The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-08 00:00:00

there are now six tiers of boxes. and in order to gain the
facility of access to all above the pit tier, there have
been two new stone staircases surrounded with brick
walls, commenced from the foundation and carried to
the sixth or uppermost tier of boxes and the gallery.
The whole of the grand entrance and grand stone stair-
case, the saloons, and adjoining rooms, have been re-
modelled, and reconstructed so as to assimilate them, in
their uses and in their applicability to the new state of
affairs. All will recollect the wasteful lobbies which
intervened between the dress and upper circles and the
saloon. These, as well as the two flights of stairs in
the saloon, have vanished, and thus the dress, or rather
the grand tier of boxes have been thrown back to the
distance of 14 feet. This additional area has been
gained by the adoption of a similar plan throughout the
house. Then on the sides, thole who were accustomed,
to revel in the privilege of a " private " box,_ will not
have forgotten the great space that was lavished on its
"retiring " room. The whole of these, except those
behind her Majesty's and the other two boxes which
have been taken by the members of the Royal Family,
and which have been much altered, have been removed
in order to enable Mr. Albano to construct his circles of
boxes in such a manner as to harmonise vt ith the increased
,iiersnee he has accomplished by the displacemeant of tha
lobbies and saloon staircases. The sixth tier of boxes
and the present gallery have been gained by an elevation
of the ceiling, which has been taken to such a height as
to give a much greater space between it and the pit than
at any other theatre in this country.
The Royal Italian Opera House will, when finished,
in its audience portion be tf:us divided. There are to be
158 boxes distributed into six tiers, a pit tier, the grand
tier, and four upper tiers. In the centre of the fourth
and fifth tiers are two compartments, denominated the
" upper and lower amphitheatres," each of which will
be divided into 148 seats similar to stalls ; but not, as
:
will
y sittings havegiven the
i
n
to
far as we could understand, intended to be let for the
season as stalls. In fact they are, we imagine, to be
treated
thw istehaiasn ,so
no ipfeonu "four"
there the
wihetugeneralreteh henu hundred
be pt
o
public, Ipu'rhb
opportunity, we believe, of securing any particular seat
for the night only. Thus, it will be observed, there will
be
the boxes. Or, should our surnii,e be erroneous, and
that it may eventually be determined to let these seats by
nearly 300 individuals who may desire to have a
" single" seat in the boxes for the season. Either way
opportunity
that the ultimate decision may chance to rest, the ap-
propriation of a portion of the theatre, from every point
of which a perfect view of the doings on the stage can
be obtained to such a purpose, will be no small boon to
the public. The number of stalls will be 256, and, as
at her Majesty's Theatre, will commence upwards from
the orchestra. The seats in the pit will be divided by
" arms," as at Drury-lane Theatre, and each row will
have a " back." The entrance to the stalls will be by
means of a doorway on either side of the house, through
the pit tier of boxes, and the ingress to the pit will through
through a double doorway at the back, under the grand
tier.
The external admission to the boxes will be in the
front of the building, of course, in Bow-street, and the
carriages will pass under the old portico, and set down
close to the door. The visitor will then proceed up the
grand stone staircase, and on through the large doorway
leading from the landing place into a room which was
originally applied to different purposes, but which, with
two others, has now been throws. into the old saloon, the
whole having been converted into the boxes " crush
room." From this place are several doorways affording
access to the lobby which passes round the grand tier.
With the triple object of removing a public nuisance,
of turning that which was a general annoyance and eye-
sore to a useful end, and of offering increased comfort
to the humbler patrons of the undertaking, the proprie-
tors have thrown out a building so as to enclose the
avenue which ran from Bow-street into the Piazza in
Covent-garden Market, and have transformed it into an
entrance and capacious " crush room" for the pit.
There has been a marked consideration for the comfort
and ease of the box subscribers furthermore, inasmuch
as that the front of the boxes bows outwards, and so pre-
sents an abundance of accommodation and space for the
legs of their occupants.
In reference to the decorations, the building is not in
a sufficiently forward state to allow of their being put up,
but we were lucky enough to gain a glimpse of that por-
tion which will constitute the outer side of the pannels
for the boxes. Those for the grand tier are of a very
superb description. The whole of the groundwork will
be white enamel; at the base of the front of each will be
a splendid banding of gold, above which is another
banding, but of blue plain enamel, and the latter will be
surmounted by a gorgeous but exceedingly ornamental
bordering of gold of about nine inches or a foot in depth.
The general decorations for the other tiers will partake
somewhat of a similar character, although in each there
will be a distinctive variance. The fittings up of the
boxes will, we believe, be of rich crimson satin damask,
which, in contrast with the white enamel of the pannels,
cannot but be productive of a most beautiful effect.
There is an arrangement as regards the stalls and the
seats in the pit which, from its excellence, ought not to
be forgotten on the present occasion, namely, that the
seats are to be so placed as that those who occupy the
hinder rows will look over the shoulders of those in the
row immediately before them, and thus all will have every
facility of obtaining a clear view of the proceedings on
the stage.— Observer.

There were present at her Majesty's Theatre on
Saturday evening—filer Royal Highness the Duchess of
Cambridge, attended by Lady Augusta Cadogan, Baron
Knesebeck, and Mr. Edmund Mildmay ; the Countess of
Jersey and Lady Clementina Villiars ; the Duke of Welling-
ton and the Marchioness of Douro ; the Conde de Monte-
molin ; the Earl and Countess of Sheffield and party (who
occupied her Majesty Queen Adelaide's box); his Excel-
lency the Russian Minister and the Baroness Brunnow ; the
Baron and Baroness Rehouse!). ; the Marquis of Ailesbury,
the Marquis of Clanricarde, the Earl of Falmouth, the.
Earl of Munster, the Earl and Countess of Harring-
ton, the Earl of Lonsdale, the Earl of Cardigan,.
the Earl of Aboyne, the Earl Granville, the Viscount.
Duncannon, Lord Alfred Paget, Lord Francis Gor-
don, Lord A. Fitzclarence, Lord Ernest Bruce, Lord and.
Lady Templemore, Mr. and Lady Augusta Wentworth, the
Hon. the Vice-Chancellor, Hon. F. Chichester, Hon. G.
Byng, Captain and the Hon. Mrs. Ryder Burton, Sir R. and
Lady Howard, Sir H. Webb, Sir li. Willoughby, Sir G.
Wombwell, Mr., Mrs., and Miss Brenton Trelawny, Mr.,
Mrs., and Miss Montgomery, Mr., Mrs., and Miss Hubert
De Burgh, Colonel Bowers, Major Baring, Mr. H. Broad..
wood. ALP., Mr. C. W. Packe, M.P., and Mrs. Packe, Mr.
and Mrs. Horace Twiss, Captain Sym, &c. &c.
Fraschini, the celebrated tenor, who is shortly ex..
gected at her Majesty's Theatre, appeared at the Teatro
ban Carlo, Naples, in a new opera by Maestro Battists
on the 4th of last month, and was highly successful.