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Her Majesty's Theatre
Exterior of Her Majesty's Theatre, 2007
Address	Haymarket
City	Westminster, London
Designation	Grade II* Listed
Architect	Sir John Vanbrugh
Owned by	Really Useful Theatres
Capacity	1,148 on 4 levels
Type	West End theatre
Opened	1705
Rebuilt	1791 Michael Novosielski 1872 Charles Lee 1897 Charles J. Phipps
Previous names	Queen's Theatre King's Theatre Italian Opera House His Majesty's Theatre
Production	The Phantom of the Opera
www.rutheatres.com/venueinfo/hmt.htm
	Coordinates: 51°30′30″N Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{"°2′2″Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "�" / 51.508333, -0.131667°

Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, located on The Haymarket, in the City of Westminster. The theatre was the original home of the opera company that became resident in the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in 1847. The theatre has been home to a number of record-setting runs in theatre history, notably the World War I sensation Chu Chin Chow^[1] and the current production, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, which has played continuously since 1986.

The theatre was established by architect and playwright John Vanbrugh in 1705. Due to the patent theatre acts, serious drama unaccompanied by music was forbidden in all but a few licensed houses, and so this theatre quickly became an opera house. Between 1711 and 1739, over 25 George Frederick Handel operas were premièred here.^[2] In the early 19th century, the first London performances of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, Così fan tutte and Don Giovanni were presented at the theatre.^[3] It also hosted renowned resident ballet companies in the mid-19th century, before returning to hosting the London premières of such famous operas as Bizet's Carmen and Wagner's Ring Cycle.

The history of the theatre involves a series of struggles for control of its management and ownership, because several parcels of land had to be leased to build and expand it, and these separate leases, with varying mortgages and lease terms, caused ongoing disagreements among the owners and lessees. The current building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree. The new theatre hosted many premières by playwrights such as George Bernard Shaw, J. M. Synge, Noel Coward and J. B. Priestley. Since World War II, the theatre has principally specialised in hosting musicals.

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).

Contents 1 History 1.1 Vanbrugh's theatre: 1705 1.2 Second theatre: 1791 1.3 Third theatre: 1868 1.4 Phipps' theatre: 1897 2 Notes 3 References 4 External links

The end of the 17th century was one of intense rivalry amongst London's actors, and in 1695 there was a split in the United Company, who had a monopoly on the performance of drama at their two theatres. Dramatist and architect John Vanbrugh saw this as an opportunity and in 1703 acquired a former stable yard, at a cost of £2000, for the construction of a new theatre on the Haymarket. He raised the money by subscription, probably amongst members of the Kit-Kat Club, offering To recover them (that is Thomas Betterton's company), therefore, to their due Estimation, a new Project was form'd of building them a stately Theatre in the Hay-Market, by Sir John Vanbrugh, for which he raised a Subscription of thirty Persons of Quality, at one hundred Pounds each, in Consideration whereof every Subscriber, for his own Life, was to be admitted to whatever Entertainments should be publickly perform'd there, without farther Payment for his Entrance.^[4] He was joined in the enterprise by his principal associate and manager William Congreve, and an actors' co-operative lead by Thomas Betterton.^[5] The land was held on a lease, renewable in 1740, and ultimately owned, as it is today, by the Crown Estate. Building was delayed by the necessity of acquiring the street frontage, and a three bay entrance led to a brick shell 130 feet (39.6 m) long and 60 feet (18.3 m) wide. A rival, Colley Cibber, described the audience fittings as lavish but the facilities for playing poor.^[4]

Vanbrugh and Congreve received the Queen's authority to form a Company of Comedians on 14 December 1704, and the theatre opened as The Queen's Theatre on 9 April 1705 with The Loves of Ergasto, an opera by Giacomo Greber.^[6] The theatre proved too large for actors' voices to carry across the auditorium, and the first season was a failure. Congreve departed, and Vanbrugh bought out his other partners. However, the company had performed productions combining spoken dialogue with incidental music, and a taste was growing amongst the nobility for Italian opera, which was completely sung, and the theatre began to present these. As he became progressively more involved in the construction of Blenheim Palace, Vanbrugh's management of the theatre became increasingly chaotic, described as showing numerous signs of confusion, inefficiency, missed opportunities, and bad judgement.^[7]. On 7 May 1707, experiencing mounting losses and running costs, Vanbrugh was forced to sell a lease on the theatre for fourteen years to Owen Swiney at a considerable loss, and in December the Lord Chamberlain's Office ordered that "all Operas and other Musicall presentments be performed for the future only at Her Majesty's Theatre in the Hay Market", and forbade the performance of further non-musical plays there.^[4]

