Novello Theatre
Encyclopedia
Aldwych was also home to the earlier Royal Strand Theatre
Royal Strand Theatre
The Royal Strand Theatre was located in Strand in the City of Westminster. The theatre was built on the site of a panorama in 1832, and in 1882 was rebuilt by the prolific theatre architect Charles J. Phipps...



The Novello Theatre is a West End theatre
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

 on Aldwych
Aldwych
Aldwych is a place and road in the City of Westminster in London, England.-Description:Aldwych, the road, is a crescent, connected to the Strand at both ends. At its centre, it meets the Kingsway...

, in the City of Westminster
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...

.

History

The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre
Aldwych Theatre
The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

 on either side of the Waldorf Hotel
Waldorf Hotel
Waldorf Hotel may refer to:*The original name of the Waldorf Hilton, a hotel in London*The name of one of the two hotels that merged to form the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City...

, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague
W. G. R. Sprague
W. G. R. Sprague was a theatre architect in the grand age.Born in Australia, the son of actress Dolores Drummond who returned with acclaim to London in 1874. Sprague was articled to Frank Matcham for four years, then in 1880 to Walter Emden for three years; and then in partnershp with Bertie Crewe...

. The theatre opened as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was renamed the Strand Theatre, in 1909. It was again renamed as the Whitney Theatre, in 1911 before again becoming the Strand Theatre, in 1913. In 2005, the theatre was renamed by its owners (Delfont Mackintosh Theatres
Delfont Mackintosh Theatres
Delfont Mackintosh Theatres is a theatre group owned by British theatrical producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh. The company was founded in 1991 by Mackintosh and Bernard Delfont...

) the Novello Theatre in honour of Ivor Novello
Ivor Novello
David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...

, who lived in a flat above the theatre from 1913 to 1951.

The black comedy Arsenic and Old Lace
Arsenic and Old Lace (play)
Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra. The play was directed by Bretaigne Windust, and opened on January 10, 1941. On September 25, 1943, the...

 had a run of 1337 performances here in the 1940s, and Sailor Beware ran for 1231 performances from 1955. Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...

's musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart....

 opened here on the day of Kennedy's assassination, running for nearly two years. In 1971, the comedy No Sex Please, We're British
No Sex Please, We're British
No Sex Please, We're British is a British comedic play written by Alistair Foot and Anthony Marriott, first staged in London's West End in 1971. It was unanimously panned by critics, but still ran for nearly a decade to packed audiences...

 opened here, remaining for over 10 years of its 16-year run until it transferred to the Garrick Theatre
Garrick Theatre
The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster. It opened on 24 April 1889 with The Profligate, a play by Arthur Wing Pinero. In its early years, it appears to have specialised in the performance of melodrama, and today the theatre is a...

 in 1982.

The theatre was extensively refurbished in 1930 and again in the early 1970s. It was Grade II listed by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 on 20 July 1971. After The Rat Pack: Live From Las Vegas
The Rat Pack: Live From Las Vegas
The Rat Pack - Live From Las Vegas is a stage musical produced by Flying Music Ltd. that retells the tale of the big three of the Rat Pack - Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr...

 in 2005, its 100th anniversary year, the theatre was extensively refurbished. The current seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...

 is 1,105.

The theatre reopened on 8 December 2005 with the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...

's annual London season, playing to 4-week runs of Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...

, A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...

 and As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...

, concluding in March 2006.

In 2006, the theatre played host to the London première of the Broadway musical Footloose
Footloose (musical)
Footloose is a 1998 musical based on the 1984 film of the same name. The music is by Tom Snow , the lyrics by Dean Pitchford , and the book by Pitchford and Walter Bobbie.-Act 1:...

, starring Cheryl Baker
Cheryl Baker
Cheryl Baker is an English television presenter and singer. She is most famous for being a member of 1980s pop group Bucks Fizz, and has performed for the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest twice, winning it the second time.-Early career:After leaving school and a series of secretarial jobs, Cheryl...

. Ending on 11 November, Footloose made way for the Royal Shakespeare Company's return season for 2006-7, following which the Broadway musical The Drowsy Chaperone
The Drowsy Chaperone
The Drowsy Chaperone is a musical with book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar and music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. It debuted in 1998 at The Rivoli in Toronto and opened on Broadway on 1 May 2006. The show won the Tony Award for Best Book and Best Score. It started as a spoof of old...

 made its European première on 6 June 2007. The London production starred Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...

, Bob Martin, Summer Strallen
Summer Strallen
Summer Peta Vaigncourt-Strallen is an English actress who has performed various roles on stage and screen. Her most notable theatre credits include Meg Giry in the West End production of Love Never Dies and Maria Von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber's revival of The Sound of Music at the London...

 and John Partridge. The London production closed after a run of only two months on 4 August 2007 after failing to attract audiences, despite positive notices.

