Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, refers to three theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

s of the same name:

One was a theatre which opened on 10 September 1887 and closed on 10 June 1933.
It was located on the corner of Pitt

Pitt Street, Sydney

Pitt Street is a major street in central Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The street runs through the entire city centre from Circular Quay in the north to Waterloo, although today's street is in two disjointed sections after a substantial stretch of it was removed to make way for Sydney's...

 and Market Street, Sydney

Market Street, Sydney

Market Street is a cross street in the Central Business District of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It runs from Sussex Street near Darling Harbour in the west, to Elizabeth Street at St. James railway station in the east....

, where Centrepoint

Sydney Tower

Sydney Tower Eye is Sydney's tallest free-standing structure, and the second tallest in Australia...

 stands today.

The second was located in Quay Street. It had opened with the show "Sunny" in 1927 as the Empire Theatre. When J.C. Williamson wanted a long run for My Fair Lady, they renamed the theatre Her Majesty's. The theatre barely survived the 1960s and was destroyed by fire.

The third was also located at 107 Quay Street, Haymarket

Haymarket, New South Wales

Haymarket is a locality of Sydney's city centre, New South Wales, Australia. It is located at the southern end of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney....

 (near Central Station). It opened in 1975 but is no longer standing. Apartments were built on the site.

History

The foundation stone was laid by Sydney Mayor Thomas Playfair in December 1884.
The opening play was Henry V

Henry V (play)

Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...

, George Rignold

George Rignold

George Richard Rignold, born George Richard Rignall, was an English-born actor, active in Australia.-Early life:...

 was the lessee and lead player. The Governor of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Robert Carrington

Robert Wynn Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire

Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire KG, GCMG, PC, DL, JP , known as the Lord Carrington from 1868 to 1895 and as the Earl Carrington from 1895 to 1912, was a British Liberal politician and aristocrat.-Background and education:Born at Whitehall, London, Lincolnshire was the...

 attended the opening night, arriving with his wife in a carriage, with a military escort.

Rignold held the lease for eight years, his final production was ‘Cloncarty’ on 21 September 1895. For a short period, Alfred Woods leased the theatre, then J. C. Williamson

J. C. Williamson

James Cassius Williamson was an American actor and later Australia's foremost theatrical manager, founding J. C. Williamson Ltd....

 and George Musgrove

George Musgrove

George Musgrove was an English-born Australian theatre producer.-Early life:Musgrove was born at Surbiton, England, the son of Thomas John Watson Musgrove, an accountant, and his wife, Fanny Hodson, an actress and sister of Georgiana Rosa Hodson who married William Saurin Lyster...

 took over in 1896.

Financial pressures from a new amusement tax

Tax

To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...

, competition from the new talking movies and the economic climate led to the closure of the theatre on 10 June 1933. The last performance was The Maid of the Mountains

The Maid of the Mountains

The Maid of the Mountains, called in its original score a musical play, is an operetta or musical comedy in three acts. The music was by Harold Fraser-Simson, with additional music by James W...

, starring Gladys Moncrieff

Gladys Moncrieff

Gladys Moncrieff OBE was an Australian singer who was so successful in musical theatre and recordings that she became known as 'Australia's Queen of Song' and 'Our Glad'.-Early years:...

. Bulldozers moved in the next day and demolished the theatre. A Woolworth’s store opened on the site 22 March 1934.

Trivia

The $100 Australian banknote

Banknotes of the Australian dollar

The banknotes of the Australian dollar were first issued on 14 February 1966, when Australia adopted decimal currency.- Former series :The $5 note was not issued until 1967...

 (in the background of the Dame Nellie Melba

Nellie Melba

Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...

portrait) features an image of the interior of the theatre.

External links