Savoy Theatre

Savoy Theatre, London, in Beaufort Buildings in the Strand. Built to provide a permanent new home for the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan, this theatre seated about 1,000 in four tiers, and with its delicate colouring and new electric lighting was considered revolutionary. It opened in 1881 with Patience, transferred from the Opera Comique, and gave its name to the whole series of Gilbert and Sullivan collaborations, most of which were seen there, as were Merrie England (1901) and The Princess of Kensington (1903), both with music by Edward German. In 1907 Granville-Barker and J. E. Vedrenne, fresh from their successful seasons at the Royal Court, staged the first London production of Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra, and from 1912 to 1914 a number of Shakespeare revivals. The popular children's play Where the Rainbow Ends had its first performance there in 1911. Later productions included Coward's The Young Idea (1923), Van Druten's Young Woodley (1928), and Sherriff's Journey's End (1929). The building was then closed for reconstruction. The new theatre, seating 1,121 in three tiers, opened in 1929 with a revival of The Gondoliers, and in 1930 staged Othello with Paul Robeson. During the next decade it was used mainly for transfers, but The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941) by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart had a long run, as did two American comedies based on volumes of short stories, Ruth McKenney's My Sister Eileen (1943) and Clarence Day's Life with Father (1947), Coward's Relative Values (1951) with Gladys Cooper, and Agatha Christie's Spider's Web (1954). Other successes included Alec Coppel's The Gazebo (1960), Coward's musical Sail Away! (1962), Ronald Millar's The Masters (1963), and The Secretary Bird (1968) by William Douglas Home, who had a further success in 1972 with Lloyd George Knew My Father starring Peggy Ashcroft and Ralph Richardson. Agatha Christie's Murder at the Vicarage began a long run in 1975. Robert Morley starred in a revival of Ben Travers's Banana Ridge in 1976, the RSC's production of Shaw's Man and Superman was seen in 1977, and in 1979 a revival of Ray Cooney and John Chapman's Not Now, Darling was very popular. Notable productions in the 1980s were Michael Frayn's Noises Off (1982) and the RSC's presentation of the musical Kiss Me, Kate in 1988. The theatre was badly damaged by fire in 1990, but is being restored.