 Spring Street facade | |
 Interactive map of Princess Theatre | |
| Address | 163Spring Street Melbourne,Victoria, Australia |
|---|---|
| Owner | Marriner Group |
| Designation | Victorian Heritage Register |
| Capacity | 1,452 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1854 |
| Rebuilt | 1886 |
| Architect | William Pitt |
| Website | |
| www.marrinergroup.com.au | |
ThePrincess Theatre, originallyPrincess's Theatre, is a 1452-seat theatre inMelbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1854 and rebuilt in 1886 to a design by noted Melbourne architectWilliam Pitt, it is the oldest surviving entertainment site on mainland Australia. Built in an elaborateSecond Empire style, it reflects the opulence of the "Marvellous Melbourne" boom period, and had a number of innovative features, including state of the art electric stage lighting and the world's first sliding ceiling, which was rolled back on warm nights to give the effect of an open-air theatre.
Located onSpring Street in Melbourne'sEast End Theatre District, the theatre building is listed by theNational Trust of Australia and is on theVictorian Heritage Register.[1]
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The site of today's Princess Theatre dates back to thegold rush period in 1854 as being a notorious entertainment district, when the Irish-American entrepreneur Tom Mooney constructed a barn-like structure called Astley's Amphitheatre.
It featured a central ring for equestrian entertainment and a stage at one end for dramatic performances. Its name echoed that ofAstley's Amphitheatre, nearWestminster Bridge,London. Its first lessee wasGeorge Lewis who staged a series of "grand concerts" there from 11 September 1854.[2] Lewis was forced into insolvency within a year and Mooney divested himself of the amphitheatre and the adjacent Mazeppa Hotel to one Samuel Boyle.
It was later leased by the actor-managerGeorge Coppin, who had already established himself as an actor at theQueen's Theatre, and would go on to build theOlympic Theatre (known as the "Iron Pot") on the corner ofExhibition andLonsdale Streets (the future site of theComedy Theatre), build the Haymarket Theatre and Apollo Music Hall, and lease (and eventually rebuild) theTheatre Royal inBourke Street.
In 1857, the amphitheatre was extensively renovated and the facade extended, re-opening on 16 April as the Princess's Theatre and Opera House.[3]Its first manager,John Black,[4] founded theTheatre Royal two years earlier.[5]
In September 1877L. M. Bayless, who had the lease on theQueen's Theatre, Sydney took a long term lease on the Princess's Theatre,[6] and had it extensively refitted, and reopened 28 December 1877 as the New Princess Theatre.[7]
By 1885, the theatre came under the control of "The Triumvirate", a partnership betweenJ. C. Williamson,George Musgrove andArthur Garner. The existing theatre had become rundown, and so the Triumvirate resolved to demolish the existing building.
The new theatre, designed by architectWilliam Pitt, interiors designed byGeorge Gordon, and built by Cockram and Comely, was completed in 1886 at a cost of £50,000. The design is in the exuberantSecond Empire style, and the theatre forms part of theVictorian streetscape ofSpring Street. The theatre re-opened, again, on 18 December 1886, this time simply known as the Princess Theatre, with a performance ofGilbert & Sullivan'sThe Mikado.
When completed, it featured state-of-the-art electrical stage lighting, as well as Australia's first sliding or retractable roof and ceiling which provided ventilation from the auditorium. The marble staircase and grand foyers were hailed as equal to that of theParis Opera, theFrankfurt Stadt and the Grand inBordeaux.
Williamson left the Triumvirate in 1899 to form his own company, and Musgrove continued operate the theatre until 1910. During his time in 1901 the open balconies were enclosed to form larger lounges known as 'wintergardens', which feature large Art Nouveau stained glass windows with depictions of various classical composers. This alteration was also designed by William Pitt.[8] The Princess came under a rapid succession of different owners until 1915, whenBen Fuller took control. Fuller then went into partnership withHugh Ward, and in 1922 they engaged the architectHenry Eli White to extensively renovate the building. A larger ground level foyer was created, and a new auditorium with fewer posts, in theAdam style, and the grand copper awning was added.[1] The New Princess Theatre reopened on 26 December 1922 with a performance ofThe O'Brien Girl.