It was announced on 10 July 2007, just three days after the announcement of Drowsy's premature closure that the theatre would be the home of a new musical version of the MGM motion picture Desperately Seeking Susan
Desperately Seeking Susan
Desperately Seeking Susan is a 1985 American comedy-drama film directed by Susan Seidelman and starring Rosanna Arquette and Madonna.-Plot:...

 with music by Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...

 and Deborah Harry
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...

, directed by Angus Jackson, and starring Emma Williams
Emma Williams (actress)
Emma Williams is a British actress. After, going to North Halifax Grammar School and studying at the Stage84 stage school in Idle, West Yorkshire, she has had a successful career in TV, film and on stage....

 and Kelly Price. The musical previewed on 16 October 2007 (originally 12 October 2007), receiving its world première on 15 November 2007. However, just two weeks after its opening, following a critical mauling, the show announced its final performance for 15 December 2007, having played just four weeks of previews and four weeks of open run, losing over £3.5 million.

A quick replacement came in the form of the cross-West End transfer of Shadowlands
Shadowlands
Shadowlands is a 1985 television film, written by William Nicholson, directed by Norman Stone and produced by David M. Thompson for BBC Wales. Its subject is the relationship between Oxford don and author, C. S. Lewis and Joy Gresham....

 from the Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by the actor/manager Charles Wyndham . Located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, it was designed by W.G.R. Sprague about 1898, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916...

, commencing 21 December 2007 for a 12 week run to 25 February 2008. Producer Phil McIntyre opened ZooNation's adaptation of the musical Into the Woods
Into the Woods
Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim...

, entitled Into the Hoods
Into the Hoods
Into the Hoods -- "An Urban Fairy Tale" is a hip hop/musical created by London-based hip hop dance troupe ZooNation. The basic premise of the show is a hip hop take on the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods. The plot follows two children as they get lost in the hood and try and retrieve an...

, on 26 March 2008.

Recent and current productions

  • The Signal (May 18, 1925 - ???) (Strand Theatre)
  • Verdict
    Verdict (play)
    Verdict is a 1958 play by British mystery writer Agatha Christie. It is unusual for Agatha Christie plays in more than one way: for example, it is an original play, not based on a story or novel; and though there is a murder in the story, it is a melodrama more than a typical 'whodunnit' mystery as...

     (May 22, 1958 - ???) (Strand Theatre)
  • No Sex Please, We're British
    No Sex Please, We're British
    No Sex Please, We're British is a British comedic play written by Alistair Foot and Anthony Marriott, first staged in London's West End in 1971. It was unanimously panned by critics, but still ran for nearly a decade to packed audiences...

     (June 3, 1971 - January 16, 1982)
  • The Real Thing
    The Real Thing (play)
    The Real Thing is a play by Tom Stoppard, first performed in 1982. It examines the nature of honesty, and its use of a play within a play is one of many levels on which the author teases the audience with the difference between semblance and reality....

     (November 16, 1982 - February 16, 1985)
  • Cabaret
    Cabaret (musical)
    Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....

     (July 17, 1986 - May 4, 1987)
  • Someone Like You
    Someone Like You (musical)
    Someone Like You is a musical with a book by Robin Midgley and Fay Weldon, lyrics by Dee Shipman, and music by Petula Clark.Based on a concept developed by Clark and Ferdie Pacheco over a period of several years, it is set in West Virginia immediately after the end of the Civil War...

     (March 22 - April 26, 1990)
  • Leonardo the Musical: A Portrait of Love
    Leonardo the Musical: A Portrait of Love
    Leonardo the Musical: A Portrait of Love is a musical with a book by Greg Moeller and Russell Dunlop and music and lyrics by Tommy Moeller. The 1993 West End production is considered one of the biggest disasters in the history of London theatre....

     (June 3 - July 10, 1993)
  • Buddy
    Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story
    Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story is a jukebox musical in two acts with a book written by Alan Janes, and music and lyrics by a variety of songwriters. Based on the life and career of early rock and roller Buddy Holly, the musical hews closer to Holly's actual life story than the 1978 film version...

     (October 6, 1995 - March 3, 2002)
  • The Rat Pack: Live From Las Vegas
    The Rat Pack: Live From Las Vegas
    The Rat Pack - Live From Las Vegas is a stage musical produced by Flying Music Ltd. that retells the tale of the big three of the Rat Pack - Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr...

     (July 1, 2003 - 28 May 2005)
  • The RSC's Twelfth Night (December 8, 2005 - December 31, 2005)
  • The RSC's The Comedy of Errors
    The Comedy of Errors
    The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...

     (January 6, 2006 - January 28, 2006)
  • The RSC's A Midsummer Night's Dream
    A Midsummer Night's Dream
    A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...

     (February 2, 2006 - February 25, 2006)
  • The RSC's As You Like It
    As You Like It
    As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...

