Savoy Theatre

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Savoy Theatre

The Savoy 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....
located in the Strand

Strand, London

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....
, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte

Richard D'Oyly Carte

Richard D'Oyly Carte was an English people talent agent, theatrical impresario and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era.Carte started his career in his father's music publishing and musical instrument manufacturing business....
on the site of the old Savoy Palace

Savoy Palace

The Savoy Palace was considered the grandest nobleman's residence of medieval London, until it was destroyed in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. It fronted Strand, London, on the site of the present Savoy Theatre and the Savoy Hotel that memorialise its name....
as a showcase for the popular series of comic opera

Comic opera

Gilbert and Sullivan

'Gilbert and Sullivan' refers to the Victorian era partnership of librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan . Together, they wrote fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S....
, which became known as the Savoy Opera

Savoy opera

The Savoy Operas denote a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners....
s as a result.

The theatre was the first theatre, and the first public building in the world, to be lit entirely by electricity

Electricity

Electricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena such as lightning and static electricity, but in addition, less familiar concepts such as the electromagnetic field and electromagnetic induction....
. In 1889, Richard D'Oyly Carte built the Savoy Hotel

Savoy Hotel

The Savoy Hotel is a five-star hotel located in the Strand, London, in the City of Westminster in central London that opened on 6 August 1889. The hotel remains one of London's most prestigious and opulent hotels, with 263 rooms and panoramic views of the River Thames across Savoy Place and the Victoria Embankment, part of the Thames Embankm...
next to the theatre.

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Encyclopedia

The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre

West End theatre

Strand, London

City of Westminster

Richard D'Oyly Carte

Savoy Palace

Comic opera

Gilbert and Sullivan

Savoy opera

Electricity

Savoy Hotel

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged performances of Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy Operas in the UK, Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia and elsewhere from the 1870s until it closed in 1982....
, and it was run by the Carte family for over a century. Richard's son Rupert D'Oyly Carte

Rupert D'Oyly Carte

Rupert D'Oyly Carte was an English people hotelier, theatre owner and impresario, best known as proprietor of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1913 to 1948....
rebuilt and modernised the theatre in 1929, and it was rebuilt again in 1993 following a fire.

Apart from The Mikado
The Mikado

The Mikado or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan....
and other famous Gilbert and Sullivan premières, the theatre has hosted such notable premières as 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"....
's Blithe Spirit in 1941. In recent years it has presented opera, Shakespeare and other non-musical plays and musicals

Musical theatre

Ambassador Theatre Group

The Ambassador Theatre Group was co-founded by Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire in 1992. The company, known as ATG, is the largest Theatre Group in London's West End, and the second largest Theatre Group in the United Kingdom....
.

History of the site

The House of Savoy

House of Savoy

The House of Savoy was formed in the early eleventh century in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that region to eventually rule the Kingdom of Italy until the end of the Second World War....
was the ruling family of Savoy

Savoy

Savoy is a region of Europe on the western flank of the Alps that emerged following the collapse of the Frankish Empire Kingdom of Burgundy. Installed by Rudolph III, King of Burgundy, officially in 1003, the House of Savoy became the longest surviving royal house in Europe....
descended from Humbert I, Count of Sabaudia

Humbert I of Savoy

Humbert I was the first Count of Savoy from 1032, when the County of Vienne, which was recently sold to the Archdiocese of Vienne, was divided between the Count of Albon and that of Maurienne....
(or "Maurienne"), who became count in 1032. The name Sabaudia evolved into "Savoy" (or "Savoie"). Count Peter (or Piers or Piero) of Savoy (d. 1268) was the maternal uncle of Eleanor of Provence

Eleanor of Provence

Eleanor of Provence was Queen Consort of King Henry III of England.Born in Aix-en-Provence, she was the daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and Beatrice of Savoy , the daughter of Thomas I of Savoy and his second wife Marguerite of Geneva....
, queen-consort of Henry III of England

