 The Gaiety Theatre, c. 1905 | |
 | |
| Address | Aldwych Westminster, London |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°30′43″N00°07′07″W / 51.51194°N 0.11861°W /51.51194; -0.11861 |
| Capacity | 2,000 seats on four levels (1864) |
| Current use | The Silken Hotel |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1864 |
| Closed | 1939 (demolished 1956) |
| Rebuilt | 1868C. J. Phipps 1903 Ernest Runtz and George Ford |
| Architect | Bassett and Keeling |
TheGaiety Theatre was aWest End theatre in London, located onAldwych at the eastern end of theStrand. The theatre was first established as theStrand Musick Hall in 1864 on the former site of theLyceum Theatre. In 1868, it became known as the Gaiety Theatre and was, at first, known formusic hall and then formusical burlesque,pantomime andoperetta performances. From 1868 to the 1890s, it had a major influence on the development of modernmusical comedy.
Under the management ofJohn Hollingshead until 1886, the theatre had early success withRobert the Devil, byW. S. Gilbert, followed by many other burlesques of operas and literary works. Many of the productions starredNellie Farren. Hollingshead's last production at the theatre was the burlesqueLittle Jack Sheppard (1885–86), produced together with his successor,George Edwardes. Edwardes's first show,Dorothy, became a long-running hit. In the 1880s and 90s, the theatre had further success with a number of burlesques with original scores by the theatre's music director,Wilhelm Meyer Lutz, includingFaust up to Date (1888),Carmen up to Data (1890) andCinder Ellen up too Late (1891).
In the 1890s, the theatre introduced new style of musical theatre in London now referred to as theEdwardian musical comedy. These shows employed female dancers known as theGaiety Girls and were extraordinarily popular, inspiring imitations at other London theatres. A success in this genre wasThe Shop Girl (1894), which was followed by many "girl"-themed musicals. The building was demolished in 1903, and the theatre was rebuilt at the corner of Aldwych and The Strand. More hit musicals followed. When Edwardes died in 1915,Robert Evett, took over the management of the theatre and had a number of further successes, notablyTheodore & Co (1916) andGoing Up (1918). By 1939 and in need of refurbishment, the theatre closed and stood empty duringWorld War II. The building suffered extensive bomb damage duringair raids and stood empty until it was demolished in 1956.
The theatre was financed by ajoint stock company and built in 1864 as the StrandMusick Hall by Bassett and Keeling. This large theatre, with over 2,000 seats,[1] was built at a time when many new theatres were being built in London.[2] Unlike at many other music halls, the proprietors decided to ban smoking and drinking within the hall, and these activities were accommodated in the adjacent saloons.[1]
A novel gas lighting system was incorporated in the hall, using prisms and mirrors to create a soft light. Exhausting the heat of the gas jets drew fresh air into the building. The house was approached through an ambitious arcade, from the Strand. This was never successful and, with the theatre, was demolished to allow the building of theAldwych.
In 1868, the theatre was sumptuously rebuilt byJohn Hollingshead as the Gaiety Theatre (announcing its dramatic policy in its name), on a nearby prominent site at the centre of the Aldwych, facing the eastern end of the Strand.[3] It was designed by the theatre architectC. J. Phipps, who also designed theGaiety Theatre (1871) inDublin. A restaurant operated in the building, and patrons could eat before seeing the show and then go directly to their seats without having to worry about the weather outside.
