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____________________________________________________________________________________________ The Prince Edward Theatre, Old Compton Street, Soho, London, W1 Formerly - The Radio Theatre / The London Casino / Queensberry All-Services Club / The Casino Cinerama Theatre / Casino Cinema
Above - The Prince Edward Theatre in February 2008, during production of the Tony Award winning Broadway musical 'Jersey Boys' which opened on the 18th of March 2008 - Photo M.L.
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The Prince Edward was the first Theatre to be built in London's West End in 1930 and was one of many which would open there the same year. The First was, as already mentioned, the Prince Edward on April the 3rd, then the Cambridge Theatre opened on the 4th of September, then the Phoenix on the 24th of September, and the Whitehall on the 29th of September. Then came the rebuilt Adelphi Theatre on 3rd of December, and finally the Leicester Square Theatre which opened on December the 19th. Quite a flurry of Theatre building for one year in the 1930s. |
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Right - A Pantomime Programme for 'Humpty Dumpty' at The London Casino in the 1940s.
The Theatre was 'Dark' for two years after the war began but in 1942 it became a 'Forces Theatre' called the Queensberry All-Services Club, and shows were put on for Radio Broadcasts. Left - A Programme for 'Latin Quarter' at The London Casino in 1951. The war over, in 1946 the building was converted back to a Theatre again, still with the London Casino name, and with some structural alterations it became home to mostly Variety productions including, in 1951, Robert Nesbit's 'Latin Quarter' (shown left and below), and annual Christmas Pantomimes put on by Emile Littler. |
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Above - Programme detail for 'Latin Quarter' at The London Casino in 1951.
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Left - A Pantomime Programme for 'Cinderella' at The London Casino in the 1940s. In 1976 a musical about the actor James Dean was staged at the Theatre. The troubled production, with words and music by Robert Campbell, was called 'Dean' but was not a success, although it was re-staged in Japan several times in the 1980s. Right - A Pantomime Programme for 'Mother Goose' at The London Casino in the 1940s. In 1978 the building had some refurbishment work done and was converted back into a proper Theatre again, and renamed back to its original name of the Prince Edward Theatre. The first production at the newly opened Prince Edward was the phenomenally successful 'Evita,' which opened on the 21st of June and ran for nearly eight years. |
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Above - A 1970s Seating Plan for the Prince Edward Theatre |
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The 1992 Refurbishment of the Prince Edward Theatre In 1992 The Prince Edward was given a total makeover when Bernard Delfont and Cameron Mackintosh spent over £3.3 million refurbishing the Theatre. This was achieved by the architect Nick Thompson and designer and colourist Clare Ferraby who were both working on behalf of the practice of Renton Howard Wood Levin. Andre Tammes of the Lighting Design Partnership was responsible for the exterior and interior lighting of the Theatre. Work on the refurbishment began on the 7th of September 1992 and was completed on Christmas Eve. The works included lowering the anti-proscenium by two metres and adding a concealed lighting bridge within it, adding acoustic paneling to the auditorium, enlarging the stage, recarpeting the auditorium, enlarging the bars, increasing toilet facilities, reconfiguring the stalls seating and retiering the circle seating. Six new boxes were added to the auditorium and parts of the ceiling were lowered, and the stalls walls were brought in to 'create a more intimate atmosphere'. At the same time the decorative lighting on the Grand and Dress Circle tiers was reinstated.
Above - The newly refurbished auditorium of the Prince Edward Theatre in 1993 - From a press handout by Delfont Mackintosh Theatres LTD. The Theatre reopened on the 3rd of March 1993 with a successful production of 'Crazy for You.' Following this 'Martin Guerre opened in 1996, and then this was followed by a five year run of the hit musical, 'Mamma Mia' before it transferred to the Prince Of Wales Theatre in June 2004. Right - The Prince Edward Theatre during the run of 'Mary Poppins' in October 2006. - Photo M.L. More refurbishment of the Theatre took place before the opening of 'Mary Poppins' which included improving the bar areas, front of house, and the dressing rooms. The Theatre became home to the musical 'Jersey Boys' in 2008 and continues at the Prince Edward today. The Prince Edward Theatre is currently owned and run by Delfont Mackintosh Theatres |
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Adelphi Aldwych Ambassadors Apollo Apollo Victoria Arts Cambridge Criterion Dominion Drury Lane Duchess Duke Of Yorks Fortune Garrick Gielgud Harold Pinter Haymarket Her Majesty's London Coliseum London Palladium Lyceum Lyric New London Noel Coward / Albery Novello Old Vic Palace Peacock Phoenix Piccadilly Playhouse Prince Edward Prince of Wales Queen's Royal Opera House Savoy Shaftesbury St. Martin's Trafalgar Studios / Whitehall Vaudeville Victoria Palace Wyndham's
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The
exterior of the Prince Edward Theatre was designed in the style of an
Italian Palace, and its foyer in the Art Deco style. Its auditorium,
designed by Marc-Henri & Laverdet, was built on three levels, Stalls,
Dress, and Grand Circles with seven boxes, and could seat 1,650 in comfort.
The Theatre was also equipped for showing films. The Theatre's opening
production however, was not a great success, 'Rio Rita' closed after
only 59 performances, and later productions such as 'Nippy,' which ran
for just 137 performances, and 'Fanfare' which ran for only three weeks,
were not received well, even the famous Josephine Baker failed to make
much impression in her London Debut at the Theatre. The Theatre was
renamed the Radio Theatre for a brief period between 1935 and 1936 and
then in 1936 it was bought by new owners for £25,000 and turned
into a cabaret restaurant called the London Casino. 
This
new venture saw the stage converted into a semi circular dance floor,
the understage converted to Kitchens, and the auditorium altered so
that the Dress Circle could be reached from the stalls by stairs, as
is common in Theatre conversions today. The building reopened on the
2nd of April 1936 as The London Casino and this was a great success.
In
1954 the Theatre was converted into a cinema, housing London's first
Cinerama screen, a giant curved screen of 64 feet, and was renamed The
Casino Cinerama Theatre.
In
1974 Bernard Delfont took over the Theatre and the London Casino was
reborn again as a Theatre and Cinema, with a conventional screen, at
a cost of £150,000. The new Theatre opened with a production of
the 
The
exterior of the Theatre was also partially redesigned in the 1992 refurbishment
and a new canopy was added.