Henry III of England

Henry III was the son and successor of John of England as King of England, reigning for fifty-six years from 1216 to his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester....
, and came with her to London. King Henry made Peter Earl of Richmond

Earl of Richmond

The title of Earl of Richmondshire was created many times in the Peerage of Peerage of England. The earldom of Richmond was held by various Bretons, Normans, the royal families of Plantagenet, Capet, Savoy, Tudor and Stewart....
and, in 1246, gave him the land between The Strand

Strand, London

The Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar London, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its #History has been longer than this....
and the Thames where Peter built the Savoy Palace in 1263. On Peter's death, the Savoy was given to Edmund, 1st Earl of Lancaster, by his mother, Queen Eleanor. Edmund's great-granddaughter, Blanche, inherited the site. Her husband, John of Gaunt, 2nd Duke of Lancaster, built a magnificent palace that was burned down by Wat Tyler

Wat Tyler

Walter Tyler, commonly known as Wat Tyler was the leader of the England Peasants' Revolt of 1381....
's followers in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. King Richard II

Richard II of England

Richard II was the eighth King of England of the House of Plantagenet. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III of England....
was still a child, and his uncle John of Gaunt was the power behind the throne and so a main target of the rebels.

In about 1505, Henry VII

Henry VII of England

Henry VII was the Kingdom of England and Lordship of Ireland from his usurpation of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the Tudor dynasty....
planned a great hospital for "pouer, nedie people", leaving money and instructions for it in his will. The hospital was built in the palace ruins and licensed in 1512. Drawings show that it was a magnificent building, with a dormitory, dining hall and three chapels. Henry VII's hospital lasted for two centuries but suffered from poor management. The sixteenth-century historian Stow noted that the hospital was being misused by "loiterers, vagabonds and strumpets". In 1702 the hospital was dissolved, and the hospital buildings were used for other purposes. Part of the old palace was used for a military prison in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century the old hospital buildings were demolished and new buildings erected.

In 1864 a fire burned everything except the stone walls and the Savoy Chapel

Savoy Chapel

The Savoy Chapel, or the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy is a chapel off the Strand, London, dedicated to St John the Baptist. It was originally built in the medieval era off the main church of the Savoy Palace ....
, and the property sat empty until D'Oyly Carte bought it in 1880 to build the Savoy Theatre there. The new theatre was built speedily, and accounts noted that it "was situated on a site which, though rich in historical associations, was also rich in the olfactory sense. Mr Rimmeil's scent factory was close by as was Burgess's Noted Fish-Sauce Shop."

Richard D'Oyly Carte's theatre

The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps and built by the firm of Patman and Fotheringham. The theatre's name was originally intended to be the Beaufort Theatre. The Times
The Times

The Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register.The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of News International....
commented, "A perfect view of the stage can be had from every seat in the house." The decoration by Collinson and Locke was "in the manner of the Italian Renaissance

Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe....
", with white, pale yellow, red and gold predominating, including a gold satin curtain. Exits on all four sides of the theatre were provided, and fireproof materials were used to ensure maximum safety. There were three tiers with four levels: stalls and pit, balcony, circle, and amphitheatre and gallery at the top. The total seating capacity was 1,292. The proscenium

Proscenium

A Proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large archway at or near the front of the Stage , through which the audience views the Play ....
arch was high by wide, and the stage was deep from the proscenium to the back wall. The theatre originally had its main entrance on the Embankment

Thames Embankment

The Thames Embankment is a major feat of 19th century civil engineering designed to reclaim marshy land next to the River Thames in central London....
. The parcel on which it was built was steep, stretching from the Strand down to the Embankment along Beaufort Street. After Carte built the Savoy Hotel

Savoy Hotel

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....
Patience
Patience (opera)

Patience, or Bunthorne's Bride, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. First performed at the Opera Comique, London, on April 23 1881, it moved to the 1,292-seat Savoy Theatre on October 10 1881, where it was the first theatrical production in the world to be lit entirely by electric li...
, which had opened at the smaller Opera Comique

