Everything about Lyceum Theatre London totally explained
The
Lyceum Theatre is a 2,000-seat
West End theatre located in the
City of Westminster, on Wellington Street, just off the
Strand. The present building was designed by
Samuel Beazley and opened on
July 14 1834. The building was unique in that it had a balcony overhanging the circle. It was built by the partnership of
Peto & Grissell.
History
Early years
The Lyceum Theatre was first built in 1765 on an adjacent site, and in the late
18th century, musical entertainments were given by
Charles Dibdin. Famed actor
David Garrick also performed at the Lyceum. Between 1794 and 1809, the building was used as a circus, brought by
Philip Astley when his
amphitheatre was burned down at Westminster, and then a chapel, a concert room, and for the first London exhibition of waxworks displayed by
Madame Tussaud in 1802. It became a "licensed" house in 1809, and until 1812 it was used for dramatic performances by the Drury Lane Company after the burning of their own theatre, until the erection of the new edifice. In 1816, Samuel Arnold rebuilt the house to a design by Beazley and opened it as "
The English Opera House", but it was destroyed by fire in 1830. The house was famous as the first theatre in London to be lit by gas and for hosting the London premiere of
Mozart's opera
Cosi Fan Tutti. During this period, the "Sublime Society of Beef Steaks," which had been founded in 1735 by theatre manager Henry Rich, had its home at the theatre for over 50 years until 1867. The members, who never exceeded twenty-four in number, met every Saturday night to eat beefsteaks and drink port wine.
In 1834, the present house opened under the name "
Theatre Royal Lyceum and English Opera House". Composer
John Barnett produced a number of works in the first few years of the theatre, including
The Mountain Sylph (1834), credited as the first modern English
opera (it was completely sung, with no spoken passages); It was followed by
Fair Rosamund in 1837,
Farinelli in 1839 and
Blanche of Jersey in 1840. In 1841–43, composer
Michael Balfe managed the theatre and produced National Opera here, but the venture was ultimately unsuccessful. The house then became associated with adaptations of
Charles Dickens's novels and Christmas books. For instance, an adaptation of Dickens'
Martin Chuzzlewit ran for over 100 performances from 1844–45 here, a long run for the time.
The Lyceum was later managed by Madame
Lucia Elizabeth Vestris and
Charles James Mathews from 1847–55, who produced
James Planché's "[fairy] extravaganzas" featuring spectacular stage effects.
Tom Taylor's adaptation of
A Tale of Two Cities, with Dickens himself as consultant, played in 1860, shortly after end of its serialisation and volume publication.
Charles Fechter, who managed the theatre from 1863–67 also favored spectacular productions. In 1866,
Dion Boucicault's
The Long Strike (his adaptation of
Elizabeth Gaskell's Manchester novels
Mary Barton and
Lizzie Leigh) was produced here.
Ethel Lavenu, the mother and grandmother of actors
Tyrone Power, Sr. and
Tyrone Power performed in a number pieces at the theatre in the 1860s.
W. S. Gilbert produced three plays here. In 1863, his first professional play,
Uncle Baby, premiered. In 1867, he presented his Christmas
pantomime, called
Harlequin Cock Robin and Jenny Wren..., and in 1884, he produced the drama
Comedy and Tragedy.
Irving years
Beginning in 1871, under manager
Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman and his wife,
Henry Irving appeared at the theatre in, among other things, many
Shakespeare works. Irving began with the French melodrama
The Bells, an instant hit in which he played the ghost-haunted burgomaster. The piece ran to sell-out crowds for 150 nights, which was an unusually long run at the time.
Charles I, in 1872 was another hit, running for 180 nights. In 1874, Irving played
Hamlet at the theatre, perhaps his greatest triumph, running for 200 nights. In 1878, after Bateman's death, Irving took over management of the theatre from his widow.
The Builder,
September 28 1878 reported that there was a difference between Irving and Mrs. Bateman regarding the personnel of the company at the Lyceum. "Mr. Irving is said to have told Mrs. Bateman that he was resolved to have actors to act with him, and not dolls, otherwise he'd no longer play at the Lyceum. The result was that Mrs. Bateman threw up the management of the theatre, and Mr. Irving takes her place." Mrs. Bateman became the manager of
Sadler's Wells Theatre.
Irving continued to star in plays there, especially Shakespeare, until 1902, engaging co-star
Ellen Terry for that entire period of 24 years.
