Cambridge Theatre

Cambridge Theatre, London, in Earlham Street, at Seven Dials. This theatre, seating 1,275 on three tiers, opened in 1930 with Charlot's Masquerade, starring Beatrice Lillie. In 1934 the Comédie-Française gave a season, and in 1943 there was a revival of Shaw's Heartbreak House. Strauss's operetta A Night in Venice began a long run in 1944, while the successes of 1949 and 1950 were the revues Sauce Tartare and Sauce Piquante. Two long-running comedies were Verneuil's Affairs of State (1952) and William Douglas Home's The Reluctant Débutante (1955), Billy Liar (1960) by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, with Albert Finney, and the musical Half a Sixpence (1963) were popular, and in 1970 the National Theatre company appeared. Brian Rix took over the theatre for Michael Pertwee's A Bit between the Teeth (1974), and the musical Chicago transferred from the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, for a successful run (1979). After a brief attempt in 1984 to turn it into a home for illusion (as the Magic Castle), the theatre was closed until 1987, but scored a big success in 1989 with the rock-and-roll musical Return to the Forbidden Planet.