Opera Comique

The Opera Comique was a 19th-century opera house constructed between Wych Street and Holywell Street with entrances on the East Strand, London. The theatre opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway....
, moved to the Savoy on 10 October 1881 and was the first production at the new theatre. Carte had hired George Edwardes

George Edwardes

George Joseph Edwardes was an English people theatre manager of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond....
, later the famous manager of the Gaiety Theatre, London

Gaiety Theatre, London

The Gaiety Theatre, London was a West End theatre in London, England, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand, London. The theatre was established as the Strand Musick Hall , in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre, London....
, and now named him as the Savoy Theatre's first managing director. The Savoy was a state-of-the-art theatre and the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity. About 1,200 incandescent lamps were used, powered by a 120 horse-power generator on open land near the theatre. The Times concluded that the theatre "is admirably adapted for its purpose, its acoustic qualities are excellent, and all reasonable demands of comfort and taste are complied with." At a performance shortly after the theatre opened, Carte stepped on stage and broke a glowing lightbulb before the audience to demonstrate the safety of the new technology. Gaslights had also been installed as a backup, but they rarely had to be used. Also unusually for the period, Carte instituted numbered seating, and a policy of no tipping for coat check. Daily expenses at the theatre were about half the possible takings from ticket sales.

The last eight of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas were premièred at the Savoy (including such popular favourites as Iolanthe
Iolanthe

Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri, is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
(1882), The Mikado
The Mikado

The Mikado or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan....
(1885), The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard

The Yeomen of the Guard, or The Merryman and his Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888, and ran for 423 performances....
(1888) and The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers

The Gondoliers, or The King of Barataria, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on December 7 1889, and ran for a very successful 554 performances , closing on June 20 1891....
(1889)), and the term Savoy Opera

Savoy opera

The Savoy Operas denote a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners....
has come to be associated with all their joint works. After the end of the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership, Carte, and later his widow, Helen (and her manager from 1901–1903, William Greet

William Greet

William Greet was a British theatre manager from the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century. Originally a business manager for other theatre licensees in the 1880s, he branched out as an independent manager in the 1890s and was associated with various London theatres, principally the Lyric Theatre , the Savoy Theatre and the Adel...
), staged other comic operas

Savoy opera

Ivan Caryll

Felix Tilkins , better known by his pen name Ivan Caryll, was a Belgian composer of operettas and Edwardian musical comedies in the English language....
, Sydney Grundy

Sydney Grundy

Sydney Grundy was an English people dramatist. Most of his works were adaptations of European plays, and many became successful enough to tour throughout the English-speaking world....
, Basil Hood

Basil Hood

Basil Charles Hood was a British librettist and lyricist, perhaps best known for his libretti of a half dozen Savoy Operas and his English adaptations of operettas, including The Merry Widow....
and Edward German

Edward German

Sir Edward German was an English people musician and composer of Wales descent, best remembered for his extensive output of incidental music for the stage and as a successor to Arthur Sullivan in the field of English comic opera....
.

In 1903, the theatre closed and was reopened under the management of John Leigh and Edward Laurillard

Edward Laurillard

'Edward Laurillard' was a cinema and theatre producer in London and New York during the first third of the 20th century. He is best remembered for promoting the cinema early in the 20th century and for musical theatre produced in partnership with George Grossmith, Jr., including To-Night's the Night , Theodore & Co and Yes, Uncle!...
from February 1904 (beginning with a musical, The Love Birds) to December 1906. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company returned to the Savoy for repertory seasons between 1906 and 1909, in which year C. H. Workman took over the management of the theatre. He produced, among other works, Gilbert's final opera, with music by German, Fallen Fairies
Fallen Fairies

Fallen Fairies; or, The Wicked World, is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Edward German. Premiering at London's Savoy Theatre on December 15 1909, it failed miserably, closing after just 50 performances....
in 1909–10, which ran for only 51 performances. He also produced Two Merry Monarchs and Orpheus and Eurydice in 1910, the latter or which starred Marie Brema

Marie Brema

Marie Brema , was an English dramatic mezzo-soprano singer in concert, operatic and oratorio work in the last decade of the 19th and the first decade of the 20th centuries....
and Viola Tree in the title roles. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company did not play in the theatre from 1911 until 1919, instead touring throughout Britain, and other works held the stage of the Savoy.

