 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Novello Theatre" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Waldorf Theatre Strand Theatre Whitney Theatre | |
 (2007) | |
 | |
| Address | Aldwych London,WC2 United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°30′44″N0°07′09″W / 51.512306°N 0.11925°W /51.512306; -0.11925 |
| Public transit |  Covent Garden;Temple |
| Owner | Delfont Mackintosh Theatres |
| Designation | Grade II |
| Type | West End theatre |
| Capacity | 1,146 |
| Production | Mamma Mia! |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 22 May 1905; 119 years ago (1905-05-22) |
| Architect | W.G.R. Sprague |
| Website | |
| delfontmackintosh.co.uk/theatres/novello-theatre/ | |
TheNovello Theatre is aWest End theatre onAldwych, in theCity of Westminster. It was known as theStrand Theatre between 1913 and 2005.
The theatre was built as one of a pair with theAldwych Theatre on either side ofThe Waldorf Hilton, London, both being designed byW. G. R. Sprague. The theatre was opened byThe Shubert Organization as theWaldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was renamed theStrand Theatre, in 1909. It was again renamed as theWhitney Theatre in 1911, before again becoming theStrand Theatre in 1913. In 2005, the theatre was renamed by its owners (Delfont Mackintosh Theatres) the Novello Theatre in honour ofIvor Novello, who lived in a flat above the theatre from 1913 to 1951.
The black comedyArsenic and Old Lace had a run of 1337 performances here in the 1940s, andSailor Beware! ran for 1231 performances from 1955.Stephen Sondheim's musicalA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opened here in 1963, running for nearly two years. In 1971, the comedyNo Sex Please, We're British opened here, remaining for over 10 years of its 16-year run until it transferred to theGarrick Theatre in 1982.
The theatre was extensively refurbished in 1930 and again in the early 1970s. It wasGrade II listed byEnglish Heritage on 20 July 1971.[1] AfterThe Rat Pack: Live from Las Vegas in 2005, its 100th anniversary year, the theatre was extensively refurbished. The currentseating capacity is 1,105.
The theatre reopened on 8 December 2005 with theRoyal Shakespeare Company (RSC)'s annual London season, playing to 4-week runs ofTwelfth Night,The Comedy of Errors,A Midsummer Night's Dream andAs You Like It, concluding in March 2006.
In 2006, the theatre played host to the London première of the Broadway musicalFootloose, starringCheryl Baker. Ending on 11 November, Footloose made way for the Royal Shakespeare Company's return season for 2006–7, following which the Broadway musicalThe Drowsy Chaperone made its European première on 6 June 2007. The London production starredElaine Paige, Bob Martin,Summer Strallen and John Partridge. The London production closed after a run of only two months on 4 August 2007 after failing to attract audiences, despite positive notices.
It was announced on 10 July 2007, just three days after the announcement ofDrowsy's premature closure that the theatre would be the home of a new musical version of the MGM motion pictureDesperately Seeking Susan with music byBlondie andDeborah Harry, directed by Angus Jackson, and starringEmma Williams and Kelly Price. The musical previewed on 16 October 2007 (originally 12 October 2007), receiving its world première on 15 November 2007. However, just two weeks after its opening, following a critical mauling, the show announced its final performance for 15 December 2007, having played just four weeks of previews and four weeks of open run, losing over £3.5 million.
A quick replacement came in the form of the cross-West End transfer ofShadowlands from theWyndham's Theatre, commencing 21 December 2007 for a 12-week run to 25 February 2008. Producer Phil McIntyre opened ZooNation's adaptation of the musicalInto the Woods, entitledInto the Hoods, on 26 March 2008.
The longest running show in modern times is Mamma Mia!, which premiered in 2012 and is still running in 2024.
This theatre is one of the 40 theatres featured in the 2012 DVD documentary seriesGreat West End Theatres, presented byDonald Sinden.[2]
In 2020, following the nation-wide lockdown due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, Delfont Mackintosh Theatres Ltd laid off most of the theatre's staff and in August 2020 they were facing redundancy.
Citations
Bibliography
