a book and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart. It is famous for the song "Love Changes Everything."...
(1989) smashed all previous box-office records at the theatre, running for 1,325 performances. More recent productions are listed below.
Refurbishment was carried out in 2004 to increase the
seating capacitySeating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, either in terms of the physical space available, or in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that...
slightly to 1,160 seats and to modernise the theatre's facilities. New bars were added, the auditorium completely rebuilt, the backstage areas refurbished and the theatre's famous tower and exterior completely gutted and refurbished with new LED lighting and a crisp modern finish.
The theatre re-opened with its present show,
ABBAABBA was a pop music group formed in Sweden in November 1970. The band consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad , Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog. They topped the charts worldwide from 1972 to 1982...
's musical
Mamma Mia!Mamma Mia! is a jukebox musical with a book by British playwright Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of ABBA, composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, former members of the band. It was an early example of the jukebox musical genre and helped to popularize the form...
on 16 April 2004. On 18 August 2007,
Mamma Mia! became the longest running show ever at the Prince of Wales, overtaking the previous record held by
Aspects of Love with 1,326 performances at the venue and counting. The production marked another landmark on Thursday 23 August 2007, celebrating its 3,500th performance since its 1999 world premiere at the
Prince Edward TheatreThe Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster.The theatre was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with an interior designed by Marc-Henri Levy and Gaston Laverdet...
in Old Compton Street, London.
The theatre was
grade II listed by
English HeritageEnglish Heritage . is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government with a broad remit of managing the historic built environment of England. It is currently sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
in April 1999.
Recent and present productions
- It's Magic
Paul Daniels is a British magician and television performer. He achieved international fame through his television series The Paul Daniels Magic Show, which ran on the BBC from 1979 to 1994.-Early life:...
(10 December 1980 - 6 February 1982)
- South Pacific
South Pacific is a 1949 musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning, 1948 novel, Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of...
(20 January 1988 - 14 January 1989)
- Aspects of Love
Aspects of Love is a musical with a book and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart. It is famous for the song "Love Changes Everything."...
(17 April 1989 - 20 June 1992)
- Annie Get Your Gun (musical)
Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields...
(November - December 1992)
- Copacabana
Copacabana is a TV-musical, stage musical, and nightclub show written by Barry Manilow, based on the song of the same name. The show toured the United States and, as of 2006, became available to license to performing companies and schools for the first time....
(23 June 1994 - 9 September 1996)
- Smokey Joe's Cafe
Smokey Joe's Cafe is a musical revue showcasing 39 pop standards, including rock and roll, rhythm and blues songs written by songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller...
(23 October 1996 - 3 October 1998)
- West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The musical's plot is based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet....
(January 1999 - September 1999)
- Rent
Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under...
(November 1999 - January 2000)
- Fosse
Fosse is a three-act musical revue showcasing the choreography of Bob Fosse. After 21 previews, the original Broadway production, conceived and directed by Richard Maltby, Jr...
(8 February 2000 - 6 January 2001)
- The Witches of Eastwick
The Witches of Eastwick is a 2000 musical based on the novel of the same name by John Updike. It was adapted by John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe , directed by Eric Schaeffer, and produced by Cameron Mackintosh....
(23 March 2001 - 27 October 2001)
- The Full Monty
The Full Monty is a musical with a book by Terrence McNally and score by David Yazbek.In this Americanized version adapted from the 1997 British film of the same name, six unemployed Buffalo steelworkers, low on both cash and prospects, decide to present a strip act at a local club after seeing...
(March 2002 - October 2002)
- Rent
Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under...
(October 2002 - March 2003)
- Cliff - The Musical (March 2003 - June 2003)
- Mamma Mia!
Mamma Mia! is a jukebox musical with a book by British playwright Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of ABBA, composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, former members of the band. It was an early example of the jukebox musical genre and helped to popularize the form...
(9 June 2004 - )
Nearby tube stations
- Leicester Square
Leicester Square is a station on the London Underground, located on Charing Cross Road, a short distance to the east of Leicester Square itself....
- Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus tube station is the London Underground station located directly beneath Piccadilly Circus itself, with entrances at every corner...
External links