From 1709, the theatre was turned over to Italian opera and was sometimes known as The Haymarket Opera House.^[8] Young George Frederick Handel produced his English début here, Rinaldo, on 24 February 1711, featuring the two leading castrati of the era, Nicolo Grimaldi and Valentino Urbani. This was the first Italian opera composed specifically for the London stage. The work was a hit,^[9] but losses continued, and Swiney fled abroad to escape his creditors. John James Heidegger took over the management of the theatre and from 1719 began to extend the stage through arches into the houses to the south of the theatre.^[4] Following his personal success with Rinaldo, Handel presented a series of over 25 of his operas, performed under his personal direction, by a Royal Academy of Music (known from 1734 as the Opera of the Nobility)^[10] formed by subscription from wealthy sponsors, including the Prince Regent, to support Handel's productions at the theatre until 1739.^[6] Handel was also a partner in the management with Heidegger from 1729-1734, and he contributed to incidental music for theatre, including for a revival of Ben Johnson's The Alchemist, opening on 14 January 1710.^[11]

The theatre was originally named for Queen Anne and became The King's Theatre in 1714 on the accession of George I and remained so named during a succession of male monarchs who occupied the throne. At this time only a handful of patent theatres were permitted to perform serious drama in London, and lacking such a permit, the theatre remained associated with opera. In 1762, Johann Christian Bach travelled to London to première three operas at the theatre, including Orione on 19 February 1763. This established his reputation in England, and he became music master to Queen Charlotte^[12]

In 1778, the lease for the theatre was transferred from James Brook to Thomas Harris, stage manager of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, and to the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan for £22,000. They paid for the remodelling of the interior by Robert Adam in the same year. In November 1778, The Morning Chronicle reported that Harris and Sheridan had "at a considerable expence, almost entirely new built the audience part of the house, and made a great variety of alterations, part of which are calculated for the rendering the theatre more light, elegant, and pleasant, and part for the ease and convenience of the company. The sides of the frontispiece are decorated with two figures painted by Gainsborough, which are remarkably picturesque and beautiful; the heavy columns which gave the house so gloomy an aspect that it rather resembled a large mausoleum or a place for funeral dirges, than a theatre, are removed." But again, the expense of the improvements were not matched by the box office receipts, and the partnership dissolved, with Sheridan buying out his partner with a mortgage on the theatre of £12,000, obtained from the banker, Henry Hoare.^[4]

One member of the company, Giovanni Andrea Battista Gallini, had made his début at the theatre in 1753 and had risen to the position of dancing master, gaining an international reputation. Gallini had tried to buy Harris' share but had been rebuffed. He now purchased the mortgage. Sheridan (unwisely) placed the financial affairs of the theatre in the hand of William Taylor, a lawyer and, like so many of the theatre managers before him, was soon to be bankrupt. The next few years saw a struggle for control of the theatre, and Taylor bought Sheridan's interest in 1781. In 1782 the theatre was remodelled by Michael Novosielski, formerly a scene painter at the theatre. In May 1783, Taylor was arrested by his creditors, and a forced sale ensued, with Harris purchasing the lease and much of the effects. Further legal action transferred the interests in the theatre to a board of trustees, including Novosielski. The trustees acted with a flagrant disregard of the needs of the theatre or other creditors, seeking only to enrich themselves, and in August 1785 the Lord Chamberlain took over the running of the enterprise, in the interests of the creditors. Gallini, meanwhile, had become manager. In 1788, the Lord Chancellor observed "that there appeared in all the proceedings respecting this business, a wish of distressing the property, and that it would probably be consumed in that very court to which... [the interested parties] seemed to apply for relief". Performances suffered, with the box receipts taken to Novosielski, rather than given to Gallini to run the house. Money continued to be squandered on endless litigation or was misappropriated.^[4] Gallini tried to keep the theatre going, but was forced to employ amateurs, and the performance, described in The World as "the dance, if such it can be called was like the movements of heavy cavalry. It was hissed very abundantly". At other times, Gallini had to defend himself against a dissatisfied audience who charged the stage and destroyed the fittings, as the company fled for their lives.^[13]

