1832: Moy's Music Hall 1863: Royal Standard Music Hall | |
.jpg) The Victoria Palace in 2022 | |
 Interactive map of Victoria Palace Theatre | |
| Address | Victoria Street London,SW1 United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°29′49″N00°08′33″W / 51.49694°N 0.14250°W /51.49694; -0.14250 |
| Public transit |   Victoria |
| Owner | Delfont Mackintosh Theatres |
| Type | West End theatre |
| Capacity | 1,557 on 3 levels |
| Production | Hamilton |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Official name | Victoria Palace Theatre |
| Designated | 23 June 1972 |
| Reference no. | 1238140 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1911; 114 years ago (1911) |
| Rebuilt | 2016 – 2017 (Aedas Arts Team) |
| Architect | Frank Matcham |
| Website | |
| Victoria Palace Theatre official website | |
TheVictoria Palace Theatre is aWest End theatre inVictoria Street, in theCity of Westminster. The theatre was designed byFrank Matcham in 1911 and was the last London theatre he designed before his retirement. The building was designated as a Grade II*listed building byHistoric England in 1972. It has been the West End home of the musicalHamilton since 2017.
The theatre began life as a small concert room above the stables of the Royal Standard Hotel, a small hotel and tavern built in 1832 at what was then 522 Stockbridge Terrace, on the site of the present theatre – not, as sometimes stated, on land where the train station now stands. The proprietor, John Moy, enlarged the building, and by 1850 it became known asMoy'sMusic Hall. Alfred Brown took it over in 1863, refurbished it, and renamed it theRoyal Standard Music Hall.
The hotel was demolished in 1886, by which time the main line terminus,Victoria Station and its new Grosvenor Hotel, had transformed the area into a major transport hub. The railways were at this time building grand hotel structures at their termini, and Victoria was one of the first. Added to this was the integration of the electric underground system and the building ofVictoria Street. The owner of the music hall, Thomas Dickey, had it rebuilt along more ambitious lines in 1886 by Richard Wake, retaining the name Royal Standard Music Hall.
The Royal Standard was demolished in 1910, and in its place was built, at a cost of £12,000, the current theatre, The Victoria Palace. It was designed by prolific theatre architectFrank Matcham, and opened 6 November 1911. The original design featured a sliding roof that helped cool the auditorium during intervals in the summer months.
UnderimpresarioAlfred Butt, the Victoria Palace Theatre continued the musical theatre tradition by presenting mainlyvarieties, and under later managements,repertory andrevues.[1] Perhaps because of its music hall linkage, the plays were not always taken seriously. In 1934, the theatre presentedYoung England, a patriotic play written by the Rev. Walter Reynolds, then 83. It received such amusingly bad reviews that it became a cult hit and played to full houses for 278 performances before transferring to two other West End theatres.
Intended by its author as a serious work celebrating the triumph of good over evil and the virtues of theBoy Scout Movement, it was received as an uproarious comedy. Before long, audiences had learned the key lines and were joining in at all the choicest moments. The scoutmistress rarely said the line 'I must go and attend to my girls' water' without at least fifty voices in good-humoured support.
A return to revue brought new success.Me and My Girl was a hit in its original production at the theatre, opening in 1937 starringLupino Lane. In 1939, songs from this show formed the first live broadcast of a performance by theBBC, and listeners could sing along toThe Lambeth Walk.[2] In early 1945, towards the end of the war in Europe, variety was presented under the stewardship ofLupino Lane. Headlining the bill from his radio series wasWill Hay, with his schoolboy retinue ofCharles Hawtrey andJohn Clark, and among the "turns" wasStainless Stephen, a comic acrobat comedian duo, and Victor Barna (then world championtable tennis player) giving an exhibition, who would invite audience members up on to the stage to see if they could beat him in ten points. From 1947 through 1962,Jack Hylton producedThe Crazy Gang series of comedy revues, with a glittering company of variety performers includingFlanagan and Allen,Nervo and Knox, andNaughton and Gold.
The long-runningBlack and White Minstrel Show played through the 1960s until 1972. In 1982, a production ofThe Little Foxes, sawElizabeth Taylor making her London stage debut. Another unusually long-running show at the theatre wasBuddy – The Buddy Holly Story, that played for 13 years in London, beginning in 1989 (transferring to theStrand Theatre in 1995). The theatre was purchased byStephen Waley-Cohen in 1991. After this, the theatre presented mostly revivals of well-known musicals. In 2005,Billy Elliot the Musical opened, garnering rave reviews andOlivier Awards.
At the opening in 1911, a gilded statue of ballerinaAnna Pavlova was positioned above the cupola of the theatre. This was taken down for its safety duringWorld War II, and was lost. In 2006, a replica of the original statue was restored in its place.[3]
In 2014, the theatre was sold toDelfont Mackintosh Theatres.[4] AfterBilly Elliot ended its run in April 2016, the theatre closed for a multi-million pound refurbishment. In December 2017, the Broadway musicalHamilton re-opened the refurbished Victoria Palace.[5]
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