George Augustus Richardson managed the theatre from November 1911 to February 1915. In 1914, Basil Rathbone

Basil Rathbone

Basil Rathbone, Military Cross , was a South African Republic England actor most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes and of suave villains in such swashbuckler films as The Mark of Zorro , Captain Blood , and The Adventures of Robin Hood ....
made his London stage debut at the Savoy, appearing as Finch in The Sin of David. In 1920, he returned to the theatre playing the title-role in Peter Ibbetson.

The Strand, including the Savoy Theatre, and a depiction of Richard D'Oyly Carte, are featured in Nicholas Meyer

Nicholas Meyer

Nicholas Meyer graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in theater and filmmaking, & is a film writer, Film producer, film director and novelist best known for his involvement in the Star Trek films....
's 1976 novel The West End Horror
The West End Horror

The West End Horror: A Posthumous Memoir of John H. Watson, M.D. is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche novel by Nicholas Meyer, published in 1976. It takes place after Meyer's other two Holmes pastiches, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and The Canary Trainer, though it was published in between the two....
.

Rupert D'Oyly Carte's theatre

In 1915, Richard D'Oyly Carte's son and heir, Rupert D'Oyly Carte

Rupert D'Oyly Carte

Rupert D'Oyly Carte was an English people hotelier, theatre owner and impresario, best known as proprietor of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1913 to 1948....
, took over management of the theatre. After serving in the navy in World War I

World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, Carte decided to bring the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company back to the Savoy in first-rate style and began to mount updated and refreshed Gilbert and Sullivan productions here and in other West End theatre

West End theatre

Charles Ricketts

Charles De Sousy Ricketts was a versatile English artist, illustrator, author and printer, and is best known for his work as book designer and typographer from 1896 to 1904 with the Vale Press, and his work in the theatre as a set and costume designer....
's new designs for The Mikado
The Mikado

The Mikado or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan....
(first seen at the Prince's Theatre) in 1926. Carte also hired first Geoffrey Toye

Geoffrey Toye

Edward Geoffrey Toye was an English people Conductor , composer and opera producer.He is best remembered as a music director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and for his association with Sadler's Wells Theatre....
and then Malcolm Sargent

Malcolm Sargent

Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English people conducting, organist and composer widely regarded as United Kingdom's leading conductor of choir works....
as guest conductors, and Harry Norris

Harry Norris (conductor)

Harry Norris was a New Zealand-born conductor best remembered as musical director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company between 1919 and 1929. After leaving that company, Norris emigrated to Canada to teach but returned to retire in England in the 1960s....
and then Isidore Godfrey

Isidore Godfrey

Isidore Godfrey was musical director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for 39 years, from 1929 to 1968. He conducted most of the company's performances during that period, except for a few London seasons when Malcolm Sargent was guest conductor and brief periods in the summers of 1947 and 1948 when Boyd Neel filled in as guest conductor....
as musical directors.

