Gaiety Theatre, London

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The Gaiety Theatre, London was a musical theatre in London's Strand and Aldwych area.

1 Beginnings
2 Hollingshead through Evett
3 Later years
4 The Demise
5 Further reading
6 External links

[edit] Beginnings

The theatre was first built in 1864 as the Strand Music Hall by Bassett and Keeling, and was subsequently rebuilt in 1868 by C. J. Phipps (who also designed the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin). A restaurant operated in the building, and patrons could eat before seeing the show and then go directly to their seats without having to worry about the weather outside.

[edit] Hollingshead through Evett

It was a venue first for burlesque, variety and light comedy, under the management of John Hollingshead from 1868 to 1886 (including Thespis, the first collaboration of Gilbert and Sullivan), and later of musical comedies, under the management of George Edwardes, from 1886 until his death in 1915, when Robert Evett took over.

Edwardes first show was Dorothy. Although Dorothy called itself a comic opera, as did most of the musical works of the era that were neither burlesque, pantomime nor low farce, Dorothy incorporated many of the elements that Harrigan and Hart in the U.S. were calling "musical comedy". Edwardes sold the production, but it went on to become the biggest hit that the musical stage had ever seen. Soon, Edwardes hired Adrian Ross, who wrote a similar piece, In Town (1892), with stylish costumes and urbane, witty banter. Then he hired Ivan Caryll as the resident composer and music director at the Gaiety and put Caryll together with the writing team of Owen Hall, Harry Greenbank, Ross and Lionel Monckton. Edwardes and this team created a series of musical shows similar to Dorothy, but taking its lighter, breezier style a step further. These shows featured fashionable characters, tuneful music, romantic lyrics, witty banter and pretty dancing. The success of first of these, A Gaiety Girl (1893), which played at other theatres, confirmed Edwardes on the path he was taking.

For the next two decades, the "girl" musicals packed the Gaiety Theatre, including titles like The Shop Girl (1894), The Circus Girl (1896), and A Runaway Girl (1898). These musicals were imitated at other theatres. A major attraction of the Gaity shows was the beautiful, dancing Gaiety Girls. These were fashionable, elegant young ladies, unlike the corseted actresses from the burlesques. Gaiety girls were polite, well-behaved young women, who were much sought after by the "stage door johnnies" of the 1890s--some of them becoming popular actresses or marrying into society and even the nobility.

The building was demolished in 1903, and Edwardes quickly rebuilt the New Gaiety Theatre. The Orchid (1903) opened the new theatre, followed by The Spring Chicken (1905), The Girls of Gottenberg (1907), Our Miss Gibbs (1909), Peggy (1911), The Sunshine Girl (1912), The Girl on the Film, Adele (1914), and After the Girl (1914). Perhaps to balance the "girl" musicals, the Gaiety also presented a series of "boy" musicals, such as The Messenger Boy (1900), The Toreador (1901), Two Naughty Boys (1906), and The New Aladdin (1906), Havana (1908), Tonight's the Night (1915), and Theodore & Co (1916).

Edwardes died in 1915, leaving his estate and the theatre in the hands of Robert Evett. Under Evett's management, another hit, Going Up, played at the Gaiety in 1918, followed by The Kiss Call (1919) and Faust on Toast (1921). In 1922, Evett produced Gaiety adaptations of Catherine and The Last Waltz, a work of which he was co-author. In 1924, he produced Our Nell, the revised version of Our Peg, at the Gaiety.

[edit] Later years

Musicals continued at the Gaiety in the 1930s, with works such as Sporting Love by well known composer and pianist Billy Mayerl.

[edit] The Demise

By 1938 the Gaiety Theatre was in need of refurbishment. However, the theatre no longer conformed to the then current licensing regulations, and so extensive modernisation was required. This was not considered to be financially viable and in 1939 the Gaiety Theatre closed. The interior fittings were stripped from the building, and sold at auction. Standing empty during World War II, the building suffered further damage as a result of bombing during air raids.

In 1946 the shell of the Gaiety Theatre was purchased by Lupino Lane for £200,000. It was the intention to rebuild the theatre and make it, once again, a centre of musical comedy. Although restoration did commence, it was found that the structural problems were worse than expected and the work discontinued. The building was once again sold, resulting in it being demolished in 1956 and replaced by an office development.

In 2006, the site of the Gaiety is once again being developed, with a new hotel being built on the land.

To protect the vista of the street in which it is located, one of the walls of the old restaurant has listed building status and has been incorporated into all the subsequent development.