Dominion Theatre
Tottenham Court Road | |
Owner | Nederlander Organization |
---|---|
Designation | Grade II listed |
Type | West End theatre |
Capacity | 2,163 on 2 levels 2,074 (for WWRY) |
Production | Sister Act |
Construction | |
Opened | 3 October 1929 |
Architect | W & TR Milburn |
Tenants | |
Hillsong Church (Sundays, 2005-present) | |
Website | |
www |
The Dominion Theatre is a
In January 1981 it once more became primarily a live performance venue, and has since hosted many musicals, notably We Will Rock You which ran from 2002 to 2014. It also hosted the Royal Variety Performance seven times in the 1990s and early 2000s. It became a listed building in 1988 and after being saved from redevelopment, was sold to Apollo Leisure Group and subsequently to the Nederlander Organization. In the 21st century it has been extensively refurbished and renovated, including reclaiming spaces that had been turned into offices.
On Sundays
Building
Construction of the Dominion Theatre began in March 1928 with a design by W and TR Milburn and a budget of £460,000. The site was the location of the 1911 Court Cinema and the former
The theatre was intended primarily for
History
The first production at the Dominion was the Broadway musical
The Dominion had already been somewhat adapted to cinema use, with removal of cloakrooms and bars. In January 1933 it was sold to
After the war, the carpenter's shop, the upper floors of dressing rooms and the café were converted to office space.
In the 1970s, the Dominion returned to hosting concerts;
Since the early 1990s the Dominion has hosted several musicals including a new production of
The stage musical We Will Rock You, based on the songs of Queen and created by guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor together with British comedian Ben Elton, opened at the Dominion on 14 May 2002. Scheduled to close in October 2006 before embarking on a UK tour, it was extended indefinitely by popular demand and ultimately ran for 12 years, closing on 31 May 2014.[4][8][17][18] To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the production, in 2012 the theatre converted an area previously devoted to Judy Garland memorabilia into the Freddie Mercury Suite, which displays pictures from the Queen singer's lifetime.[19]
In 1999,
An extensive programme of refurbishment and restoration of the theatre was begun in the 21st century. In 2008 the area above the main foyer was reclaimed as 'The Studio', a rehearsal and audition space. In 2011 the original link to the building on Great Russell Street now known as Nederlander House was restored, providing theatre management offices and creating boardroom or conference space on the top floor where the 1929 plans had indicated a boardroom. In 2014, during a 15-week closure after the end of We Will Rock You, both the interior and the exterior were extensively refurbished, including restoring architectural features on the Tottenham Court Road façade, such as the gryphons, which are believed to have been removed in 1932, cleaning and replacing stonework and windows at the rear and updating much of the backstage facilities, including the flying system.[2][20] In 2017, renovations were completed with the unveiling of a new double-sided LED screen, the largest and highest-resolution projecting screen on the exterior of a West End theatre.[21]
Since re-opening on 16 September 2014 for the completion of renovations, the Dominion Theatre has been home to a number of short run musicals and spectaculars, including Evita (September 2014)[22] and the London premiere of Elf (October 2015).[23] From February to April 2016, it hosted a "re-imagined" production of Jeff Wayne's musical version of The War of the Worlds.[24] From March 2017 to January 2018, it housed An American in Paris.[25]
In addition to hosting musicals in recent years, the theatre was home to the London auditions of Britain's Got Talent and has hosted a number of regular charity events, including MADTrust's West End Eurovision (2012, 2013, 2014) and West End Heroes (2013, 2014, 2015), which brought together stars from current West End Shows, with musicians, from all the armed forces. The second event, in 2014, was hosted by Michael Ball.[citation needed]
The organ was separated from its console and for some years was in a church in Llanelli.[6] It was purchased by a collector in 2002 and is to form part of the collection of The Music Palace, a museum of cinema organs in Porth.[26]
Recent productions
- Time (9 April 1986 – 1988)
- Jackie Mason: Brand New! (22 March 1993 – 24 March 1993) by Jackie Mason
- Grease (15 July 1993 – 19 October 1996), (22 October 2001 – 3 November 2001), (10 May 2022 – 29 October 2022), & (2 June – 28 October 2023) by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey
- Scrooge (12 November 1996 – 1 February 1997) by Leslie Bricusse
- Disney's Beauty and the Beast (13 May 1997 – 11 December 1999) by Howard Ashman, Alan Menken, Tim Riceand Linda Woolverton
- Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake (7 February 2000 – 11 March 2000) by Matthew Bourne
- Tango Passion (21 March 2000 – 23 March 2000) by Hector Zaraspe
