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Sondheim Theatre

  • Theatre
  • Soho
Sondheim Theatre, 2019
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Time Out says

This historic theatre rose from the ashes of a WWII bombing raid to delight punters with tales of revolutionary France

Built in 1907 as a twin to the neighbouring Hicks Theatre (now the Gielgud), the Sondheim Theatre (former the Queen’s Theatre) is a storied 1,074-seat house that has played host to most of the twentieth century’s great and good actors. With ‘Les Misérables’ consistently drawing in the West End punters, the chequered early years of the Queen’s Theatre’s are a distant memory. It opened back in 1907 with a run of duds. The theatre's owners tried everything to pull in the punters - including fashion shows, and so-called 'Tango Teas' which offered expert demonstrations at the height of the then-scandalous dance craze. Eventually, the Queen's Theatre hit its stride with a production of ‘Rebecca’, starring Celia Johnson, only to be blasted in a WWII bombing raid in 1940. The theatre’s stone dome, grand staircase and foyer were destroyed and Queen's was forced to draw the curtain for nearly 20 years.

The theatre finally rose from the ashes in 1959, with a totally new look. Renovation work, funded by the War Damage Commission, gave the theatre a modern brick and glass facade - a far cry from her former ornate grandeur. But inside, the original Edwardian auditorium was scrubbed clean of decades of dust and pigeon droppings, and restored to its original gilded splendour. The subsequent years included highlights like staging the seductive Marlene Dietrich in two cabaret seasons, and Alec Guinness in his own take on Jonathan Swift's writings. The greatest success, however, is the 2004 transfer of RSC’s version of Boublil and Schönberg’s musical 'Les Miserables'. As London's longest-running musical, it still sends audiences out singing onto Shaftesbury Avenue each night.

It closed in July 2019 for more refurbishment, including fixing some still unrepaired bomb damage. Upon reopening in December 2019 it will offically be named the Sondheim Theatre, named – of course – after the great musical theatre composer, Stephen Sondheim.

Details

Address:
51
Shaftesbury Avenue
London
W1D 6BA
Transport:
Tube: Piccadilly Circus/Leicester Square
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What’s on

Les Misérables

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Musicals

This review is from 2019. I would seriously question whether any other show on the planet bar ‘Les Misérables’ could get away with junking its original production and carrying on as if nothing had changed. But ‘Les Mis’ could be transposed to space, or underwater, or to the height of the Hittite empire and it would basically be the same show as long as the singing was on point. In case you missed it: the world’s longest-running musical that’s still playing shut for six months recently while the Sondheim Theatre (née Queen’s Theatre) was renovated by proprietor and producer Cameron Mackintosh. It has returned, not in the original Trevor Nunn RSC production, but a new(ish) one from Laurence Connor and James Powell that has already been rolled out around the globe, with London the last bastion of the ‘classic’ ‘Les Mis’. The ditching of the original has caused disgruntlement in certain quarters: hardcore stans distraught that the exact show they grew up with no longer strictly exists; and the original creative team, notably director Nunn, who understandably feel a little betrayed by the whole affair. All I can say is: yup, I really dug the old revolving stage too, but its loss is bearable. The songs are the same, the score is the same (accepting that it was tweaked to make it a bit less ’80s a few years back), the costumes are the same, many of the current cast are veterans of the original production, and the text is still Nunn and John Caird’s adaptation of Claude-Michel Schön

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