Venue Information
Cambridge TheatreAddress: 32-34 Earlham Street, WC2 9HU
Nearest Tube or Train: Covent Garden (Piccadilly line)
Nearest Buses: 1, 14, 19, 22, 29, 34, 55, 176
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Theatre Quick Facts
Date opened: 4 September 1930Designer: Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie with interior by Serge Chermayeff
First production: Charlot’s Masquerade by Ronald Jeans
Number of seats: 1,230
Theatre owner: LW Theatres
Theatre History
The Cambridge Theatre is a relative newcomer to the West End, opening in 1930.
Some of the most famous productions to play at the Cambridge include George Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House in 1943, Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall’s Billy Liar in 1960, Ian McKellen’s 1971 portrayal of Hamlet, Joan Collins in The Last of Mrs Cheyney, and Peter O’Toole in Shaw’s Man and Superman in 1980.
The theatre’s history began with a series of revues, including André Charlot’s Masquerade, plus a successful revival of 1066 and All That in 1937.
Audrey Hepburn starred in the chorus of Sauce Tartare in 1949, and comedy legends Peter Cook and Dudley Moore brought their Behind the Fridge show to the Cambridge stage in 1972.
Opera and Operetta at the Cambridge includes A Night in Venice (1944) by Johann Strauss; Lizbeth Webb as The Merry Widow (1963); John Hanson in Bernard Delfont and Emile Littler’s revival of The Desert Song (1968); Michael Denison as Pooh Bah in The Black Mikado (1975); Iolanthe and The Yeoman of the Guard in 1988; and Jerry Springer –The Opera (2003).
Musicals have also been a staple, from today’s Matilda The Musical, through recent shows includingAndrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton’s The Beautiful Game (2000), Madness musical Our House (2002), Fame (1995 and 2001), Chicago (1977 and 2006) and Grease (1996), to older shows One Mo’ Time (1981) starring Vernel Bagneris, Return to the Forbidden Planet (1989),Budgie – The Musical (1988), Sherlock Holmes – The Musical (1989), Harold Fielding’s successful production of Half a Sixpence (1963), starring Tommy Steeleand Bruce Forsyth, andNeil Simon musical Little Me (1964).
