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Discount Theatre Tickets >> London Theatres >>
Her Majesty's Theatre |
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Her
Majesty's Theatre |
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Her Majesty's
Theatre |
Currently showing:
The Phantom of The Opera |
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Her Majesty's Theatre is a
theatre in London's West End.
A theatre has been on this site, in a street called the
Haymarket in the St. James's district, since 1705. The
first building was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh. It was
initially known as The Queen's Theatre after Queen Anne,
and was The King's Theatre after 1714, when a succession
of male monarchs occupied the throne. At this time only
a handful of theatres were permitted to operate in
London. The theatre was associated with opera from the
1710s until it burnt down in 1789.
The second theatre opened in 1791. It saw the first
London performances of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito in
1806, Così fan tutte in 1811, and Don Giovanni in 1816.
John Nash and George Renton made alterations to the
facade and auditorium between 1816 and 1818, and also
added a shopping arcade called the Royal Opera Arcade
which runs along the rear of the theatre and still
stands today. When Queen Victoria ascended the throne in
1837 the name of the theatre was changed to Her
Majesty's Theatre, Italian Opera House. The "Italian
Opera House" part of the name was dropped in 1847. Then,
in December 1867, the theatre was once again destroyed
by fire.
The third theatre was rebuilt in 1869 and demolished in
1892. It also presented mainly opera.
The fourth and current building, designed by CJ Phills,
was opened in 1897. This building did not specialise in
opera, although there were some operatic performances in
its early years. The musical Chu Chin Chow, The Maid of
the Mountains opened in 1916 and ran for a then record
2,235 performances. Noel Coward's play Bitter Sweet
enjoyed a run of 697 performances starting in 1929.
Musicals have predominated in the post World War II
period, including Brigadoon (opened 1949), Paint Your
Wagon (1953), West Side Story (1958) and Fiddler On The
Roof which had a run of 2,030 performances starting in
1967. Since 1986 Her Majesty's has been the London home
of The Phantom of the Opera.
The name of the theatre changes from Her Majesty's to
His Majesty's Theatre if there is a male monarch (most
recently from 1901 to 1952).
The venue was also the setting for the popular ITV
variety series Live from Her Majesty's, which ran on
television from 1982 to 1985. It was on this programme
that Tommy Cooper collapsed and died on stage in 1984. |
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Her
Majesty's Theatre seating plan |
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Click on thumbnail to
enlarge seating plan |
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