The theatre burnt down on 17 June 1789^[6] during evening rehearsals, and the dancers again fled the building as beams fell onto the stage. The setting of the fire, in the roof, had been deliberate, and Gallini offered a reward of £300 for the culprit.^[4] With the theatre destroyed, each group laid their own plans for a replacement. Gallini obtained a licence from the Lord Chamberlain to perform opera at the nearby Little Theatre, and he entered into a partnership with R. B. O'Reilly to obtain land in Leicester Fields for a new building, which too would require a licence. The two fell out, each thinking to wrest control of the venture from the other. The authorities then refused to grant either a patent for Leicester Fields, but O'Reilly was granted a licence for four years to put on opera at the Oxford Street Pantheon (this too, burnt to the ground in 1792). Meanwhile, Taylor reached an agreement with the creditors of the King's Theatre and attempted to purchase the remainder of the lease from Edward Vanbrugh, but this was now promised to O'Reilly. However, the theatre needed to expand into adjacent land that now came into the possession of a Taylor supporter. The scene was set for a further war of attrition between the protagonists, but at this point O'Reilly's first season at the Pantheon failed miserably and he fled to Paris.^[4]

By 1720, Vanbrugh's direct connection with the theatre had been terminated, but the leases and rents had been transferred to both his own family and that of his wife's through a series of trusts and benefices, with Vanbrugh himself building a new home in Greenwich. After the fire, the Vanbrugh family's long association with the theatre was terminated, and all their leases surrendered by 1792.^[4]

The new theatre was completed in 1791, but the Lord Chamberlain, a supporter of O'Reilly, refused a performing licence to Taylor. The theatre opened on 26 March 1791 with a private performance of song and dance entertainment, but was not allowed to open to the public. By this time, a heavily indebted new theatre existed on plots of land that were leased by four different people on differing terms of revision. As a later manager was to write, "In the history of property, there has probably been no parallel instance wherein the legal labyrinth has been so difficult to thread." Meetings were attempted to reconcile the parties at Carlton House and Bedford House. On 24 August 1792 a General Opera Trust Deed was signed by the parties. The general management of the theatre was to be entrusted to a committee of noblemen, appointed by the Prince of Wales, who would then appoint a general manager. Funds would be disbursed from the profits to compensate the creditors of both the King's Theatre and the Pantheon. The management devolved to Taylor, and he finally escaped his own creditors upon his election as member of Parliament for Leominster in 1797. When parliament dissolved in 1802, he too fled to France.^[4]

Michael Novosielski had again been chosen as architect for the theatre on an enlarged site, but the building was described by Malcolm in 1807 as "fronted by a stone basement in rustic work, with the commencement of a very superb building of the Doric order, consisting of three pillars, two windows, an entablature, pediment, and balustrade. This, if it had been continued, would have contributed considerably to the splendour of London; but the unlucky fragment is fated to stand as a foil to the vile and absurd edifice of brick pieced to it, which I have not patience to describe.".^[14]

The first public performance of opera took place on 26 January 1793, the dispute with the Lord Chamberlain over the licence having been settled. This theatre was, at that time, the largest in England, and until 1794 it was the home of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane company, while that theatre was itself rebuilt.^[6] From 1793, seven small houses at the east side of the theatre, fronting on the Haymarket were demolished and replaced by a large concert room. It was in this room that Joseph Haydn gave a series of concerts, under the sponsorship of Johann Peter Salomon, on his second visit to London in 1794-5.^[4][15] He presented his own symphonies, conducted by himself, and was paid £50 each for twenty concerts, including the première of the Military Symphony.^[16] He was feted in London and returned to Vienna in May 1795 with 12,000 florins.^[17]