On 3 June 1929, Carte closed the Savoy Theatre, and the interior was completely rebuilt to designs by Frank A. Tugwell with elaborate décor by Basil Ionides

Basil Ionides

Basil Ionides was a British architect who was a bright architectural star in his designs and published two best-selling books, Colour and Interior Decoration and Colour in Everyday Rooms ....
. The ceiling was painted to resemble an April sky; the walls, translucent gold on silver; the rows of stalls were all richly upholstered in different colours, and the curtain repeated the tones of the seating. Ionides said that he took the colour scheme from a bed of zinnias in Hyde Park

Hyde Park, London

Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, England and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine ....
. The entire floor space had been replanned: the old cloakrooms and bar at the back of the theatre were relocated to the side, and instead of 18 boxes there was now only one. The new auditorium had two tiers leaving three levels: stalls, dress, and upper circle. The capacity of the old house, originally 1,292, had been reduced to 986 by 1912, and the new theatre restored the capacity almost completely, with 1,200 seats. The new stage was 29 feet, 4 inches wide, by 29 feet, 6 inches deep. The theatre reopened on 21 October 1929 with a new production of The Gondoliers designed by Charles Ricketts and conducted by Malcolm Sargent

Malcolm Sargent

Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English people conducting, organist and composer widely regarded as United Kingdom's leading conductor of choir works....
. In the only box sat Lady Gilbert, the librettist's widow.

There were Gilbert and Sullivan seasons at the Savoy Theatre in 1929–30, 1932–33, 1951, 1954, 1961–62, 1975, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. Other works presented at the Savoy included the première of 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"....
's Blithe Spirit (1941, which ran 1,997 consecutive performances, setting a new record for non-musical theatre runs), Robert Morley

Robert Morley

Robert Morley Commander of the Order of the British Empire was an Academy Award-nominated England actor who, often in supporting roles, was usually cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment....
in The Man Who Came to Dinner
The Man Who Came to Dinner

The Man Who Came to Dinner is a comedy in three acts by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It debuted on October 16, 1939 at the Music Box Theatre in New York City....
, and several comedies by William Douglas-Home

William Douglas-Home

William Douglas-Home was a tank officer in World War II who was imprisoned for refusing to obey orders, and who later became a successful writer and dramatist....
starring, among others, Ralph Richardson

Ralph Richardson

Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
, Peggy Ashcroft

Peggy Ashcroft

Dame Peggy Ashcroft Order of the British Empire was an English actress....
, and John Mills

John Mills

Sir John Mills Order of the British Empire was an England actor, who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades....
.

After Rupert D'Oyly Carte's death in 1948, his daughter, Bridget D'Oyly Carte

Bridget D'Oyly Carte

Dame Bridget Cicely D'Oyly Carte DBE , was the granddaughter of impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte and the only daughter of Rupert D'Oyly Carte. She became head of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1948 until 1982....
, succeeded to the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and became a director and later president of the Savoy Hotel group, which controlled the theatre. Management of the theatre was taken over in 1948 by Sir Hugh Wontner. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company closed in 1982, and Dame Bridget died childless in 1985, bringing the family line to an end.

1990 fire and restored theatre

While the theatre was being renovated in February 1990, a fire gutted the building, except for the stage and backstage areas. Tugwell's and Ionides's designs had been preserved, however, allowing the accurate restoration of the theatre under the direction of the architect Sir William Whitfield, Sir Hugh Wontner and the theatre's manager, Kevin Chapple. It reopened on 19 July 1993. The present theatre has a capacity of 1,158. During the renovation an extra storey was added above the theatre that includes a health club for the hotel and a swimming pool above the stage. The reopened theatre was the venue for the World Chess Championship

World Chess Championship

The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Both men and women are eligible to contest this title....
in 1993, won by Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov is a Russian former World Chess Champion, regarded by many as Methods for comparing top chess players throughout history. He is also a writer and political activist....
.

