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London Palladium

The London Palladium (/pəˈldiˌʊm/) is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in Soho. The auditorium holds 2,286 people. Hundreds of stars have played there, many with televised performances. Between 1955 and 1969 Sunday Night at the London Palladium was staged at the venue, produced for the ITV network. The show included a performance by the Beatles on 13 October 1963. One national paper's headlines in the following days coined the term "Beatlemania" to describe the increasingly hysterical interest in the band.[3]

Address

Argyll Street
London, W1
United Kingdom

2,286[2]

26 December 1910 (1910-12-26)
17 May 2021 (2021-05-17)

1926 – present

While the theatre hosts resident shows, it is also able to host one-off performances, such as concerts, TV specials and Christmas pantomimes. It has hosted the Royal Variety Performance 43 times, most recently in 2019.

Architecture[edit]

Walter Gibbons, an early moving-pictures manager, built the Palladium in 1910 to compete with Sir Edward Moss's London Hippodrome and Sir Oswald Stoll's London Coliseum. The facade (on the site of Argyll House, demolished in the 1860s,[4] from which the pub opposite took the name The Argyll Arms), dates back to the 19th century. Formerly it was a temporary wooden building called Corinthian Bazaar, which featured an aviary and aimed to attract customers from the recently closed Pantheon Bazaar (now the site of Marks & Spencers) in Oxford Street. The theatre was rebuilt a year later by Fredrick Hengler, the son of a tightrope walker, as a circus arena for entertainments that included promenade concerts, pantomimes and an aquatic display in a flooded ring. It then became the National Skating Palace – a skating rink with real ice. However, the rink failed and the Palladium was redesigned by Frank Matcham, a famous theatrical architect who also designed the Coliseum, on the site that had previously housed Hengler's Circus.


The theatre retains many of its original features and was Grade II* listed in September 1960.[5] The building now carries Heritage Foundation commemorative plaques honouring Lew Grade and Frankie Vaughan.


The Palladium had its own telephone system so the occupants of boxes could call one another. It also had a revolving stage.

History[edit]

1910 to 1928[edit]

The theatre started out as The Palladium, a premier venue for variety performances. Pantomimes were also featured there. In 1926, the pantomime starred Lennie Dean as Cinderella, footage of which remains to this day. The theatre is especially linked to the Royal Variety Performances, where many were, and still are, held. In 1928, for three months the Palladium also ran as a cinema. Following this 'cine-variety' episode the theatre fell dark for a short period in the autumn of 1928.

The George Black era[edit]

From 3 September 1928, the Palladium reopened under the directorship of the impresario/producer George Black as part of the General Theatre Corporation (GTC). When Black took control the theatre was close to bankruptcy. He revived its fortunes by returning to the original ethos of the Palladium by staging large variety shows, with a capital 'V' – and as well as headlining Britain's homegrown acts he brought over big American stars such as Duke Ellington and his Orchestra (on 12 June 1933, his first ever concert hall performance),[6] Adelaide Hall, Louis Armstrong and Ethel Waters for two-week engagements.[7] Before too long, under Black's management the Palladium was soon gaining praise again as 'The World's Leading Variety Theatre'. In 1935, Black initiated the Crazy Gang revues at the Palladium (for which he is chiefly remembered) with Life Begins at Oxford Circus.[8] The revues continued at the Palladium as an annual event until they transferred to the Victoria Palace theatre in 1940. Black managed the Palladium until his death in 1945.


The climax of the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock spy thriller The 39 Steps was filmed at the Palladium.

1991–93:

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

1994–98:

Oliver!

1998–2000:

Saturday Night Fever

2000–02:

The King and I

Guide to British Theatres 1750–1950, John Earl and Michael Sell pp. 122–3 (Theatres Trust, 2000)  0-7136-5688-3

ISBN

The Official London Palladium Site

from Television Heaven's Sunday Night at the London Palladium

History of the London Palladium

It's Behind You

The Palladium Pantomimes

Survey of London, vols 31 and 32 (1963)

Building history

Theatre History with many pictures and original Programmes; Music Hall and Theatre History Site – Dedicated to Arthur Lloyd, 1839 – 1904

London Palladium

by Donald Auty, Music Hall and Theatre History Site – Dedicated to Arthur Lloyd, 1839 – 1904

Moss Empires' Theatres in the Fifties