After 1794 the theatre returned to opera, hosting the first London performances of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito in 1806, Così fan tutte in 1811, and Don Giovanni in 1816. Between 1816 and 1818, John Nash and George Renton made alterations to the façade and increased the capacity of the auditorium to 2,500. They also added a shopping arcade, called the Royal Opera Arcade, which has survived fires and renovations and still exists. It runs along the rear of the theatre.^[18] Among the musical directors of this period was Nicolas Bochsa (1789-1856) the celebrated and eccentric French harpist. He was appointed in 1827 and remained for six years at this position.^[19] 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 début as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, also playing in other Shakespearean plays.^[20]

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 Europe aside from the Ballet of the Paris Opera. The great balletmaster Jules Perrot, began staging ballet at the theatre in 1830. He was named Maître de Ballet (First Balletmaster/Chief Choreographer) to the theatre in 1842. Among the great works of ballet that he staged were Ondine (1843), La Esmeralda (1844), and Catarina (1846), as well as the popular divertissement Pas de Quatre (1845). Other balletmasters created works for the Ballet of Her Majesty's Theatre throughout the period of the romantic ballet, most notably Paul Taglioni (son of Filippo Taglioni), who staged ballets including Coralia or The Inconstant Knight (1847) and Electra (1849 – the first production of a ballet to make use of electric lighting). Arthur Saint-Léon staged such works as La Vivandière (1844), Le Violin du Diable (1849), and Stella (1850).^[21]

The prolific Italian composer Cesare Pugni, was appointed Her Majesty's Official Composer of Ballet Music from 1843 until 1850. He composed the bulk of the ballets presented at the theatre.^[22] Pugni remains the most prolific composer of the genre, having composed over 100 original ballets and contributed to nearly 200, as well as numerous divertissements, and incidental dances. Throughout the era of the romantic ballet, the theatre presented performances by notable ballerinas, including Marie Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi, Fanny Elssler, Lucile Grahn, and Fanny Cerrito, all of whom achieved fame while performing on the stage of Her Majesty's Theatre in the works of Jules Perrot, Taglioni, and Arthur Saint-Leon.

Also, over the course of the 1840s, Dion Boucicault had five plays produced here: The Bastile [sic], 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.^[23]

In 1847, Michael Costa, conductor at Her Majesty's, transferred his opera company to the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden after a management dispute, and the theatre relinquished the sobriquette, Italian Opera House to assume its current name. 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 6 April 1847 with a performance of Rossini's Semiramide.^[24] At Her Majesty's, the Swedish operatic diva Jenny Lind made her English début on 4 May 1847 in the role of Alice, in Giacomo Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable, and performed for a number of acclaimed seasons at the theatre, interspersed with national tours, becoming known as the Swedish Nightingale.^[6]

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, Taglioni, 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.^[25] 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 Sadler's Wells Ballet. Eventually the troupe began performing at the Royal Opera House and became the Royal Ballet, as it is known today.

From 1862 to 1867, the theatre was managed by James Henry Mapleson, presenting Italian, French and also German opera, and promoting such singers as De Murska, Mario, Giulia Grisi and Christine Nilsson. With the destruction of the theatre, Mapleson took his company to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.^[26]

A third building was constructed in 1868, at a cost of £50,000, within the shell of the old theatre, designed by Charles Lee and Sons and their partner, William Pain. They had taken over John Nash's practice on his retirement. The new theatre used materials such as concrete and ironwork to reduce the future risk of fire. The auditorium had four tiers, with a stage large enough for the greatest spectaculars. For opera, the theatre seated 1,890, and for plays, with the orchestra pit removed, 2,500. However, as a result of a decline in the popularity of ballet, it remained dark until 1874, when it was sold to a Revivalist Christian group for £31,000.^[4]