In 1993, 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"....
's Relative Values, played at the theatre, having premièred there in 1951. Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard

Sir Tom Stoppard Order of Merit , Order of the British Empire, FRSL is a British screenwriter and playwright. He has written plays such as The Coast of Utopia, Arcadia , Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, and Rock 'n' Roll ....
's Travesties
Travesties

Travesties is a comedy by British dramatist, Tom Stoppard, first produced at the Aldwych Theatre, London, on 10 June 1974, in a production by the Royal Shakespeare Company....
, with Anthony Sher was next, and in 1994 the musical She Loves Me
She Loves Me

She Loves Me is a musical theatre and movie with a book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock.The musical is the fifth adaptation of the play Parfumerie by Hungary playwright Miklos Laszlo, following the 1940 James Stewart -Margaret Sullavan film The Shop around the Corner and the 1949 Judy Garland...
played, with Ruthie Henshall

Ruthie Henshall

Valentine Ruth Henshall , known as Ruthie Henshall, is a English people singer, dancer and actor.Henshall was born in Bromley, South East London, England....
and John Gordon Sinclair

John Gordon Sinclair

John Gordon Sinclair is a Scotland actor most famous for playing Gregory in Gregory's Girl.Sinclair joined the Glasgow Youth Theatre after he visited one night and met fellow fan of Canada progressive rock group Rush , Robert Buchanan....
. These were followed by Terry Johnson

Terry Johnson

References...
's Dead Funny; Alan Ayckbourn

Alan Ayckbourn

Sir Alan Ayckbourn Order of the British Empire is a popular and prolific English playwright....
's Communicating Doors
Communicating Doors

Communicating Doors is a play written in 1994 by Alan Ayckbourn. The setting is a hotel suite that moves through time from 1974 to 2014....
, with Angela Thorne

Angela Thorne

Angela Thorne is an English people actor who is best known for her roles in To the Manor Born and Anyone for Denis?....
; J B Priestley's When We Are Married, with Dawn French

Dawn French

'Dawn Roma French' is an United Kingdom actor, writer and comedian. In her career, she has been nominated for six BAFTA Television Award. She is best-known for starring in and writing her sketch comedy, French and Saunders, alongside her comedy partner Jennifer Saunders, and for playing the lead role of Geraldine Granger in the sitcom Th...
, Alison Steadman

Alison Steadman

Alison Steadman Order of the British Empire is an award-winning England actor....
, and Leo McKern

Leo McKern

Reginald "Leo" McKern Order of Australia was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British television programs and film, and more than 200 theater roles....
; and Ben Travers

Ben Travers

Ben Travers Order of the British Empire was a British playwright most famous for his farces.Born in the London borough of Hendon, Travers was educated at Charterhouse , followed by a brief spell in business....
' Plunder, with Griff Rhys Jones

Griff Rhys Jones

Griffith Rhys Jones , better known as Griff Rhys Jones, is a Wales comedian, writer and actor. He came to national attention in the 1980s when he starred with Mel Smith in a number of Sketch comedy programmes on British TV....
and Kevin McNally

Kevin McNally

Kevin McNally is an English actor who has worked extensively in both film and television. He is best known for his portrayal of first mate Joshamee Gibbs in the Pirates of the Caribbean films....
. In 1997, a group led by Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen was given management of the theatre by The Savoy Group. Productions that followed included Simon Callow

Simon Callow

Simon Phillip Hugh Callow, Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom theatre, film and television actor and director....
in The Importance of Being Oscar
The Importance of Being Oscar

The Importance of Being Oscar is a one man show devised by the soi-disant Irish people actor Miche?l MacLiamm?ir and based on the writings of Oscar Wilde....
; Pet Shop Boys

Pet Shop Boys

Pet Shop Boys are an English people electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main Singing, Keyboard instruments and occasionally guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards and occasionally on vocals....
in concert, Ian Richardson

Ian Richardson

Ian William Richardson Order of the British Empire was a Scotland actor best known for playing the Machiavellianism Conservative Party politician Francis Urquhart in the House of Cards trilogy for the BBC....
in Pinero

Piñero

Pi?ero is a movie about the troubled life of Nuyorican poet and playwright Miguel Pi?ero, starring Benjamin Bratt, Talisa Soto, Rita Moreno and Loraine Velez....
's The Magistrate; Edward Fox

