Opera Comique (London)

Theater poster for the world premiere of HMS Pinafore at Opera Comique, 1878

Opera Comique was a theater building in London that was located between Wych Street and Holywell Street and had entrances on the east beach . The building opened in 1870 and demolished in 1902.

The theater is known for its premiere of Gilbert and Sullivan - operetta The Sorcerer (1877), HMS Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1880) and Patience (1881). After the later so-called Savoy Operas were performed in the Savoy Theater , built by Richard D'Oyly Carte , the theater's revenues declined. The building was rebuilt in 1895 and closed four years later. It was demolished in 1902 when the many slums in the area gave way to Kingsway and Aldwych .

literature

• SJ Adair Fitz-Gerald: The Story of the Savoy Opera in Gilbert and Sullivan Days . D. Appleton And Company, New York 1925
• JP Wearing: The London West End Theater in the 1890s. Educational Theater Journal 29, 3 (Oct. 1977): 320-332, ISSN  0013-1989

Web links

• “Theaters in Victorian London” on The Victorian Web
• “The Opera Comique, East Strand, London” on arthurlloyd.co.uk

Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 47 "  N , 0 ° 7 ′ 7"  W.