The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. It is the most recent in a line of four theatres which were built at the same location, the earliest of which dated back to 1663. The theatre is currently undergoing refurbishment but, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England, the reopening of the building is rescheduled until 2 April 2021. Disney’s West End production of Frozen will open in the theatre in 2021.
About Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in brief
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. It is the most recent in a line of four theatres which were built at the same location, the earliest of which dated back to 1663. The theatre is currently undergoing refurbishment but, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England, the reopening of the building is, as of October 30, 2020, rescheduled until 2 April 2021. Disney’s West End production of Frozen will open in the theatre in 2021. Theatre is owned by the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. The first theatre on the site was built by Thomas Killigrew in the early 1660s, when theatres were allowed to reopen during the English Restoration. For most of that time, it was one of a handful of patent theatres, granted monopoly rights to the production of \”legitimate\” drama in London. It has been the residency of well known actors including; Edmund Kean, comedian Dan Leno, and the musical composer and performer Ivor Novello. From the Second World War, the theatre has primarily hosted long runs of musicals, including Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, 42nd Street and Miss Saigon, the theatre’s longest-running show. A glazed dome was built over the opening, according to one of Pepys’ diary entries, but he was not entirely effective at keeping out the elements at all. The dome had no in order to let in the light, so the audience had to sit in the audience pit, which had no roof to let out the light in the middle of the night.
The building was a three-tiered wooden structure, 112 feet long and 59 feet wide; it could hold an audience of 700. In 1791, under Sheridan’s management, the building was demolished to make way for a larger theatre which opened in 1794. The new theatre survived for 15 years before burning down in 1809, and it was replaced by a new building in 1812. The Theatre Royal is now owned by Andrew LloydWebber, the composer and producer of Oklahoma! and The Lion in Winter, among other musicals. It opened on 7 May 1663 and was known from the placement of the entrance as the ‘Theatre Royal in Bridges Street’ It went by other names as well, including the ‘King’s Playhouse’ and ‘The Theatre of London’ The theatre opened in 1674 and was the home of Nell Gwyn and Charles Hart, who performed at the theatre on a regular basis. The day after the Theatre Royal opened, Pepys attended a performance of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher’s The Humorous Lieutenant. He has this to say in his diary: The house is made with good contrivance, and yet hath some faults, as the narrowness of the passages in out and the distance of the boxes, which I am confident cannot hear; but it is well, only, for all other things.
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