Architect : C.J. Phipps Opened : 28th April 1897 Seats : 1,210 on 4 levels Owned by : Really Useful Theatres
A theatre has been on this site since April 9, 1705, sometimes known as The Haymarket Opera House. 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 and, under manager David Garrick, Shakespeare, until it burnt down in 1789.
The second theatre opened in 1791 and was extensively used for opera. 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. Among the musical directors of this period, Nicolas Bochsa(1789-1856) the French celebrated and eccentric harpist can be mentioned. He was appointed in 1827 and remained for six years at this position. When Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837, manager Ben Webster changed the name of the theatre to Her Majesty's Theatre, Italian Opera House. The same year, Samuel Phelps made his London debut, playing in several Shakespeare plays.
Along with the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris (known more popularly as the Paris Opera), from the early 1830s until the late 1840s Her Majesty's Theatre played host to the heyday of the era of the romantic ballet, in which the ballet company, known as the Ballet of her Majesty's Theatre, was the most renowned troupe in all Europe aside from the Ballet of the Paris Opera. In 1830 the great Balletmaster Jules Perrot, who was named Maître de Ballet (First Balletmaster/Chief Choreographer) to the theatre in 1842, began staging some of the era's greatest masterworks of the ballet, among them - Ondine (1843), La Esmeralda (1844), Catarina (1846), and the celebrated divertissement Pas de Quatre (1845). Other noted Balletmasters created works for the Ballet of Her Majety's Theatre throughout the period of the romantic ballet, most notably Paul Taglioni, who staged such works as Coralia (1847), and Electra (1849, the first production of a ballet to make use of electric lighting); and Arthur Saint-Léon - who staged such ballets as La Vivandière (1844), Le Violin du Diable (1849), and Stella (1850).
Nearly every new ballet that was produced on the stage of the theatre was set to the music of the famous Italian composer Cesare Pugni (who held the prestigious title of Her Majesty's Official Composer of Ballet Music from 1843 until 1850). To date, Pugni is the most prolific composer of the genre that has ever lived, having scored 312 ballets by the end of his life, as well as countless divertissements, incidental dances, and the like. Throughout the era of the Romantic ballet the theatre presented performances in which the greatest Ballerinas of the day participated - Marie Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi, Carolina Rosati, Fanny Elssler, Lucile Grahn, and Fanny Cerrito - all became legends of the dance while performing on the stage of Her Majesty's Theatre in the works of Perrot, Taglioni, and Saint-Léon.
Also, over the course of the 1840s, Dion Boucicault had five plays produced here: The Bastile, an "after-piece" (1842), Old Heads and Young Hearts (1844), The School for Scheming (1847), Confidence (1848), and The Knight Arva (1848). In 1853, Robert Browning's Colombe's Birthday played at the theatre.
The "Italian Opera House" part of the name was dropped in 1847 when Michael Costa, conductor at Her Majesty's, transferred his opera company to the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden after a management dispute. The auditorium of the Theatre Royal was completely remodelled and the theatre reopened as the Royal Italian Opera (now known as the Royal Opera House) on April 6, 1847 with a performance of Rossini's Semiramide.
By the 1850s, with the era of the romantic ballet at an end, all of the most noted personalities of the ballet - such as Perrot, Saint-Léon, Talgioni, and even the composer Pugni - flocked to the Tsar's resplendent Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia. Ballet in London went through a considerable decline beginning with the destruction of Her Majesty's Theatre by fire in 1867, a decline which lasted until the end of the 19th century. Ballet in London was not resurrected until the early 20th century when such dancers as Adeline Genée began performing. What was once the Ballet of Her Majesty's Theatre eventually moved to the Vic Theatre and soon took on the name of the Vic-Wells Ballet. Later relocating primarily to the Sadler's Wells Theatre, the company became known as the Sadlers Wells Ballet. Eventually the troupe began performing at the Royal Opera House and became the Royal Ballet, as it is known today.
After the fire of 1867, a third building was built in 1872, only to be demolished in 1892. As a result of the decline in ballet, the theatre presented mainly opera during this period. The fourth and current building, designed by C. J. Phipps, was opened in 1897. This building did not specialise in opera, although there were some operatic performances in its early years.
The facilities of the theatre naturally lent themselves to the new genre of musicals. Chu Chin Chow opened in 1916 and ran for an astonishing world record 2,235 performances (almost twice as long as the previous record for musical theatre–a record that it held for almost four decades). Major productions of plays with large casts were also performed at His Majesty's In 1922, 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 Follow the Girls (1945; 572 performances), Brigadoon (1949; 685 performances), Paint Your Wagon (1953; 478 performances), West Side Story (1958; 1,039 performances) and Fiddler On The Roof, which ran for 2,030 performances starting in 1967. Since 1986, Her Majesty's has been the London home of The Phantom of the Opera, the second longest-running West End musical in history (after Les Misérables).
The theatre also played host to two of the legendary Secret Policeman's Ball series of charity shows, organised by and starring such performers as Peter Cook, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Rowan Atkinson, and many more. The venue was also the setting for the popular ITV1 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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