Apollo Theatre

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The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield and is located on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. The fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street, it opened on February 21, 1901 with an American musical comedy entitled The Belle of Bohemia.

The first London theatre of the Edwardian period, it was renovated by Schaufelberg in 1932, and a private foyer and ante room was installed to the Royal Box. The sculpted work on the stone fascia is by T. Simpson, the building is of plain brick to the neighbouring streets. The theatre has a first floor central loggia. Inside there is a three galleried auditorium with elaborate plasterwork.

Productions at the theatre included the first performances of Edward German's Tom Jones in 1907. George Grossmith, Jr. and Edward Laurillard managed the theatre from 1920 to 1923. Their productions included the stage version of George Du Maurier’s novel Trilby (1922) and Such a Nice Young Man by H.F. Maltby.

Selected production history

• Whispering Wires in 1927 with Henry Daniell as Barry McGill
• R. C. Sherriff's Journey's End (1928, with Laurence Olivier)
• I'm Not Rappaport (1986)
• Driving Miss Daisy (1988, with Wendy Hiller)
• Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell (1989, with Peter O'Toole)
• Terrence Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea (1993)
• Side Man (2000)
• the female version of The Odd Couple (2001)
• Arthur Miller's The Price (2003)
• Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (2006)
• Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke (2006, with Rosamund Pike)
• The Glass Menagerie (2007,with Jessica Lange)
• The Last Five Years (2007)
• Glengarry Glen Ross (2007)
• An Audience with the Mafia (2008)
• The Vortex (2008)

References

• Guide to British Theatres 1750-1950, John Earl and Michael Sell pp. 98-9 (Theatres Trust, 2000) ISBN 0-7136-5688-3
• Who's Who in the Theatre, edited by John Parker, tenth edition, revised, London, 1947, pps: 477-478.

External links

• Apollo Theatre History (Arthur Lloyd)
• Apollo Theatre History (Nimax theatres)

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Last updated on Sunday March 09, 2008 at 12:18:01 PDT (GMT -0700)
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