     (March 2, 2006 - March 25, 2006)
  • Footloose - The Musical
    Footloose (musical)
    Footloose is a 1998 musical based on the 1984 film of the same name. The music is by Tom Snow , the lyrics by Dean Pitchford , and the book by Pitchford and Walter Bobbie.-Act 1:...

     (April 8, 2006 - 11 November 2006)
  • The RSC's Much Ado About Nothing
    Much Ado About Nothing
    Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....

     (December 7, 2006 - January 6, 2007)
  • The RSC's Antony and Cleopatra
    Antony and Cleopatra
    Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony...

     (January 11, 2007 - February 17, 2007)
  • The RSC's The Tempest
    The Tempest
    The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...

     (February 22, 2007 - March 24, 2007)
  • The Drowsy Chaperone
    The Drowsy Chaperone
    The Drowsy Chaperone is a musical with book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar and music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. It debuted in 1998 at The Rivoli in Toronto and opened on Broadway on 1 May 2006. The show won the Tony Award for Best Book and Best Score. It started as a spoof of old...

     (June 6, 2007 - August 4, 2007)
  • Desperately Seeking Susan
    Desperately Seeking Susan
    Desperately Seeking Susan is a 1985 American comedy-drama film directed by Susan Seidelman and starring Rosanna Arquette and Madonna.-Plot:...

     - A New Musical (November 15, 2007 - December 15, 2007)
  • Shadowlands
    Shadowlands
    Shadowlands is a 1985 television film, written by William Nicholson, directed by Norman Stone and produced by David M. Thompson for BBC Wales. Its subject is the relationship between Oxford don and author, C. S. Lewis and Joy Gresham....

     (December 21, 2007 - February 23, 2008)
  • Into the Hoods
    Into the Hoods
    Into the Hoods -- "An Urban Fairy Tale" is a hip hop/musical created by London-based hip hop dance troupe ZooNation. The basic premise of the show is a hip hop take on the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods. The plot follows two children as they get lost in the hood and try and retrieve an...

     (March 14, 2008 - August 30, 2008)
  • Eurobeat - Almost Eurovision (September 9, 2008 - 1 November 2008)
  • The RSC's Hamlet
    Hamlet
    The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

     (December 3, 2008 - January 10, 2009)
  • The RSC's A Midsummer Night's Dream
    A Midsummer Night's Dream
    A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...

     (January 15, 2009 - February 7, 2009)
  • The RSC's The Taming of the Shrew
    The Taming of the Shrew
    The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...

     (February 12, 2009 - March 7, 2009)
  • Spring Awakening
    Spring Awakening
    Spring Awakening is a rock musical adaptation of the controversial 1892 German play of the same title by Frank Wedekind. It features music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater. Set in late-19th century Germany, it concerns teenagers who are discovering the inner and outer tumult of...

     (March 21, 2009 - May 30, 2009)
  • An Inspector Calls
    An Inspector Calls
    An Inspector Calls is a play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in 1945 in the Soviet Union and 1946 in the UK. It is considered to be one of Priestley's best known works for the stage and one of the classics of mid-20th century English theatre...

     (September 22, 2009 - November 14, 2009)
  • Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
    Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
    Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a play by Tennessee Williams. One of Williams's best-known works and his personal favorite, the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955...

     (December 12, 2009 - April 10, 2010)
  • Grumpy Old Women Live
    Grumpy Old Women Live
    Grumpy Old Women Live is a stage show based on the series BBC television series Grumpy Old Women.-Inception:The idea of a live show of Grumpy Old Women, which had already been successful on the television, came about in Spring 2005 to producer Judith Holder and Grumpy contributor Jenny Eclair, and...

     2 - Chin Up Britain (April 14 - June 5, 2010)
  • Tap Dogs
    Tap Dogs
    "Tap Dogs" is a tap dance show, created by Australian dancer and choreographer, Dein Perry. The original production of the show had its world premiere in January 1995 at the Sydney Theatre Festival in Australia....

     (June 15, 2010 – September 5, 2010
  • Onassis (October 12, 2010 - January 8, 2011)
  • Betty Blue Eyes
    Betty Blue Eyes
    Betty Blue Eyes was a musical with music by George Stiles, lyrics by Anthony Drewe, and book by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman. The story was based on the Alan Bennett screenplay, A Private Function, and was set during a celebration of the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip.-...

     (March 19, 2011 - September 24, 2011)
  • Crazy For You
    Crazy for You
    Crazy for You is a musical with a book by Ken Ludwig, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. Billed as "The New Gershwin Musical Comedy", it is largely based on the songwriting team’s 1930 musical, Girl Crazy, but interpolates songs from several other productions as well...

     (October 8, 2011 - July 28, 2012)
  • Mamma Mia!
    Mamma Mia!
    Mamma Mia! is a stage musical written by British playwright Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of ABBA, composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, former members of the band. Although the title of the musical is taken from the group's 1975 chart-topper "Mamma Mia", the plot is fictional, not...

    (September 2012 - open ended)

External links

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