Gaiety Theatre, London
C. J. Phipps 1903 Ernest Runtz and George Ford | |
Architect | Bassett and Keeling |
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The Gaiety Theatre was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand. The theatre was first established as the Strand Musick Hall in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre. In 1868, it became known as the Gaiety Theatre and was, at first, known for music hall and then for musical burlesque, pantomime and operetta performances. From 1868 to the 1890s, it had a major influence on the development of modern musical comedy.
Under the management of
In the 1890s, the theatre introduced new style of musical theatre in London now referred to as the Edwardian musical comedy. These shows employed female dancers known as the Gaiety Girls and were extraordinarily popular, inspiring imitations at other London theatres. A success in this genre was The 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, notably Theodore & Co (1916) and Going Up (1918). By 1939 and in need of refurbishment, the theatre closed and stood empty during World War II. The building suffered extensive bomb damage during air raids and stood empty until it was demolished in 1956.
Beginnings
The theatre was financed by a
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 the Aldwych.
Hollingshead years
In 1868, the theatre was sumptuously rebuilt by
The Gaiety Theatre opened on 21 December 1868, with On the Cards and several companion pieces, including the successful
In 1870,
On 15 December 1880, the theatre presented Quicksands, the first major English language adaptation of a drama by
Edwardes years
Edwardes's first show was Dorothy. Although Dorothy called itself a comic 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 duo Harrigan 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 by Meyer Lutz, and the shows were extended to a full-length two- or three-act format.[12]
These "new burlesques" included Little 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 by Adrian Ross and J. L. Shine (1891) and Cinder 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] Comedian E. 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.
For Joan of Arc, Edwardes had hired a young writer, Adrian Ross, who next wrote a less baudy, more lightly comic piece, similar to Dorothy, with a minimum of plot, focusing on songs with clever lyrics, In Town (1892), with stylish costumes and urbane, witty banter. Edwardes also engaged Ivan Caryll as resident composer and music director at the Gaiety and soon put Caryll together with the writing team of Owen Hall, Harry Greenbank, Ross and Lionel Monckton. Edwardes and this team created a series of musical shows similar to Dorothy, 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 like The Shop Girl (1894), My Girl (1896),[16] The Circus Girl (1896), and A Runaway Girl (1898). These musicals were imitated at other theatres. A particular attraction of the Gaiety shows was the beautiful, dancing Gaiety 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]
- At the old Gaiety in the Strand the chorus was becoming a matrimonial agency for girls with ambitions to marry into the peerage and began in the nineties when Debutantes were competing with the other girls to get into the Gaiety chorus while upper-class youths were joining the ranks of the chorus boys.[17]
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 the New Gaiety Theatre at the corner of Aldwych and the Strand.
Perhaps to balance the "girl" musicals for which the Gaiety was famous, Edwardes also presented a series of "boy"-themed musicals, such as
Later years and demise
Edwardes died in 1915, leaving his estate indebted and the theatre (as well as Edwardes' other theatres, including
Musicals continued at the Gaiety. In 1929, Love Lies, by Stanley Lupino and Arthur Rigby, starring Cyril Ritchard and Madge Elliott, had a successful run at the theatre. In the 1930s, the theatre played works such as Sporting Love (1934) by composer and pianist Billy Mayerl, also with Lupino, which ran for 302 performances. The last show at the theatre was the farce Running 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 of The Victoria public house in Bayswater.[20] Standing empty during World War II, the building suffered further damage as a result of bombing during air raids.
In 1946 the shell of the Gaiety Theatre was purchased by Lupino 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 by
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Arthur Lloyd Music Hall site (early history of the Gaiety) Archived 13 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine accessed 1 March 2007
- ^ Arthur Lloyd Music Hall site (on Gaiety) The Times 11 December 1868 Archived 13 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine accessed 1 March 2007
- ^ "Architecture: A city in flux brought to book", The Times, 11 December 2002
- ^ Digital Guide to Gilbert & Sullivan Archived 31 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine accessed 1 March 2007
- ^ a b c Stewart, Maurice. 'The spark that lit the bonfire', in Gilbert and Sullivan News (London) Spring 2003.
- ^ Lee, Amy Wai Sum. "Henry J. Byron"[permanent dead link], Hong Kong Baptist University
- ^ Includes a profile of the theatre and other Victorian theatres
- ^ "English first performances", Ibsen.net, 12 May 2004, accessed 8 February 2013
- ^ Review of Ariel, The New York Times
- ^ Information about Ariel, 1883
- ^ a b c Arthur Lloyd Music Hall site (on Gaiety) Cuttings Archived 4 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine accessed 1 March 2007
- ^ "Theatrical Humour in the Seventies", The Times, 20 February 1914, p. 9, col. D
- ^ Hollingshead (1903), pp. 40–64
- ^ "Mr. D'Auban's 'Startrap' Jumps". The Times, 17 April 1922, p. 17
- ^ Biographical file for John D'Auban, list of productions and theatres, The Theatre Museum, London (2009)
- ^ Hollingshead (1903), p. 74
- ^ Information about the stagedoor Johnnie marriages Archived 9 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Retirement of Gaiety Conductor", The Observer, 23 February 1913, p. 10
- ^ "Pins and Needles Here", The New York Times, 15 January 1922
- ^ "Victoria Public House - Official Listing". Historic England. Archived from the original on 6 September 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
- ^ "London land mark to be torn down", The New York Times, 13 July 1950
- ^ Arthur Lloyd Music Hall site (Images of the Gaiety) Archived 16 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine accessed 26 December 2008
References
- Hollingshead, John. Gaiety Chronicles (1898) London: A. Constable & co.
- Hollingshead, John. Good Old Gaiety: An Historiette & Remembrance (1903) London:Gaity Theatre Co
- Hyman, Alan. The Gaiety Years (Cassell, 1975) ISBN 0-304-29372-5
- Jupp, James. The Gaiety Stage Door: Thirty Years' Reminiscences of the Theatre (1923) London:Jonathan Cape
- Images & extensive information about the theatre
- Profile of the theatre and other Victorian theatres
- Historical images of the site of the Gaiety Theatre
- MacQueen-Pope, W. (1949). Gaiety: Theatre of Enchantment. W. H. Allen.
- Polianovskaia, Jana: "The Gaiety at St. Petersburg" in The Gaiety Annual (2003) pp. 30–34
- Article about marriage between Gaiety Girls and noblemen Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine