Princess Theatre, Melbourne

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Princess Theatre
Spring Street facade
Address
163 Spring Street
City
Melbourne
Country Australia
Designation Victorian Heritage Register
Architect William Pitt
Owned by Marriner Theatres
Capacity 1488 seats
Opened 1857
Years active 1857-
Current use musicals, opera
www.marrinertheatres.com.au/hireprincess.htm

The Princess Theatre is a 1488-seat theatre in Melbourne, Australia.

It is listed by the National Trust of Australia and is on the Victorian Heritage Register.

Contents

[edit] History

It was first erected in 1854 by actor-manager George Coppin, who would create Melbourne's theatre land. He already owned the Olympic in Stephen Street, installed gas lights in November 1855 into Astley's, and then he would go on to take over the Theatre Royal in Bourke Street.

The Princess Theatre is the second building on the present site - the first being Astley's Amphitheatre which opened in 1854 containing a central ring for equestrian entertainment and a stage at one end for dramatic performances. It was named in honour of the Astley Royal Amphitheatre, near Westminster Bridge, London

In 1857, the amphitheatre was renovated and the facade extended, then re-opening as the Princess Theatre and Opera House.

By 1885, the partnership of J. C. Williamson, George Musgrove and Arthur Garner, had been formed and they became known as "The Triumvirate", the business becoming known as J. C. Williamson's. The triumvirate resolved to build a new theatre.

Completed in 1866 to the design of architect William Pitt; George Gordon to design the interior; and Cockram and Comely as the builders; re-development of the Theatre took place at a cost of £50,000. The design is in the exuberant Second Empire style, and the theatre forms part of the Victorian streetscape of Spring Street.

When completed, it featured the world's first sliding or retractable roof and ceiling. It also featured state-of-the-art electrical stage lighting.

The theatre re-opened, again, on 18 December 1886, with a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. The marble staircase and foyer was hailed as equal to that of the Paris Opera, the Frankfurt Stadt and the Grand in Bordeaux.

On 26 December 1922, new owners, Benjamin John Fuller and Hugh J. Ward renovated and reopened the theatre, with a performance of The O'Brien Girl.

In 1987, David Marriner purchased the Princess Theatre; he renovated and had the 1922 origins documented, then 9 December 1989, the theatre re-opened with the musical Les Misérables, followed by The Phantom of the Opera, establishing a new record for the longest running show ever staged in Victoria.

[edit] Ghost sightings

Melbourne Princess Theatre in Spring Street
Melbourne Princess Theatre in Spring Street

The theatre has experienced several reported ghost sightings.[1]

On the evening of 3 March 1888, the baritone Frederick Baker, known as "Federici", was performing the role of Mephistopheles in Gounod's opera Faust. This production ended with Mephistopheles sinking dramatically through a trapdoor returning to the fires of hell with his prize, the unfortunate Dr Faustus. The audience was spellbound. As the audience held its collective breath as Federici was lowered down through the stage into this basement, he had a heart attack and died immediately. They laid him on the floor, lifeless, in his crimson vestments. He never came back onstage, never took the bows. When the company was gathered together to be told that Federici had died, they asked, "When?". Being told of what had happened at the end of the opera, they said, "He's just been onstage and taken the bows with us." Since then, many people who have never heard of the Federici story have claimed to see a ghostly figure in evening dress at the theatre. For many years, the third-row seat in the dress circle was kept vacant in his honour. [2]

When a documentary was made nearly 80 years later, by Kennedy-Miller in the early 1970s, a photograph of the film set revealed an ashen-faced, partly transparent observer. No-one on the set saw the figure on that day; only the photograph revealed 'the ghost'.

[edit] Use

Restored in 1989, the theatre is regarded as Melbourne's home for international musical productions, including:

It has also been used as a venue for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, including the stage show Puppet Up! in 2007.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The theatre ghost from the ABC
  2. ^ Graeme Blundell, Marvellous Meelbourne article in The Age, 27-28 August 2005

[edit] External links


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