Novello Theatre (formerly the Strand)

Address: Aldwych, London, WC2

Tube: Charing Cross Road

Architect: W.R. Sprague

Opened: 1905

Capacity: 1050

Novello Theatre was designed by W.G.R. Sprague the London architect who had developed a love of the stage from his mother, the actress, Dolores Drummond. During an illustrious forty-year career, he was responsible for thirty three theatres. The Novello opened as the Waldorf Theatre, built in conjunction with its twin theatre (The Aldwych) at the end of the same block, the other side of the Waldorf Hotel.

The Waldorf was the last three-tiered theatre to be built in London and the second to be constructed without a raked stage. The first lessees of the Waldorf Theatre were the Shubert brothers who had already managed over twenty theatres in America. They were starting out to conquer the London stage, with an 8-week season of opera and drama starring the actress Eleanora Duse and the well-known opera singers Emma Calve and Edouard de Reszke.

Despite a grand opening, the season was not a success. The theatre began to have more name changes than commercial successes. It was renamed the Whitney Theatre, in 1911 before again becoming the Strand Theatre, in 1913. It had its first long run the Anglo Sino play “Mr W” starring the matinee idol Matheson Lang as Wu Li Chang. It was Lang’s most famous role on stage and screen and his memoirs were entitled Mr Wu Looks Back.

On 13 October 1915 the entrance to the theatre pit was bombed when nineteen bombs fell on the Strand during the performance of The Scarlet Pimpernel. Fred Terry as Sir Percy Blakeney, the Pimpernel calmed the audience and in true theatrical tradition, 'the show went on'.

Matheson Lang took over the management of the theatre and returned as Wu Li Chang and as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.

In 1917 Arthur Bourchier and Kyrle Bellew, acquired the lease to the Strand, they moved in over the shop, in one of the flats above the theatre, as neighbours of Ivor Novello, the Welsh singer and composer who also had a flat here from 1913, until his death in 1951. They first appeared on the Strand stage together in Scandal by Cosmo Hamilton, advertised at the time as having a strong 'Bedroom' scene. The theatre blossomed under their ownership the theatre a 'sleuth' play, ran for 227 performances, A Safety Match by Ian Hay ran for 229 performances and, in 1923, they put on Anna Christie, the first Eugene O'Neill play to be seen in the West End. The Daily Telegraph critic wrote:

'Every now and then in a theatrical season, sandwiched in between the first nights of plays that are, generally speaking, either ordinarily good or extraordinarily bad, there comes a production which strikes you as being of outstanding importance and interest. Such an event occurred last night at the Strand Theatre...'.

Throughout the 1920s the Strand became home to a wealth of classical acting talent, including Hermione Baddeley, Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud, Sybil Thorndike and Peggy Ashcroft amongst others. In 1930 the comedian Leslie Henson and his business partner Firth Shephard co-leased the theatre and presented the first in a series of farces, its A Boy! followed by its A Girl!, Nice Goings On! and in 1936 Aren't Men Beasts! starred a young John Mills.

The theatre was bombed during the Blitz in 1940, however, under the auspices of Donald Wolfit the show went on again, lunchtime performances of Shakespeare were given with the artists picking their way to the stage over the rubble. Arsenic and Old Lace, a comedy by Joseph Kesselring, broke all records for the longest run with 1337 performances from December 1942 to March 1946. On 3 June 1943, the Royal Family including the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret enjoyed their first evening performance in the West End. The novelist William Golding the author of Lord of the Flies, wrote his first play for the theatre in 1958, it was a comedy set in Roman times called The Brass Butterfly and starred Alastair Sim, Jack Hedley and George Cole.

Despite the fact that the theatre was generally famed for its comic performances, it had some quirky triumphs notably Ionesco's Rhinoceros in 1960. This famous production was staged and designed by the actor Orson Welles, and starred Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Michael Gough and Peter Sallis.

Stephen Sondheim's third Broadway show, and the first for which he wrote both music and lyrics, A Funny thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, received its UK premiere at the Strand in October 1963. Frankie Howerd was the saucy slave Pseudolus and the cast also included Robertson Hare, in his eighth production at the theatre, and Jon Pertwee, later to gain television fame as Dr Who.

In October 1970, three plays opened, Lie Down I Think I Love You was followed by When We Are Married and later No Sex Please - We're British. The latter became a tourist attraction and the theatre's most successful show to date. It finally closed in 1982 after a record 6,671 performances. Stars that had appeared in it included Michael Crawford, David Jason and Andrew Sachs.

Later that year, The Real Thing, Tom Stoppard's touching play about affaires de coeur, premiered at the theatre and played for a two year run with Felicity Kendal and Roger Rees in the leading roles. Barry Humphries, alias Dame Edna Everage, set new box office records in 1987 with over 200 sold out performances of Back with a Vengeance! Buddy, Alan Janes' musical about the life of Buddy Holly, had audiences dancing in the aisles for 7 years until 2002. Recent productions include Mrs Warren's Profession, directed by Peter Hall with his daughter Rebecca as Vivie Warren and The Rat Pack that proved the enduring popularity of those three famous crooners Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr and Dean Martin.

In December 2005 the Royal Shakespeare Company's annual London season, began playing a run of Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night's Dream and As You Like It, concluding in March 2006. Later in 2006 the theatre hosted the London première of the Broadway musical Footloose, starring Cheryl Baker.

It was announced on 10 July 2007, that the theatre would be the home of a new musical version of the MGM motion picture Desperately Seeking Susan with music by Blondie and Deborah Harry, directed by Angus Jackson, and starring Emma Williams and Kelly Price.

Past performances at the Novello Theatre: