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____________________________________________________________________________________________ Savoy Theatre, The Strand, WC2
Above - The Savoy Theatre during the run of 'Porgy And Bess' in October 2006.
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The Savoy Theatre is intimately connected with Gilbert
and Sulivan and D'Oyly Carte who originally became
partners whilst working at the Royalty Theatre
in Soho. D'Oyly Carte was the business manager of that Theatre Left - Programme for the 1954 season of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company at the Savoy Theatre. So the first collaboration between D'Oyly Carte and Gilbert and Sulivan was 'The Sorcerer' which they produced at the Opera Comique in 1877, which was followed by 'H.M.S. Pinafore' in 1878, 'The Pirates of Penzance' in 1880, and then 'Patience' in 1881. Whilst ''H.M.S. Pinafore' was on D'Oyly Carte became the Lessee and manager of the Opera Comique and as the lease neared its end he decided rather than try and renew the lease it would be better to build his own Theatre, and so it came about that the Savoy Theatre was built. The First Savoy Theatre was built by Messrs Patman and Fotheringham and designed by C. J. Phipps with its main entrance on the Embankment. The plot was a steep one stretching from the Strand down to the Embankment along Beaufort Street. In 1903, when the Savoy Hotel was built with profits from the Theatre, the entrance to the Theatre was moved to the Hotel's courtyard off the Strand, where it still is today.
The auditorium was on four levels, Stalls and Pit, Balcony, Gallery, and Amphitheater at the top with a capacity of 1,300. The stage was 60' Wide by 52' Deep. One of the last productions at the original Savoy was on the 21st of January 1929 when the Theatre was home to the premier of R. C. Sherriff's 'Journey's End' which launched the careers of Colin Clive and James Whale. Right - A programme for the premier production of 'Journey's End' at the Savoy Theatre in January 1929 - Courtesy Sally Stark. |
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The exterior of the earlier Theatre was kept but the interior was completely reconstructed to the designs of Frank A. Tugwell, and built by the Pitcher Construction Company. The decorations were by Basil Ionides. Originally this Theatre had its main entrance on the Embankment just as the first Theatre did, but this was soon moved back to the Savoy Hotel Canopy position where it remains today. Right - Rear elevation of the Savoy Theatre in 2006 - Photo M.L. The new Savoy was a far more modern construction and hailed at the time as being 'a really outstanding example of modern decoration applied to a public place on a commercial basis.' The new auditorium was on three levels, Stalls, Dress, and Upper Circle with a capacity of 1,138 and the new stage was much smaller at 29' 4" Wide by 29' 6" Deep. In February 1990, whilst the Theatre was being renovated, a fire started in the middle of the night in the auditorium and was soon to engulf the building. Everything but the stage and backstage areas was completely gutted and it looked as if the Savoy Theatre had come to its end as nobody believed that it would, or indeed could, be rebuilt.
Left - A Programme for 'Clive Of India' at the Savoy Theatre in 1934. Right - A Programme for Agatha Christie's 'Spider's Web' at the Savoy Theatre in 1954. During the renovation an extra storey was added above the Theatre to house plant machinery, a health club for the hotel, and amazingly a swimming pool above the stage. The renovation was carried out by Whitfield Partners who restored the original Ionides auditorium and decorations but added some alterations for modern requirements. All in all the renovation of the Savoy after a catastrophic fire is remarkable, first that it happened at all, and second that it was so meticulously done, leaving the Savoy Theatre to carry on into the 21st Century in style. The current capacity is 1,158.
Above - The Savoy Theatre during the run of 'Porgy And Bess' in October 2006 - Photo M.L. The Savoy Theatre still produces Gilbert and Sulivan Operas on occasion, and the Theatre is currently owned by The Ambassador Theatre Group Limited whose website can be found here. |
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Adelphi Aldwych Apollo Apollo Victoria Arts Cambridge Comedy Criterion Dominion Drury Lane Duchess Duke Of Yorks Fortune Garrick Gielgud Haymarket Her Majesty's London Coliseum London Palladium Lyceum Lyric New Ambassadors 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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and
both Gilbert and Sulivan had produced a one act cantata called 'Trial
By Jury' there. Together they formed a company called the 'Comedy Opera
Company' in order to promote the work of Gilbert and Sulivan, who had
previously had a work of theirs put on at the 
This
Savoy Theatre was the first Theatre to use electricity to light its
auditorium rather than Gas Lighting which was used everywhere else at
the time and later it was also used to light the stage. However Gas
Lighting was also installed in case the electricity failed.
Left
- A Plaque situated on the side wall of the Savoy Theatre.
The
Second Savoy Theatre was a rebuilding of the first and opened on the
21st of October 1929 with a production of Gilbert and Sulivan's 'The
Gondoliers'.
However
by 1993 the Theatre had been rebuilt, despite the fact that D'Oyly Carte
himself had long ago destroyed the original plans. The Theatres Trust
says 'the restoration is a triumphant example of what can be achieved
by a meticulous examination of fragmentary remains, coupled with research
and deductive skill.' 