A weird question: What happened to The Queen's Theatre?

[ClapYo'Hands]

So a few years ago around the time of Les Misérables' transfer from The Palace, Cameron Mackintosh announced that part of the restoration of the theatre would include restoring the facade of the theatre to its original splendour and similar to the twin Gielgud theatre. I even have a Les Misèrables programme from 2007 which shows an image of how the facade will look post-restoration (I will try and upload it later) it has a Les Misèrables marquee and also has the theatre name "Sondheim" on the front, which is another announced development that never happened.

My question is: What happened to the restoration of the facade of The Queen's Theatre?

[Scripps2]

I've been wondering this too.

At one point it seemed possible that the Sondheim theatre was going to be in place for his 80th birthday but that obviously hasn't happenned.

[Jonwo]

The Queens restoration of the facade was meant to start in 2006 but I wonder if the ongoing success of Les Mis has prevented Cameron from doing it. The Sondheim I think was scrapped and just the facade will be remodelled.

[abitoftap]

The Sondheim was supposed to be a new studio type theatre, sitting on top of the Queens (I think)

[ClapYo'Hands]

Just found this article on the Guardian website, dated 2003. This was before Les Mis opened at The Queen's and (judging by the article before it was even announced or rumoured.)

"'I love what the Almeida and the Donmar are doing," says an animated Cameron Mackintosh of London's two most popular experimental theatres. "This is one reason why I want to build my new Sondheim theatre on top of the Queen's theatre in the West End."

The 500-seat Sondheim will be the first new theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue in more than 70 years. Not that you will be able to guess. The truly clever, if controversial design led by the husband-and-wife architect team of Nick Thompson and Clare Ferraby, of RHWL Architects' Arts Team, will join the existing Gielgud and Queen's theatres at their Edwardian hips.

The glossy black frontage of the Queen's will be demolished so that the the two theatres can share one richly worked brick and stone facade matched from the original, Blitz-damaged design. "All properly detailed," promises Mackintosh, and from the man's own pockets.

The new Sondheim theatre will be perched on the roof of the Queen's theatre behind the restored and re-created Edwardian facade. "It will be very modern inside," says Thompson. "We'll have the chance to let it breathe, by opening it up to the street with a glazed foyer and bar running, high up, down one side of the building."

The controversial part here will be played by conservationists keen to get in on the act. "They're already in it," says Thompson, who has been designing and renovating theatres for 32 years. Why? Because what was once considered a modern excrescence - the glossy back facade of the Queen's theatre by Westwood, Sons and Partners, with interior by Hugh Casson dating from 1959 - has become, to some eyes, at least, an acceptable part of Shaftesbury Avenue. Fashions are by definition fickle. The Prince of Wales - Charles Windsor, and not the Mackintosh-owned theatre named after HRH's great-great-grandfather - once described Sir Denys Lasdun's National Theatre on London's South Bank as "a clever way of building a nuclear power station in the middle of London without anyone objecting". For many people today, no matter how tough its concrete architecture, it is a much prized venue and architectural monument.

Mackintosh, however, has been on a bit of one-man drive to clean up the West End - architecturally, socially and hygienically - for some years. He is a great admirer of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and cites the transformation of Times Square in recent years from a dive to a home to divas as a model for the West End.

Prodigious audiences attending the seven theatres that Mackintosh owns - Queen's, Gielgud, Prince of Wales, Albery, Wyndham's, Strand and the Prince Edward - are, it is true, often confronted with the West End at its grubby, piss-streaked, spare-some-change worst. "I'd certainly like to see Shaftesbury Avenue looking at its grandest and best again", says Mackintosh. This, for him, means recreating its Victorian and Edwardian self-assurance, while adding to the mix new venues like the Sondheim.

Standing in the foyer of the Prince of Wales theatre, Mackintosh is in bullish mood: "I love our unique treasury of Edwardian and Victorian theatres, designed by Matcham, Phipps and Sprague, but we're committed to improving our audience's experience when they visit them. We hope that our efforts will make a significant contribution to bringing back the glory of the West End." With the help, that is, of CCTV cameras, brooms and a tougher police presence.

Shaftesbury Avenue - engineered by Sir Joseph Bazalgette of London embankment and sewage fame, and designed for the Metropolitan Board of Works by a team led by its chief architect, George Vulhamy - was cut through a swathe of slums in 1887. The heart of the avenue, Cambridge Circus, was marked by the grandiose terracotta Palace theatre, where Les Miserables runs and runs, and the other by Piccadilly Circus and its statue of Eros, dedicated to Lord Shaftesbury himself. For the past half-century, this bottom stretch of the avenue has nearly always been down at heel, a rats' alley through the West End. Avenue? There is barely a tree in sight.