The Gaiety Theatre opened on 21 December 1868, withOn the Cards and several companion pieces, including the successfulRobert the Devil, byW. S. Gilbert, aburlesque of the operaRobert le Diable.[4] The theatre was a venue primarily for burlesque, variety, continentaloperetta and light comedy under the management of John Hollingshead from 1868 to 1886, including several operettas byJacques Offenbach and musical burlesques arranged by the theatre's music director,Wilhelm Meyer Lutz. Gilbert also wroteAn Old Score for the theatre in 1869.[5]
Nellie Farren soon became the theatre's star "principal boy" in all the burlesques and played in other comedies. She and comicFred Leslie starred at the theatre for over 20 years, withEdward Terry for much of that period. Her husband,Robert Soutar was an actor, stage manager and writer for the theatre. A typical evening at the Gaiety might include a three-act comic play, a dramatic interlude, a musicalextravaganza, which might also include a ballet orpantomime (in the tradition of aHarlequinade). During such four-hour-long bills-of-fare, regular patrons might skip an item on the programme to eat in one of the theatre's plush restaurants, play billiards in the on-site Billiard Room or drink in one of its several bars.[5]
In 1870,H. J. Byron'sUncle Dick's Darling starred a youngHenry Irving. This was the last play that theatre buffCharles Dickens saw before his death. Irving also played in the popular and frequently played comical interlude,The Trial of Mr. Pickwick, with Gaiety favouritesJ. L. Toole and Nellie Farren, who playedSam Weller.[5]Thespis, the first collaboration betweenGilbert and Sullivan, played at the theatre in 1871, with Farren as Mercury andJ. L. Toole in the title role. Offenbach'sLes deux aveugles played in 1872, starringFred Sullivan. TwoDion Boucicault plays produced here in the early 1870s wereNight and Morning andLed Astray. Among other burlesques written by Byron for the theatre from 1876 to 1879,[6] he travestied Boucicault'sDon Caesar de Bazan asLittle Don Caesar de Bazan.[7] In the late 1870s, the theatre became the first to install electric lighting on its frontstage.
On 15 December 1880, the theatre presentedQuicksands, the first major English language adaptation of a drama byHenrik Ibsen. It was adapted by W. H. Vernon from Ibsen'sThe Pillars of Society.[8] Lutz andRobert Reece's version ofThe Forty Thieves was performed in 1880 (followingan 1878 charity production of the same story), andAladdin in 1881. In 1883,F. C. Burnand wrote a burlesque ofThe Tempest calledAriel for the theatre.[9][10]Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed was another 1883 burlesque. Hollingshead's last production at the theatre was the burlesqueLittle Jack Sheppard (1885–86), produced together with his successor,George Edwardes. Hollingshead called himself a "licensed dealer in legs, short skirts, French adaptations,Shakespeare, taste and musical glasses."[11]
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Edwardes's first show wasDorothy. AlthoughDorothy called itself acomic opera, as did most of the British musical works of the era that were neither burlesque, pantomime nor low farce,Dorothy incorporated some of the elements that US duoHarrigan and Hart were using on Broadway, integrating music and dance into the story line of the comedy. Edwardes sold that production, but it went on to become the longest-running hit that the musical stage had ever seen. Edwardes then returned the theatre to burlesque for a half dozen more years. However, in the 1860s and 1870s, burlesques were one-act pieces running less than an hour and using pastiches and parodies of popular songs, opera arias and other music that the audience would readily recognise. Edwardes expanded the format, adding an original score composed chiefly byMeyer Lutz, and the shows were extended to a full-length two- or three-act format.[12]
These "new burlesques" includedLittle Jack Sheppard (1885),Monte Cristo Jr. (1886),Miss Esmeralda (1887),Faust up to Date (1888),Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué (1888),Carmen up to Data (1890),Joan of Arc byAdrian Ross and J. L. Shine (1891) andCinder Ellen up too Late (1891).[13]John D'Auban acted as the theatre's ballet-master and choreographed the Gaiety burlesques and other pieces from 1868 to 1891.[14][15] ComedianE. J. Lonnen joined the Gaiety for many of Lutz's burlesques. After these, however, the age of burlesque was coming to an end, and with the retirement of Nellie Farren and Fred Leslie, it was essentially over.
ForJoan of Arc, Edwardes had hired a young writer,Adrian Ross, who next wrote a less baudy, more lightly comic piece, similar toDorothy, with a minimum of plot, focusing on songs with clever lyrics,In Town (1892), with stylish costumes and urbane, witty banter. Edwardes also engagedIvan Caryll as resident composer and music director at the Gaiety and soon put Caryll together with the writing team ofOwen Hall,Harry Greenbank, Ross andLionel Monckton. Edwardes and this team created a series of musical shows similar toDorothy, but taking its lighter, breezier style a step further. These shows featured fashionable characters, tuneful music, romantic lyrics, witty banter and pretty dancing. The success of the first of these,A Gaiety Girl (1893), which played at other theatres, confirmed Edwardes on the path he was taking.
