Adelphi Theater (London)

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The Adelphi Theater 2007

The Adelphi Theater on the Strand in London's West End theater district is now a 1,500-seat musical theater . It was opened in 1806 and rebuilt three times in the same location.

history

The first theater at the place of Adelphi was called Sans Pareil . It was founded by the merchant John Scott and run by his daughter Jane Scott , who was a gifted theater writer and wrote about fifty plays. After Scott's departure in 1819, it was renamed the Adelphi Theater (after the Adelphi Buildings directly opposite, which gave the neighborhood its name).

An "Adelphi Screamer" by Jane Scott, 1816

The Adelphi was dedicated to the popular repertoire (that is, no tragedy and no ballet ) and had a license for pantomimes , comic operas and melodramas . The pantomimes were not mute, but rather large pieces of equipment with a lot of music, dance and burlesque jokes. The focus was usually on a comical figure like the harlequin . One of the most important authors was James Planché . The melodramas were usually crime plays such as those made popular by Pixérécourt in Paris. They were nicknamed "Adelphi Screamers" (roughly: "Adelphi shockers"). The stage versions of numerous short stories by Charles Dickens (which then had a similar status as the novel adaptations today) were premiered in this theater.

In 1858 the theater was rebuilt by the actor, dramaturge and manager Benjamin Nottingham Webster , already had gas lighting and now offered space for around 2000 spectators. The operettas that had suddenly become fashionable were also given here, such as Jacques Offenbach's Die Schöne Helena . Arthur Sullivan's first operetta ( Cox and Box , 1867) also premiered. In 1879 the Adelphi was acquired by Agostino and Stefano Gatti, the nephew of the entrepreneur Carlo Gatti, who immigrated from the Swiss canton of Ticino .

In 1901 the theater was renamed Century Theater . As before, it was mainly devoted to musical pieces, i.e. variants of the operetta, vaudeville and earlier forms of musicals . Speaking pieces in which, for example, Mrs. Patrick Campbell shone , were given less often. The current building was built in 1930 in the Art Deco style and was again called Adelphi . It was with the musical comedy Evergreen by Richard Rodgers opened.

In 1968 the theater and neighboring houses were saved from the threat of closure. In 1975 Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music was performed.

In 1993, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group bought the Adelphi and set it up for the premiere of Sunset Boulevard . The facade and auditorium were brought closer to the structural version from 1930. In 1998 the video version of the musical Cats was shot here. Today the theater is run jointly by Lloyd Webbers and the Nederlander Organization .

Productions (selection)

literature

  • John Earl and Michael Sell: Guide to British Theaters 1750-1950 , London: Theaters Trust 2000, pp. 96f. ISBN 0-7136-5688-3

Web links

Commons : Adelphi Theater (London)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ George Perry: "Sunset Boulevard": From Movie to Musical . Henry Holt, New York 1993, ISBN 0-8050-2927-3 , pp. 95 f .

Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 36 ″  N , 0 ° 7 ′ 22 ″  W.