page_title: Peacock Theatre
section_title: Former theatres
hierarchical_section_title: Peacock Theatre / History / Former theatres
caption_attribution_description: English: Oscar Hammerstein's (I) London Opera House Identifier: morechaptersofop00kreh (find matches) Title: More chapters of opera&#160;: being historical and critical observations and records concerning the lyric drama in New York from 1908 to 1918 Year: 1919 (1910s) Authors: Krehbiel, Henry Edward, 1854-1923 Subjects: Opera Publisher: New York&#160;: H. Holt and company Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: a district heavy with the cluster-ings of theatrical traditions. It was called The Kingsway,was about equidistant from Covent Garden and Drury Lane,and debouched into the Strand. In this spacious street Mr.Hammerstein caused a beautiful theater to be built ofgranite and marble at a cost of about $750,000. Of themoney expended on the construction $300,000 came fromthe sale of the Philadelphia and New York interests, thatsum being still in his hands after he had paid off the mort-gages held by Mr. Stotesbury, similar encumbrances on theManhattan Opera House, Victoria and Republic Theaterswhich he owned in New York, and other debts amountingto about $150,000. With characteristic confidence and energy he began hisLondon experiment and had seen the foundations of hisnew building laid when he returned to New York in Jan-uary, 1911. Characteristic also was his reply to a reportersquestion: What do you intend to open the house with? With debts, was the reply; I always open a housewith debts. Text Appearing After Image: w m P O K wp&lt; O o QO CO HW u o FAILURE OF THE ENGLISH ENTERPRISE 83 There was a suggestion that the English people might nottake him seriously and out came another exhibition of hischaracter: I will make them. It is not a question of what theywill do, but of what I shall do. The story of the London attempt can be only a shortinterlude here. The opera house in The Kingsway wasopened on November 13, 1911, with a performance of QuoVadis. Mr. Hammerstein was his own manager; he askedno English help, but called to his side two trusted, faithful,and capable servants from New York, Lyle D. Andrewsand Jacques Coini, who had been respectively treasurer andstage-manager at the Manhattan Opera House. At the out-set fortune seemed to smile propitiously upon the under-taking. On the opening night the receipts amounted to over$6,600, and in the first week to over $21,000. A winterseason of 15 weeks was given at which 12 operas were per-formed, and a summer season of 12 weeks from April 22to July Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: The Peacock Theatre is a theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Portugal Street, near Aldwych. The 999-seat house is owned by, and comprises part of the London School of Economics and Political Science campus, who use the theatre for lectures, public talks, conferences, political speeches and open days.
  The university has a long lease with London's principal centre for contemporary dance, Sadler's Wells, with whom it has negotiated a deal to bring in dance companies under the banner 'Sadler's Wells in the West End'. The venue often plays host to dance performances, conferences, ballet, pop concerts and award ceremonies. The stage is approximately 36 feet by 33 feet.
context_section_description: A theatre has stood on the site since the 17th century. Known as Gibbon's Tennis Court, or the Vere Street Theatre. Mrs Hughes became the first (identified) woman to tread the boards of a London theatre, on 8 December 1660, in a performance of Othello. The company left the theatre in 1663 and there is no record of further plays at the theatre. The building was finally destroyed by fire in 1809.
  At the beginning of the 20th century, the creation of Aldwych and Kingsway, linking High Holborn and Aldwych, destroyed a number of established London playhouses and the site between Portugal Street and Sardinia Street became available. New York-based theatre impresario Oscar Hammerstein I (the grandfather of Oscar Hammerstein II) commissioned Bertie Crewe to build a new theatre in the Beaux-Arts style. The theatre opened on 13 November 1911 as the London Opera House. It had an approximately 45 feet (13.7 m) by 78 feet (23.8 m) stage, and a capacity of 2,660.  As an opera house, it found it difficult to attract audiences from the Royal Opera House, and from 1914 to 1915 the house became the National Theatre of England.
  In May 1915 the theatre hosted Vladimir Rosing's Allied Opera Season. Rosing presented the English premiere of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades and introduced Tamaki Miura as Madama Butterfly, the first Japanese singer to be cast in that role.
  The theatre was purchased by Oswald Stoll in 1916 and renamed the Stoll Theatre and, for a time, as the Stoll Picture Theatre, housing cine variety until the 1950s.  Rose Marie played at the Stoll Theatre in 1942, followed by Kismet and Stars on Ice in 1947. The London transfer of a version of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess that restored it to an operatic form, took place here on 9 October 1952.  Joan of Arc at the Stake was produced in 1954, starring Ingrid Bergman. The theatre closed on 4 August 1957, and was demolished for the construction of an office block.
caption: Oscar Hammerstein's London Opera House
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