Bram Stoker worked between 1878 and 1898 as business manager of the theatre, and Irving was Stoker's real-life inspiration for the character Count Dracula in his 1897 novel,
Dracula. Stoker hoped that Irving, with his dramatic, sweeping gestures, gentlemanly mannerisms, and speciality in playing villain roles, would play Dracula in the stage adaptation of his novel. However, Irving never agreed to appear in the stage version, although the play was produced at the Lyceum.
Irving and Terry began with
Hamlet in 1878. Their 1879 production of
The Merchant of Venice ran for an unusual 250 nights, and success followed success in the Shakespeare canon as well as in other major plays. Other celebrated productions included
Much Ado About Nothing,
The Lady of Lyons by
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1878),
Romeo and Juliet,
King Lear,
The Lyons Mail by Charles Reade (1883), the immensely popular
Faust by William Gorman Wills (1885, which even drew applications for reserved seats from foreigners),
Macbeth (1888, with incidental music by
Sir Arthur Sullivan),
Henry VII (1892),
Becket by
Alfred Tennyson (1893),
King Arthur by
J. Comyns Carr, with incidental music by
Sir Arthur Sullivan (1895),
Cymbeline (1896) and
Victorien Sardou and
Émile Moreau's play
Madame Sans-Gêne (1897).
When Irving and Terry toured America, as they did several times beginning in 1883, the theatre played works with many famous actors including
John Forbes-Robertson,
Mrs. Patrick Campbell,
Sarah Bernhardt and
Eleanora Duse. Martin Harvey, a pupil of Irving's played a season there in 1899.
Benoît-Constant Coquelin appeared as
Cyrano de Bergerac in the summer of 1898.
Later years
In 1904, the theatre was rebuilt and richly ornamented in
rococo style by
Bertie Crewe, retaining only the façade and portico of the original building. The theatre presented
music hall and
variety, in an attempt to compete with the
Palace Theatre and the
London Coliseum, but this wasn't a success, and the theatre soon returned to presenting drama. From 1909–38 the Melville Brothers ran a successful series of spectacular melodramas. In 1919, additional minor alterations to the theatre were made by Edward Jones. Between the wars, dramas played at the theatre for ten months each year, followed by Christmas pantomimes, including
Queen of Hearts in 1938. The Lyceum was the last London theatre to continue the early practise of concluding pantomimes with a
harlequinade, a free standing entertainment of slapstick clowning, juggling and tumbling. The tradition ended with the closure of the theatre in 1939.
In 1939, the
London City Council bought the building, with plans to demolish it to make room for road improvement. The theatre closed that year with a landmark performance of
Hamlet directed by Sir
John Gielgud (Ellen Terry's great nephew). The road improvement plans collapsed, and after the war, in 1951, it was converted to a huge ballroom and reopened by Matthews and Sons, as the
Lyceum Ballroom. Many big bands played here, including the
Oscar Rabin Band which performed frequently. In the 1960s and 1970s, the theatre was used as a pop concert venue and for television broadcasts.
The Grateful Dead,
Bob Marley,
Led Zeppelin,
The Who,
Emerson Lake and Palmer,
U2, and
Culture Club all played here.
Genesis recorded and filmed there in May 1980 for broadcast on the
Old Grey Whistle Test. The footage also appeared on the 2007 CD/DVD re-release of their 1980 album
Duke.
A proposed redevelopment of
Covent Garden by the
GLC in 1968 saw the theatre under threat, together with the nearby
Vaudeville,
Garrick,
Adelphi and
Duchess theatres. An active campaign by
Equity, the
Musicians' Union, and theatre owners under the auspices of the
Save London Theatres Campaign led to the abandonment of the scheme. In 1973, the theatre gained protection and was
Grade II* listed as
Interior despite adaptation and alteration for present ballroom use retains [a] substantial part of Crewe's work.
The theatre went dark in 1986, after the
National Theatre's promenade performances (in 1985) of
Bill Bryden's adaptation of the
Mysteries trilogy. Brent Walker leased the theatre during this time but later gave up his lease, and in 1996 it was restored and reconverted into a theatre for large scale musicals or opera (with a suitably large orchestra pit) by Holohan Architects.
The theatre has been home to the musical version of
The Lion King since
1999.
Recent and present productions
Travel
The nearest
London Underground station is
Covent Garden.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Lyceum Theatre London'.
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