Victoria Palace - History
The location of the Victoria Palace is defined by the name Victoria, making the directions and transport links easy to remember. It is found on Victoria Street with its nearest underground station taking the form of Victoria Station and the nearest railway station also Victoria Station.
The Victoria Palace opened its doors in 1911 as an expensive state of the art theatre. It was capable keeping audiences cool with an air conditioning system and 1,150 seats. It was designed and constructed in answer to the technological advances of the twentieth century which had left the former Royal Standard Music Hall unable to meet the demands of the new century.
A theatre had existed on the site of the Victoria Palace since 1832 in the form of Moy’s Music Hall. It had been presented under various names throughout the nineteenth century and survived in some form until 1910 when it was demolished. It remained as the Moy’s Music Hall until 1863 before it was re-titled The Royal Standard Music Theatre. Then it stayed this way until 1886 when it was demolished and then reconstructed as the Royal Standard Music Hall.
The 1911 venue was designed by the legendary London theatre architect Frank Matcham. It was under the watchful eye of Alfred Butt that the theatre then went on to put on productions of various successful bills, mainly in the form of variety shows and stage revues. The first set of notable productions appeared in the 1930s, before which the venue was well known for housing a famous statue of ballerina Anna Pavlova, who was a highly superstitious person and refused to ever look at it.
In 1930, Jimmy Nervo and Teddy Knox hit the stage for a memorable performance of The Chelsea Follies, which was followed by Young England in 1934. Written by the Rev. Walter Reynolds, it was a play that dealt with this country in a patriotic manner that was popular due to bad reviews rather than good ones, going on to play for 278 shows and was then still popular enough to appear in other venues in London. Further plays that have been popular at the theatre have received good reviews, which makes this story a memorable part of the theatre’s history. The next production to appear at the Victoria Palace in the 1930s then took the form of Me and My Girl in 1937, which starred Lupino Lane.
The next three decades saw the outbreak of the Second World War and various shows by The Crazy Gang, who appeared at the theatre between the years 1947 and 1962. This was followed by The Black and White Minstrel Show in 1962.
The later years of the twentieth century defined the theatre with various plays and musicals. In 1978, the famous story of Annie was told on the Victoria stage before Windy City opened in 1982. In the same year The Little Foxes opened with none other than Elizabeth Taylor in a starring role. The decade ended with a production of Buddy – the Buddy Holly Story, about the life of the ill fated musician. This ran until 1995.
The Victoria Palace is now full steam ahead in the twenty first century, having already housed productions of Kiss Me, Kate by Cole Porter in 2002. The decade opened with La Cava in 2000 and continued with the legacy of Rod Stewart taking full effect with Tonight’s The Night in 2003 – a show based on the songs of the famous musician. In 2005 a hugely successful show took to the stage in the form of the musical version of Billy Elliot.