Edward Fox

Edward Fox may refer to:*Edward Fox , English clergyman*Edward Fox , American judge*Edward Fox , English actor*Edward Fox , American author...
in A Letter of Resignation; the Royal Shakespeare Company

Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company is a British theatre company. Located primarily at Stratford-upon-Avon, with bases also in London and Theatre Royal, Newcastle, it is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly-funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal National Theatre....
's production of Richard III, with Robert Lindsay

Robert Lindsay

Robert Lindsay may refer to:*Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie , Scottish chronicler*Robert Lindsay , English actor*Robert Lindsay , British Olympic track and field athlete...
; and Coward's Hay Fever
Hay Fever

Hay Fever is a comic play written by No?l Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest as the first Judith Bliss. Best described as a cross between high farce and a comedy of manners, the play is set in an English country house in the 1920s, and deals with the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their outlandish b...
, with Geraldine McEwan

Geraldine McEwan

Geraldine McEwan is a BAFTA Awards-winning England actor, with a diverse and successful history in theatre, film and television. From 2004-2009 she appeared as Miss Marple, the Agatha Christie sleuth, for the series Marple shown on PBS in the United States...
.

In 2000, the briefly reconstituted D'Oyly Carte Opera Company produced H.M.S. Pinafore; Donald Sutherland

Donald Sutherland

'Donald McNicol Sutherland',? Order of Canada is a Canada character actor with a film career spanning over 50 years. He is currently working in the American television series, Dirty Sexy Money. Sutherland's most notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, in 1967, and M*A*S*H and Kelly's...
starred in Enigmatic Variations, followed by a second D'Oyly Carte season, playing The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance

The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas....
; and Antarctica by David Young

David Young

David Young may refer to:*Dai Young, former Welsh rugby union and Rugby league international and British Lion*Dave Young , rugby union player for Leicester Tigers...
played at the theatre. In 2002, a season of Return to the Forbidden Planet
Return to the Forbidden Planet

Return to the Forbidden Planet is a Jukebox musical by director Bob Carlton based on William Shakespeare's The Tempest and the 1950s science fiction film Forbidden Planet ....
was followed by the D'Oyly Carte productions of Iolanthe
Iolanthe

Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri, is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
, The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard

The Yeomen of the Guard, or The Merryman and his Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888, and ran for 423 performances....
, and The Mikado
The Mikado

The Mikado or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan....
, and then a revival of Yasmina Reza

Yasmina Reza

Yasmina Reza is a France playwright, actor, novelist and screenwriting. Her parents were both of Jewish origin, her father Iranian, her mother Hungary....
's Life x 3. In 2003, the D'Oyly Carte revived Pinafore, followed by Bea Arthur at The Savoy, John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck

John Ernst Steinbeck III was an American literature. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937....
's Of Mice and Men, Peter Pan, and Pirates. These were followed by The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro

Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K?chel-Verzeichnis, is an opera buffa composed in 1786_in_music#Opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, The Marriage of Figaro ....
and The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville

The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The overture, first written for Aureliano in Palmira, is a famous example of Rossini's characteristic Italian style....
performed by The Savoy Opera Company in 2004. Next were seasons of Lorna Luft

Lorna Luft

Lorna Luft is an United States television, stage and film actress and singer. She is the daughter of the legendary singer and actress Judy Garland and Sid Luft, and the half-sister of Liza Minnelli....
starring in Songs My Mother Taught Me and the new salsa musical Murderous Instincts. Coward's Blithe Sprit was revived in 2004-05.

