Historic year for West End theatres

An historic number of West End theatres celebrate important anniversaries this year, including 80th birthdays for three theatres in September.

A boom in theatre building in the Art Deco 1930′s has resulted in six West End theatres celebrating their 80th anniversaries in 2010.

September proves a particularly important month, with three theatres celebrating their 80th: the Cambridge Theatre on Earlham Street on 4 September; Charing Cross Road’s Phoenix Theatre on 24 September; and the Trafalgar Studios on Whitehall, formerly known as the Whitehall Theatre, on 29 September.

Already this year the Prince Edward Theatre has celebrated its 80th birthday on 3 April, and later in the year the Apollo Victoria Theatre will mark its 80th on 15 October and the Adelphi Theatre on 3 December.

Celebrations will include a charity gala for the Apollo Victoria on 10 October featuring the cast of the venue’s current show, Wicked, and past productions including Starlight Express.

Advisory Body, The Theatres Trust, commented on the anniversaries: “The West End theatres that celebrate their 80th anniversaries this year are among the UK’s best examples of art deco and moderne style venues. Each is distinctive and unique, built to appeal to a public eager for entertainment, plays, films, variety and musicals. It is a mark of their quality that they continue to do so to this day.”

2010 also marks theatrical milestones for a number of other venues, notably the 100th anniversary of the famous London Palladium on 26 December. A special Facebook page has been set up for the London Palladium’s centenary allowing theatregoers and theatre professionals to remember the historic venue. Also, on Radio 2 this autumn a two-part documentary series, The London Palladium Story, will tell the story of the theatre, narrated by Michael Grade.

Also this year the Peacock Theatre, originally called the Royalty Theatre, will celebrate its 40th birthday in June, and the former Leicester Square Theatre, now the Odeon West End cinema, will turn 80.

QUICK THEATRE FACTS

Adelphi Theatre

Opened: 3 December 1930

Designed: Ernest Schaufelberg, incorporating parts of the former Sans Pareil theatre

Location: Strand, London, WC2E 7NA Adelphi Theatre Map

First production: Ever Green by Benn W. Levy and Lorenz Hart

Current production: Love Never Dies

Apollo Victoria Theatre

Opened: 15 October 1930

Designed: E. Wamsley Lewis and W E Trent

Location: 17 Wilton Road, London, SW1V 1LL Apollo Victoria Theatre Map

First production: originally opened as a cinema (film: George Arlis in Old English)

Current production: Wicked

Cambridge Theatre

Opened: 4 September 1930

Designed: Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie with Serge Chermayeff

Location: Earlham Street, London, WC2 9HU Cambridge Theatre Map

First production: Charlot’s Masquerade by Ronald Jeans

Current production: Chicago

London Palladium

Opened: 26 December 1910

Designed: Frank Matcham

Location: London Palladium, Argyll Street, London, W1F 7TF London Palladium Map

First production: A Variety Show and one act play called The Conspiracy.

Current production: Sister Act

Peacock Theatre

Opened: June 1960

Designed: Lewis Solomon and Kaye and Partners

Location: Portugal Street, London, WC2A 2HT Peacock Theatre Map

First production: opened as a cinema

Current productions: include La Boheme, Euridice

Phoenix Theatre

Opened: 24 September 1930

Designed: Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Bertie Crew, and Cecil Masey, with Theodore Komisarjevsky

Location: Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H 0JP Phoenix Theatre Map

First production: Noel Coward’s Private Lives

Current production: Blood Brothers

Prince Edward

Opened: 3 April 1930

Designed: Edward A. Stone with Marc-Henri and Laverdet and Gaston Laverdet

Location: Old Compton Street, London, W1D 4HS Prince Edward Theatre Map

First production: Rio Rita by Harry Tierney

Current production: Jersey Boys

Trafalgar Studios

Opened: 29 September 1930

Designed: Edward A. Stone with Marc-Henri and Laverdet and Gaston Laverdet

Location: Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY Trafalgar Studios Map

First production: The Way To Treat A Woman by Walter Hackett

Current productions: include Shirley Valentine, Educating Rita, State Fair

LINKS:

The Theatres Trust

Arthur Lloyd website

Blood Brothers tickets at the Phoenix Theatre starring Marti Pellow

Willy Russell’s award-winning musical about Liverpudlian twins separated at birth, now starring Wet Wet Wet’s Marti Pellow.

Mel C Triumphs in Blood Brothers

Former Spice Girl Melanie C made her stage debut in front of West End critics this week playing the lead role in Blood Brothers, and has been hailed a triumph.

The pop star took the role of Mrs Johnstone in Willy Russell’s emotional and powerful musical set in Liverpool. The show has been running for 21 years in the West End, most recently at the Phoenix Theatre.

Fiona Mountford from the Evening Standard said that the show “rings out as a rich, detailed and desperately moving piece of work”, largely thanks to Melanie C’s “terrific stage debut”. Along with praise for her singing, “Mel C delicately captures every changing tone”, her acting is also commended, “the arc she traces as the indomitable matriarch is strong and sure, with her climactic anguish so evidently felt that it’s almost unwatchable.”

Charles Spencer of the Telegraph said that she is “absolutely sensational… Melanie C gives one of those performances that grips with its emotional truth from the start and never loosens its grip. In every scene she seems to be living spontaneously in the moment, she sings with superb power and feeling, and ranges from warm comedy to the bitter depths of anguish.”

The overall production also fared well with the critics, with Spencer saying that, “Bill Kenwright’s production remains fresh and intense and leaves no doubt that the show belongs among the greats of British musical theatre”.

Evening Standard – Fiona Mountford

Telegraph – Charles Spencer

Save up to Half Price on Tickets to Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre

Blood Brothers – Half Price

Save Half Price on tickets to see Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre in London

Written by the legendary Willy Russell, Blood Brothers tells the captivating and moving tale of twins who, separated at birth, grow up on opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with tragic consequences.

The incredible score includes Bright New Day, Marilyn Monroe and the emotionally charged hit Tell Me It’s Not True. Hailed as one of the best musicals of all time – scooping up no less than four awards for best musical in London and seven Tony Award nominations on Broadway – Blood Brothers is celebrating 21 years in London’s West End.

Westendtheatre.com users can now save Half Price on tickets to see Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre in London

“A MIRACLE! STILL UNMISSABLE AND UNBEATABLE” The Spectator.

“GRIPPING, GRITTY AND SUPERBLY HUMMABLE – IT’S A MUST!” Mail On Sunday.

“THE BEST MUSICAL IN THE WEST END” The Mirror.

Book tickets to Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre in London

Spice Girl to join Blood Brothers

Melanie Chisholm, otherwise known as Sporty Spice from the Spice Girls, is to make her West End debut next month in Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre.

Playing the lead role of Mrs Johnstone, Mel C, 35, joins a roll call of famous theatrical ladies who have played the part including Barbara Dickson, Petula Clark, Kiki Dee and currently X-Factor runner-up Nikki Evans.

Willy Russell’s dramatic musical about a pair of twins from Liverpool who are separated at birth only to cross paths later in life has run successfully at the Phoenix Theatre since 1991 and remains one of London’s most popular and successful shows.

Mel C will start performances on 26 October.

Save £29 on tickets to Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre

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