- Notre-Dame de Paris (23 May 2000 – 6 October 2001) by Richard Cocciante and Luc Plamondon
- We Will Rock You (14 May 2002 – 31 May 2014) by Queen and Ben Elton
- Evita (22 September 2014 – 1 November 2014) by Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Irving Berlin's White Christmas (8 November 2014 – 3 January 2015) by Irving Berlin
- Frozen Sing-Along (18 February 2015 – 28 February 2015) by Disney and Christophe Beck
- Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games (15 March 2015 – 5 September 2015) by Michael Flatley
- Elf the Musical (5 November 2015 – 2 January 2016), (14 November 2022 – 7 January 2023) & (15 November 2023 – 6 January 2024) by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin
- The War of the Worlds (February 2016 – April 2016) by Jeff Wayne
- The Bodyguard (15 July 2016 – 7 January 2017)
- An American in Paris (21 March 2017 – 6 January 2018) by George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin and Craig Lucas
- Shen Yun (16 February 2018 – 25 February 2018)
- Bat Out of Hell The Musical (2 April 2018 – 5 January 2019) by Jim Steinman[27]
- Big: The Musical (from 10 September 2019 for 9 weeks)
- Irving Berlin's White Christmas (15 November 2019 – 4 January 2020) by Irving Berlin
- Stephen Schwartz and Philip LaZebnik
- Dirty Dancing (21 January – 29 April 2023)
- The King and I (20 January – 2 March 2024) by Rodgers and Hammerstein
- The Devil Wears Prada (from October 2024) by Elton John, Shaina Taub and Kate Wetherhead
Hillsong Church London
Since January 2005,
References
- ^ a b c d "History of the Theatre: The Early Years". Dominion Theatre. Archived from the original on 30 May 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f "Dominion Theatre". Theatre London. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
- ^ Historic England. "Dominion Theatre (1379033)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ian Grundy; Ken Roe. "Dominion Theatre". Cinema Treasures. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
- ^ a b c d e "Dominion Theatre, London". London Theatre Direct. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ^ a b Chas Girdwood. "Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court Road, London & Compton Organ". Girdwood.com. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
- ^ Charles S.P. Jenkins. "Jackie Brown: Not Just a Theatre Organist: An Organist's Life for Me!". Stories of London. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Our History". Dominion Theatre. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
- ISBN 9781501370335.
- ISBN 978-0-415-72682-5.
- ^ "Bill Haley – Feb / March 1957". American Rock n Roll the UK Tours. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ "'South Pacific' Sets All-Time UK B.O. Record, Bigger Than 'Wind'". Variety. 3 October 1962. p. 25.
- ^ a b "History of the Theatre: The Rock and Roll Years". Dominion Theatre. Archived from the original on 30 May 2016.
- ^ Benedict Nightingale (4 May 1986). "Stage View: In London, Green Lasers and Red Smoke". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ^ a b "History of the Theatre: Ownership and Independence". Dominion Theatre. Archived from the original on 30 May 2016.
- ^ "Archive". Royal Variety Performance. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014.
- ^ "Queen musical We Will Rock You to close after 12 years". BBC News. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ^ "'We Will Rock You' to Close at the Dominion, May 31". Broadway World. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ^ "Fredie Mercury Hospitality Suite". Dominion Theatre. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ^ "Restoration". Dominion Theatre. Archived from the original on 30 May 2016.
- ^ "The Dominion Theatre, home to An American in Paris, completes £6M refurbishment". MrCarlWoodward.com. 7 August 2017. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
- ^ Dominic Cavendish (22 September 2014). "Evita, Dominion Theatre, review: an 'air of hollowness'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ^ Jacob Porteous (18 August 2015). "Full Cast Announced For Elf The Musical At The Dominion Theatre". London Theatre Direct. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ^ Holly Williams (19 February 2016). "The War of the Worlds, Dominion Theatre, London, review: Bombastic, bloated and accidentally hilarious". The Independent. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
- ^ "An American in Paris extends in the West End". 27 April 2017.
- ^ Lisa Baker (28 July 2022). "The Music Palace opens its doors to bring a theatre organ revival to Wales". News from Wales. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
- ^ Ben Tipple (1 December 2017). "Bat Out Of Hell is coming back to the West End". Ticketmaster UK blog.
- ^ Heather Preston (14 May 2020). "Hillsong UK considering shift, with large gatherings not expected till 2021". Premier Christian News. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
- John Earl; Michael Sell, eds. (October 2000). Guide to British Theatres 1750–1950. A & C Black. pp. 106–07. ISBN 978-0713656886.