According to the Irish Post, the Savoy Hotel group and the theatre were sold around 2004 to a group of Irish investors who in turn sold the theatre in 2005 to Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal

Al-Waleed bin Talal

*Khaled bin Al-Waleed*Reem bint Al-WaleedHRH Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud is a member of the House of Saud, and an entrepreneur and international investor....
. The hotel was purchased by the Ambassador Theatre Group, who produced The Rat Pack, which closed in October 2006, and a new musical

Musical theatre

Musical 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 integrated whole....
version of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess

Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward....
, directed by Trevor Nunn

Trevor Nunn

Sir Trevor Robert Nunn Order of the British Empire is an England theatre director and film director....
, which premièred November 9, 2006. The theatre was sold in 2007 to Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal. Fiddler On The Roof
Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof is a musical theatre with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905....
, starring Henry Goodman

Henry Goodman

Henry Goodman is a British theatre actor. He trained at RADA in London alongside Jonathan Pryce.In 1988, he played George Green's Brother-in-law Cyril in London's Burning....
as Tevye, played at the theatre from May 2007 to February 2008.

Recent and present productions

Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof is a musical theatre with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905....
(19 May 2007 - 16 February 2008) by Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joe Stein, starring Henry Goodman
Henry Goodman

Henry Goodman is a British theatre actor. He trained at RADA in London alongside Jonathan Pryce.In 1988, he played George Green's Brother-in-law Cyril in London's Burning....
, Alexandra Silber, Damian Humbley, Victor McGuire, Julie Legrand and Beverly Klein
Legal Fictions by John Mortimer
John Mortimer

Sir John Clifford Mortimer, Order of the British Empire, Queen's Counsel was an English barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author....
(21 February 2008 - 19 April 2008), starring Edward Fox
Edward Fox

Edward Fox may refer to:*Edward Fox , English clergyman*Edward Fox , American judge*Edward Fox , English actor*Edward Fox , American author...
Never Forget
Never Forget (musical)

Never Forget is a jukebox musical with a book written by Daniel Brockelhurst, Guy Jones and Ed Curtis, based on the 1990s songs of boyband Take That, written by Gary Barlow....
(7 May 2008 - 15 November 2008), a new musical with a book by Daniel Brocklehurst, Guy Jones and Ed Curtis
Ed Curtis

This article is about the writer and director. For the baseball manager of the same name, see Ed Curtis .Ed Curtis is a writer and director based in London, UK where he also runs Ed Curtis Associates , the theatre production company....
based on the 1990s songs of Take That
Take That

Take That are an England pop music musical group consisting of members Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen, and, formerly, Robbie Williams....
and the music and lyrics of Gary Barlow
Gary Barlow

Gary Barlow is an English singer-songwriter, pianist and Record producer. He is a member of the pop group Take That and was one of the most successful songwriters of the 1990s, penning no fewer than 16 hit singles during the decade....
.
Carousel
Carousel (musical)

Carousel is a musical theater by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II that was adapted from Ferenc Molnar's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting the Budapest setting of Molnar's play to a New England fishing village....
(29 November 2008 -) by Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers

Richard Charles Rodgers was an United States Musical compositionr of the music for more than 900 songs and 40 Broadway theatre musicals. He also composed music for films and television....
and Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Hammerstein II

Oscar Hammerstein II was an American writer, Theatrical producer, and Theatre director of Musical theatre for almost forty years, collaborating on many of the most important pieces of musical theatre of the twentieth century....
, starring Lesley Garrett
Lesley Garrett

Lesley Garrett Order of the British Empire is an England soprano, broadcaster and media personality....

Nearby Tube Stations

Charing Cross
Charing Cross tube station

Charing Cross tube station is a London Underground station at Charing Cross in the City of Westminster with entrances located in Trafalgar Square and Strand, London....
Embankment
Embankment tube station

Embankment tube station is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster, known for most of its history as Charing Cross.The station is served by the Circle line , District Line, Northern Line and Bakerloo Line Lines....
Covent Garden
Covent Garden tube station

Covent Garden is a London Underground station in Covent Garden. It is on the Piccadilly Line between Leicester Square tube station and Holborn tube station....

Savoy Theatre

History of the site

Richard D'Oyly Carte's theatre

Rupert D'Oyly Carte's theatre

1990 fire and restored theatre

Recent and present productions

Nearby Tube Stations

See also

External links