The Lyceum Theatre is located on Wellington Street near Covent Garden in the West End.
This site of the present Lyceum Theatre was occupied as early as 1765 by a building housing an exhibition of paintings. From this sprang the Royal Academy. It was afterwards used for musical entertainments given by Charles Dibden, and later as a circus, brought by Astley when his amphitheatre was burned down at Westminster.
Between 1794 and 1809 the Lyceum was used as a chapel, a concert room, and for an exhibition of waxworks displayed by Madame Tussaud. Between 1809 and 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 opened it as the English Opera House, which was burned down in 1830. Four years later the present building was erected and opened under the title of the Theatre Royal Lyceum and English Opera House.
In 1840, Balfe undertook the production of National Opera, but despite its excellent chances of success, this enterprise was a failure.
In 1871, Henry Irving took over the theatre, and with his memorable performance in "The Bells" in that year, the Lyceum entered into a new Lease of life. "The Bells," with Irving as the ghost-haunted burgomaster, played to overflowing houses for 150 nights. His next success was in "Charles I," in the following year, which ran for 180 nights. This was followed by "Hamlet," in which Irving's popularity reached its greatest height. This great actor was associated with the Lyceum for over 25 years and one of his first acts as manager was to engage Ellen Terry for his productions.
December, 1885, saw the first night of "Faust" - the application for reserved seats would have filled twelve theatres, some thousands coming from Germany alone.
Irving constantly left for tours in America, and the boards were occupied by many famous people, including Forbes - Robertson and -Mrs. Patrick Campbel, Sarah Bernhardt and Elennora Duse. Martin Harvey, a pupil of Irving's played a season there in 1899. Coquelin, too, appeared as Cyrano de Bergerac in the summer of 1898. The history of the old Lyceum ends with 1902 when the interior was pulled down and reconstructed, the house being opened for a while as a variety theatre.
No account of the old theatre would be complete without reference to the "Sublime Society of Beefsteaks," the famous institution which had its home here for fifty years. It was founded by John Rich and dissolved in 1867. The members, who never exceeded twenty-four in number met every Saturday night to eat beefsteaks and to drink port wine.
In recent Years the Lyceum has become the home of popular drama for ten months in the year, and, even more popular pantomime during the remaining two. The present attraction is "Merry, Merry," the popular musical comedy presented by Messrs. Clayton & Waller.
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.[13]
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).[14] 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.
A proposed redevelopment of Covent Garden by the GLC in 1968 saw the Lyceum 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.[16] 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.[17]
The Lyceum 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
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