Musical theatre in London first thrived following the English Reformation. The Theatre, integrated in 1576, was the very first public playhouse in London, soon followed by The Drape. Shakespeare’s business used both of these locations. Timber from The Theatre was used to construct the well known World Theatre in 1599. This lead to the creation of the city’s renowned theatre district. Following the Remediation in 1660, theatre as soon as again flourished in London. The first West End theatre was the Theatre Royal, situated on Bridges Street. The original structure was ruined by fire. Today, the Theatre Royal is located on Drury Lane.
Operas were the original musical efficiencies in London’s well known West End. In the 1700s, the Haymarket Theatre and Theatre Royal Covent Garden opened. Musicals were initially performed in little halls connected to playhouses. The opening of little halls and theatres in the early 1800s represented the main birth of the West End theatre district. Guidelines regarding the efficiency of plays were unwinded in the mid-1800s, leading to the opening of places such as The Strand, The Vaudeville and the Royal Funny Theatre. The West End grew in popularity into the 1900s with early stars such as John Liston, Robert William Elliston, Lennie Dean, Henry Irving, Nell Gwynne, Nellie Farren, Ellen Terry, Seymour Hicks, Marie Tempest and Lawrence Toole.
Censorship of the stage formally ended in 1968, resulting in a thriving West End theatre district. The trend of movie stars starring in West End productions began in the ’90s and continues today. Today, London’s West End equals New york city’s Broadway as a prime destination for world class musicals. Popular West End theatres include Novello Theatre, Trafalgar Studios 2 Theatre, Victoria Palace Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, Cambridge Theatre, Outdoors Theatre, Regent’s Park, Aldwych Theatre and Playhouse Theatre.
Leading West End musicals consist of Bette Blue Blues, set in the years just following the Second World War, the Lion King, based upon the popular Disney motion picture with songs by Tim Rice and Elton John, Les Miserables, based on the classic Victor Hugo with music by Claude-Michel Schonberg and lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer, Love Never Passes away, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics Glenn Slater, Mama Mia with songs by Stig Anderson and the Andrew Lloyd Webber timeless The Phantom of the Opera.
A trip to London isn’t really finish without seeing among the numerous musicals such as the Lion King or Jersey Boys.
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