Mapleson returned to Her Majesty's in 1877 and 1878, after a disastrous attempt to build a 2,000 seat National Opera House on a site subsequently used for the building of Scotland Yard. On the return of the company, all the fittings of the theatre had been removed, including the seats, carpets and even the wallpaper. £6,000 were spent on fitting out, and on 28 April 1877 it returned to theatrical use with the opening of Vincenzo Bellini's opera Norma. The London première of Bizet's Carmen occurred here on 22 June 1878, and in subsequent seasons the theatre hosted the Carl Rosa Opera Company and a programme of French plays and light opera. 1882 saw the London premières of Wagner's Ring cycle.^[6] Mapleson returned in 1887 and 1889, but The Times commented that the repertoire comprised "works that had long ceased to attract a large public, the singers were exclusively of second-rate quality, and the standard of performance was extremely low". Rigoletto was the last operatic performance given in the house on 25 May 1889.^[4]

With the rapid advances in theatre technology made during this period, this theatre quickly became outmoded and the sub-lease of the theatre, held by the Second Earl of Dudley, was also due to expire in 1891. The Commissioners of Woods and Forests (for the Crown Estate) desired the entire block on which the theatre stood to be rebuilt, except for the Royal Arcade, where the lease did not expire until 1912. Problems were encountered in obtaining all the buildings and in financing the scheme, but the theatre and surrounding buildings were demolished in 1892. Plans were commissioned from architect Charles J. Phipps for a theatre and a hotel. In February 1896 an agreement was reached with Herbert Beerbohm Tree for the erection of the theatre, at a cost of £55,000. The plans were approved in February 1897, and on 16 July 1896, the foundation stone of the new theatre was laid.^[4]

The fourth and current building opened on 28 April 1897. Tree built the theatre with profits from his tremendous success at the Haymarket Theatre, and he owned, managed and lived in the theatre from its construction until his death in 1917. For his personal use, he had a banqueting hall and living room installed in the massive, central, square French-style dome.^[27] This building did not specialise in opera, although there were some operatic performances in its early years. The theatre opened with a dramatisation of Gilbert Parker's The Seats of the Mighty. Adaptions of novels by Dickens, Tolstoy, and others formed a significant part of the repertoire, along with classical works from Molière and Shakespeare. The theatre also hosted the world première of J. M. Synge's The Tinker's Wedding on 11 November 1909^[28] and George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, with Tree as Henry Higgins and Mrs Patrick Campbell as Eliza, in 1914. Tree's productions were known for their elaborate and spectacular scenery and effects, often including live animals and real grass. These remained both popular and profitable, but in his last decade, Tree's acting style was seen as increasingly outmoded.^[29]

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).^[30] Major productions of plays with large casts were also performed at His Majesty's. Noel Coward's operetta Bitter Sweet enjoyed a run of 697 performances beginning 18 July 1929.^[31] J. B. Priestley's theatrical adaption of his own The Good Companions premièred on 14 May 1931.

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.^[32] André Previn's musical adaption of The Good Companions premièred on 11 July 1974, followed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Ayckbourn's initially unsuccessful collaboration, Jeeves, on 22 April 1975, which has since enjoyed considerable success. The Phantom of the Opera had its world première on 9 October 1986 at the theatre, in which Michael Crawford earned an Olivier Award, and the piece is still playing, having become the second longest-running West End musical in history (after Les Misérables).^[33]

John Cleese organised A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick), as a benefit for Amnesty International at the theatre in 1976, and it was broadcast as Pleasure at Her Majesty's.^[34] This was the first of The Secret Policeman's Balls, organised by and starring such performers as Peter Cook, Graham Chapman, and Rowan Atkinson.^[35] 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.

The theatre's current capacity is 1,216 seats, and it is owned by Really Useful Group Theatres. The building was Grade II* listed by English Heritage in January 1970^[27] and, between 1990 and 1993, renovation and improvements were made by the H.L.M. and C. G. Twelves partnership.^[36]

• Theatre History with much archive material
• Profile of the theatre and other Victorian theatres
• Who's Who in the Theatre, edited by John Parker, tenth edition, revised, London, 1947, p. 1184.

• Her Majesty's Theatre Official Site
• Page with seating plan from the owner, Really Useful Theatres
• Detailed architectural history of all the versions of the theatre - from the Survey of London
• Herbert Beerbohm Tree archive at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of Bristol

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