The theatre was purchased from Fuller in 1933 byEfftee Films, the film production company ofFrancis Thring, the theatrical and film entrepreneur, who had his initials FT carved over the proscenium arch. He produced several musicals there including the Australian musicalsCollits' Inn andThe Cedar Tree, and made it the first home of his radio station3XY founded in 1935.[9]
When Thring died,Sir Ben Fuller andGarnet Carroll took over the lease of the Princess and in 1946 they formed another partnership forming Carroll-Fuller Theatres Ltd to purchase the theatre.[10]
After Fuller's death in 1952, Carroll assumed complete control.[10] For the following 12 years, often in association with other entrepreneurs, he presented an eclectic array of opera, ballet, musical comedy and drama, though he was constrained by the lack of an interstate circuit. At the Princess in 1954 he hosted the National Theatre Movement’s gala performance ofThe Tales of Hoffmann for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Other notable productions includedBallet Rambert (1947–48), the Old Vic Theatre Company withSir Laurence (Lord) Olivier andVivien Leigh (1948), the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company (1949), theVienna Boys' Choir (1954), the Chinese Classical Theatre (1956) and theSadler's Wells Opera Company (1960 and 1962). Carroll often staged elaborate American musicals—among themKismet (which he himself produced in 1954),The Sound of Music (1960),The King and I (1960) andCarousel (1964)—while they were still in their early months on Broadway, and tried unknown singers and actors.[11]
Carroll died on 23 August 1964 and ownership passed to his son, John Carroll. For some years he maintained the pattern set by his father, but in 1969 the family company, Carroll Freeholds Pty Ltd, leased the Princess to theAustralian Elizabethan Theatre Trust. Over time, the theatre was used less frequently, and the theatre fell into disrepair.
In 1986,David Marriner purchased the theatre and commenced a renovation and refurbishment to restore the building to its 1922 state, and improve its technical capacity. The refurbished theatre reopened on 9 December 1989 with the musicalLes Misérables, followed byThe Phantom of the Opera, which established a new record for the longest running show ever staged in Victoria.[12]
The Princess Theatre continues to be owned and operated by the Marriner Group as a venue for major musical theatre productions, includingBeauty and the Beast,Mamma Mia!,Jersey Boys andThe Book of Mormon.
The Australian production ofHarry Potter and the Cursed Child opened at the Princess Theatre in early 2019,[13] as the third location for the production after London andNew York. The theatre underwent a comprehensive internal and external refurbishment in 2018 in preparation for the production.[14] In its first year, the production was the most successful in the history of Australian theatre, with over 326,000 attendees. However, it was then forced to take a forty-nine week hiatus due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[15] When the production re-opened in February 2021, it was the first location to reccomence worldwide.[16]
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child closed on Sunday 9 July 2023, bringing to an end the longest-running play in Australian history.[17] The auditorium was then extensive restored back to the 1922 colour scheme.
The theatre has experienced several reportedghost sightings.[18]
On the evening of 3 March 1888, the baritone Frederick Baker, known under the stage name "Frederick Federici", was performing the role of Mephistopheles inGounod's operaFaust. This production ended with Mephistopheles sinking dramatically through a trapdoor returning to the fires of hell with his prize, the unfortunate Dr Faustus. As Federici was lowered down through the stage into this basement, he had a heart attack and died almost immediately.[19] He never came back onstage to take his bows, but when the company was told of what had happened at the end of the opera, they said that he had been onstage and taken the bows with them.[20] Since then, various people have claimed to see a ghostly figure in evening dress at the theatre. For many years, a third-row seat in the dress circle was kept vacant in his honour.[21]
Notable productions at the Princess Theatre include:
It has also been used as a venue for theMelbourne International Comedy Festival, including the stage showPuppet Up! in 2007.
37°48′39″S144°58′20″E / 37.810725°S 144.972169°E /-37.810725; 144.972169