The Palace Theatre was commissioned as an opera house in 1891 by impresario Richard D’Oyly and was originally known as the Royal English Opera House. C’Oyly Carte opened the Royal English Opera with a production of Arthur Sullivan’s Ivanhoe. However, after a run of 160 performances, expenses overrode profits and D’Oyly sold the theatre within a year. It was renamed the Palace Theatre of Varieties, and in 1912 it was the venue for the first Royal Variety Performance.
In 1925 the musical comedy No, No Nanatte opened at the Palace Theatre, ending with 665 performances, making it the third longest running musical of the time. In 1933 the theatre played host to Fred Astaire in Gay Divorce, his final stage appearance before he moved to Hollywood. The theatre also hosted the acclaimed Les Misérables in 1985, which ran for an astounding eighteen years until 2004, after which it was refurbished and then played host to illusionist Derren Brown.
Other notable productions include The Sound of Music, Cabaret starring Dame Judi Dench, Jesus Christ Superstar and Oklahoma! The Palace Theatre currently boasts seating for 1,383 and is at 109-113 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 8AY, close to the Leicester Square tube station.