For the next two decades, the "girl" musicals packed the Gaiety Theatre, including titles likeThe Shop Girl (1894),My Girl (1896),[16]The Circus Girl (1896), andA Runaway Girl (1898). These musicals were imitated at other theatres. A particular attraction of the Gaiety shows was the beautiful, dancingGaiety Girls. These were fashionable, elegant young ladies, unlike the corseted actresses from the burlesques. Gaiety Girls were polite, well-behaved young women and became a popular attraction and a symbol of ideal womanhood. Some became popular leading actresses. The young ladies appearing in George Edwardes's shows became so popular that wealthy gentlemen, termed "Stage Door Johnnies", would wait outside the stage door hoping to escort them to dinner. In some cases, a marriage into society and even the nobility resulted. Edwardes arranged with Romano's restaurant, on the Strand, for his girls to dine there at half-price. It was good exposure for the girls and made Romano's the centre of London's night-life.[11]
Alan Hyman, an expert on burlesque theatre who penned the 1972 bookThe Gaiety Years, wrote:
The building was demolished in 1903 as part of the road widening of the East Strand and the new Aldwych-Kingsway road development, and Edwardes quickly built theNew Gaiety Theatre at the corner of Aldwych and the Strand.The Orchid (1903) opened the new theatre, followed byThe Spring Chicken (1905),The Girls of Gottenberg (1907),Our Miss Gibbs (1909),Peggy (1911),The Sunshine Girl (1912),The Girl on the Film (1913),Adele (1914), andAfter the Girl (1914).
Perhaps to balance the "girl" musicals for which the Gaiety was famous, Edwardes also presented a series of "boy"-themed musicals, such asThe Messenger Boy (1900),The Toreador (1901, which introducedGertie Millar),Two Naughty Boys (1906),The New Aladdin (1906),Havana (1908). Later,George Grossmith, Jr. andEdward Laurillard produced a number of successes at the theatre, includingTonight's the Night (1915) andTheodore & Co (1916). Many of these popular musicals toured after their runs at the Gaiety, both in the British provinces and internationally.Leopold Wenzel conducted during the Edwardian period, leaving the theatre in 1913.[18]
Edwardes died in 1915, leaving his estate indebted and the theatre (as well as Edwardes' other theatres, includingDaly's Theatre), in the hands ofRobert Evett, formerly a leadingtenor of theD'Oyly Carte Opera Company.Manuel Klein was music director at the Gaiety for several years beginning in 1915. Under Evett's management, the theatre prospered with another hit,Going Up (1918), followed byThe Kiss Call (1919), andFaust on Toast (1921). In 1922, Evett produced Gaiety adaptations ofCatherine andThe Last Waltz, a work of which he was co-author. The same year, the revuePins and Needles opened starring the French beautyAgnès Souret and had a run of nine months before transferring to the Shubert Theatre, New York.[19] In 1924, Evett producedOur Nell, the revised version ofOur Peg.[citation needed]
Musicals continued at the Gaiety. In 1929,Love Lies, byStanley Lupino andArthur Rigby, starringCyril Ritchard andMadge Elliott, had a successful run at the theatre. In the 1930s, the theatre played works such asSporting Love (1934) by composer and pianistBilly Mayerl, also with Lupino, which ran for 302 performances. The last show at the theatre was the farceRunning Riot, in 1939.[11]
By 1938 the Gaiety Theatre was in need of refurbishment. However, the theatre no longer conformed to the then current licensing regulations, and so extensive modernisation was required. This was not considered to be financially viable and in 1939 the Gaiety Theatre closed. The interior fittings were stripped from the building, and sold at auction. Some of these interior fittings can now be found in the first floor Theatre Bar ofThe Victoria public house inBayswater.[20] Standing empty duringWorld War II, the building suffered further damage as a result of bombing duringair raids.
In 1946 the shell of the Gaiety Theatre was purchased byLupino Lane for £200,000. It was the intention to rebuild the theatre and make it, once again, a centre of musical comedy. Although restoration did commence, it was found that the structural problems were worse than expected and the work discontinued. The building was once again sold, resulting in it being demolished in 1956[21] and replaced by an office development.
From 2006, a new luxury hotel was being built on the site, the Silken Hotel, designed byFoster & Partners. At the rear, one of the walls of the old restaurant, which haslisted building status, was being incorporated into all the new development. However, work on the hotel was halted in 2008 when the developers went bankrupt.[22]
