Novello Theatre, 5 Star Hotels in London City near Novello Theatre, West End Theatres

Novello Theatre

Aldwych, London WC2B 4DL

The Novello Theatre, a West End theatre located on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster, The London Theatre was built to W.G.R.Sprague’s design and opened in 1905. The West End Theatre was originally called Waldorf Theatre. Sprague designed no less than 33 theatres during his 40 year career. He also designed the Aldwych Theatre which is located at the other end of the block. In 1909 it became The Strand Theatre. It was the last three-tier theatre built in London and the second to be constructed without a raked stage. Sprague paid great attention to detail and it can still be seen today in the decorative panels and friezes around the theatre. The first lessees of the Waldorf Theatre were the Shubert brothers who already managed 20 theatres in America. The theatre opened with an 8-week season of opera and drama but its first long run was an Anglo-Chinese play called Mr Wu.

The war years brought triumph and disaster. Disaster when the theatre was bombarded during the Blitz in 1940. However, under the management of Donald Wolfit the show went on and on 3rd of June 1943 for the first time the Royal Family attended the play, (Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret had been allowed to go to an evening performance in London’s West End.) Nearly a century later, in 2005, the theatre’s name was finally changed to The Novello Theatre, after Ivor Novello who literally lived in one of the flats above the theatre for 38 years. Ivor Novello is famous for his most memorable musicals to grace the British stage.

The Navello Theatre is a Grade II listed West End Theatre with a seating capacity for 1,105 people.

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