Named for the Greek god of the arts and leader of the muses, because it was designed and built as a venue for musical entertainment, The Apollo Theatre first opened its doors in February 1901. The first production, The Belle of Bohemia, was not a particular success and Tom B Davis quickly acquired the leasehold in 1902. Early musical successes at the theatre included Kitty Grey, Three Little Maids and The Girl from Kay’s, all presented by George ‘Gaiety’ Edwardes. The light opera Veronique (1904) with music by André Messager starred Ruth Vincent and was big hit. Cicely Courtneidge made her London debut in Tom Jones (1907) with music by Edward German, and from 1908 until 1912 the theatre was home to H G Pelissier’s The Follies. From then on the policy for musical comedy was replaced with far more varied fare, the most successful of which, during the First World War, was Harold Brighouse’s Hobson’s Choice (1916).
In 1920 the actor George Grossmith and Edward Laurillard became managers, presiding over a series of plays and revivals, including George Du Maurier’s Trilby (1922), during the next three years. Subsequent successes under various managements were Abie’s Irish Rose (1927), Sean O’Casey’s The Silver Tassie (1929), A Symphony in Two Flats (1929) by Ivor Novello and John van Druten’s There’s Always Juliet (1931). Star casting included Diana Wynyard as Charlotte Bronte in Clemence Dane’s Wild Decembers (1932) and Raymond Massey in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Idiot’s Delight (1938) by Robert Sherwood. A string of popular plays followed with Patrick Hamilton’s Gaslight (1939), Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path (1942), John Clements and Kay Hammond in Noël Coward’s Private Lives, Margaret Rutherford in The Happiest Days of Your Life (1948) and Sybil Thorndike and Lewis Casson in Treasure Hunt (1949) directed by John Gielgud.
Prince Littler took control in 1944 and presided over some of the theatre’s most popular productions. Seagulls Over Sorrento (1950) ran for over three years but the theatre’s longest run was Boeing Boeing (1962) which starred Patrick Cargill and David Tomlinson. The play eventually transferred to the Duchess in 1965. Sir John Gielgud was literally the Head of the cast in Alan Bennett’s Forty Years On (1968) and returned to play opposite Ralph Richardson in David Storey’s Home (1969). He was to make one of his last stage appearances here as well, at the age of 83, in Hugh Whitemore’s Best of Friends (1988).
Hit comedies became the norm, often transferring from, or to, other theatres – Terry Scott in The Mating Game (1972), Why Not Stay for Breakfast (1973), Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests (1974), Donald Sinden in Shut Your Eyes and Think of England (1977), Middle Aged Spread (1980) with Richard Briers and Paul Eddington, Season’s Greetings (1982), Gerald Moon’s Corpse (1984) in which Keith Baxter played twins opposite Milo O’Shea, Don’t Dress For Dinner (1991), Tony Slattery in Tim Firth’s Neville’s Island (1994) and Ben Elton’s Popcorn (1997).
Notable plays and performances were John Mills in Rattigan’s Separate Tables (1976), Albert Finney in Orphans (1986), Paul Scofield in I’m Not Rappaport (1986), Dorothy Tutin, Eileen Atkins and Sian Phillips in Thursday’s Ladies (1987), Wendy Hiller in Driving Miss Daisy (1988), Zoe Wanamaker in the National Theatre’s Mrs Klein (1989), Vanessa Redgrave in A Mad house in Goa (1989), Peter O’Toole in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (1990), Penelope Wilton in The Deep Blue Sea, Peter Bowles in In Praise of Love (1995) and Sleuth (2002), Jason Priestley in Side Man (2000), Penelope Keith in Star Quality (2001), Felicity Kendal and Frances De La Tour in Fallen Angels (2000), Warren Mitchell in The Price (2003) and Jonathan Pryce in The Goat or Who is Sylvia? (2004).
Successful one-person performances have included Michael MacLiammoir in The Importance of Being Oscar (1960), Barrie Humphries as Edna Everage Housewife Superstar (1976), Emlyn Williams as Saki (1977), Peter Barkworth as Siegfried Sassoon (1987), Tom Conti in Jesus My Boy (1998), Mark Little in the Olivier Award-winning Defending the Caveman (1999) and Dawn French in My Brilliant Divorce (2003).
From 1975 the Apollo was part of the Stoll Moss Group until purchased by Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Really Useful Group and Bridgepoint Capital in 2000, making it one of eleven Really Useful Theatres in London’s West End.
In 2005 veteran producers Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer purchased the Apollo Theatre, along with the Garrick, Duchess and Lyric Theatres creating Nimax Theatres on 26 September 2005. The Vaudeville Theatre, solely owned by Max Weitzenhoffer, completes the Nimax portfolio
Mark Fox with thanks to George Hoare. Copyright Really Useful Theatres
Space does not allow for inclusion of all productions at this theatre.