Theatres can survive and even thrive in such unsalubrious surroundings. The Almeida's temporary home in a former London General bus garage in seamy King's Cross was perhaps a part of its popular allure. Could intimate productions nurtured in such adventurous and ad-hoc surroundings lose their appeal in smart, faux-Edwardian and chic modern West End venues? "I don't think so," says Mackintosh. "Some of the productions at the Donmar or Almeida are only ever meant to last a few weeks. Some, though, deserve a decent run for popular audiences in the West End, and we'll be able to give them that, in comfort and style, at the Sondheim."

The Sondheim is just a part of Mackintosh's plan to bring a mix of avant-garde and mainstream productions to a newly spick and span West End. The impresario is investing a total of �35m in his West End theatres. These include the art deco-style Prince of Wales theatre (1937), designed by Robert Cromie, in Coventry Street, as well as the new Sondheim. Mamma Mia will be elevated from the Prince Edward (designed by Edward Stone, opened in 1907, and washed and brushed up by RHWL in 1992), where it is currently showing, to the Prince of Wales next spring after a �7m refurb.

The 1,143-seat Prince of Wales will be transformed inside, pokey spaces giving way to a sweeping stair and multi-level foyers so that everyone can make a grand entrance. The auditorium will be fitted out in shining woven bronze, stainless steel mesh and polished copper - "a crisply modern take on art deco", promises Thompson.

Currently, Mackintosh runs only two of the seven theatres he owns, the Prince of Wales and the Prince Edward. The remaining five are leased to, among others, the Ambassador Group and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group. As the leases on these expire, in 2005 and 2006, Mackintosh will get his architectural grip on them.

"I'm proud of the fact that my company is doing so much without subsidy to make some real improvements here in the West End. Lasting improvements. We don't want to be slaves to the latest architectural fashion or trend in experimental theatre design; we want to make a long-term impact, and for the best. The West End is meant to be a popular venue; what it mustn't be is ugly, dirty or second-rate."

Mackintosh, however, exits stage left when I imagine Mamma Mia going to the Almeida for a season and a two-week experimental wonder being booked into the Prince of Wales for six months. Cats might fly."

(From The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2003/jun/26/theatre.artsfeatures)

Could this have been planned to have happened before Les Mis transferred but ALW wanted them out of the Palace for The Woman in White so the Miz transfer had to be rushed and the restoration therefore not completed? If so, why was it still being shown in Les Mis programmes as late as 4 or 5 years ago? And why could this not have been achieved just as other restoration aspects have whilst the show has been running (for example, a new chandelier was installed as late as last year)?

This could have meant The Queen's changing from hideous:



...To beautiful?



Apologies for dodgy scan

[Jonwo]

I never got why Cameron didn't move Les Mis to the Novello rather than Mamma Mia! to allow the refurbishment to take place. It would be great to see the Queens restored to its former glory.

[My Oh My]

I'd guess it is because of Les Mis' unexpected popularity boost that plans for the Sondheim have either been placed on hold or like someone said earlier scrapped altogether.

I distinctly remember reading an article about it when Les Mis first transferred to the Queen's and recall Mackintosh saying in so many words that he was waiting until Les Mis ran its course--which at the time, the message I got was that it would close soon within a year or so. Trust me, I remember these things. Any news, even a hint, that Les Mis might possibly be no more is a MAJOR news item to me and I remember feeling worried it would close over some renovation and that would've been sad.

I felt bad enough I never caught the show at its original Palace home. That's one of the things that makes me grateful for the popularity boost. The cons far outweigh the pros but, hey, who said I never look on the bright side?

[Jonwo]

I hope that the Queens Theatre gets the refurbishment sooner than later, the refurbishment of the Prince of Wales, Novello and Gielgud were stunning.

[ClapYo'Hands]

The interior renovation is beautiful (as much as I don't really like it as a theatre), it's just the facade. It could just be that the work cannot be carried out until Les Misérables closes. Move it back to its proper home!

[Jonwo]

I'm sure the Gielgud had its facade restored while Equus was playing as there was a massive placade covering it so the same could occur for the Queens.

[wetheatreboy]

As far as I am aware the reason this project has been shelved is because it was impossible to provide suitable numbers of fire exits.

The original idea was to build a new theatre on top and have a bar and front of house area to be used by all three theatres.

The only fire exits from the new theatre and bar areas would be the existing ones through the old theatres.

I believe that planning permission was refused because they weren't satisfied that those fire exits would be sufficient for the extra people. Also, fire safety regulations have moved on a bit since those theatres were originally built.