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Birmingham Theatre Royal

C

chinnychinn

Guest
has any one a picture of the theatre royal i think it was called. i believe it was in New Street.My sister took me there as a young boy to see White Horse Inn i think it was called.
 
Here's a photo, but it was beginning to look a Little threadbare by the time this was taken.

Phil
 

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A photo of the Theatre Royal not that long after opening, and another one of the Pit Bar that was underneath the theatre (I think I've posted this before).

Phil
 

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I went to the Theatre Royal a few times - pantomine and to see Swan lake with my mum - I think it may have been the Russian Ballet - and Johnny Ray when I was 14 and I think the last time was to see the great Bill Haley and the Comets -
Good memories,
Sheri
 
I went to the Theatre Royal when I was 14. My school were putting on the ballet Coppelia and I was to dance the lead. So my teacher took me to see it. It was the first time I had been in the theatre and I loved it.
Later on I was a regular at the Hippodrome going to see Cliff and Adam Faith etc. but the Theatre Royal was special.
 
Hi Wendy: My school Fentham Girls in Erdington were taken to see the ballet
Coppelia at the Theatre Royal. This would probably have been in the mid l950's before the theatre was demolished. Was that the time that you were dancing the lead in this ballet?

What a sad sight that was when the theatre was being pulled down.
 
Hi Jennyann,
Yes it would be 1958 when I went to see Coppelia at the Theatre Royal. Unfortunately the first and last time I went there.
Wendy
 
Thanks Wendy. Not sure if this Arthur Lloyd site has been on the forum before but it is a great site for Theatre History. I've opened it up at the Theatre Royal History link.
Link replaced with new link

The Theatre Royal, New Street, Birmingham

www.arthurlloyd.co.uk
 
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Hi JennyAnn
I have looked at my Coppelia photos and it was 1956 we did it and not 58 as I said earlier. (Its a long time ago!)

I will look at the Arthurlloyd site now that you have kindly sent, thank you.
Wendy
 
chinnychin,
It was the "White Horse Inn" a musical,the star was the Irish tenor, Joseph Locke,songs included "goodbye" and "Soldiers Dream"...I think!
Another show I saw there was "French Can Can",but don't remember when.
 
I can well remember going to the Theatre when i was
courting, it must have been 1953/54 to see the "Crossroads" star Noel Gorden in "Call Me Madam" she
was very good she must have had a musical background
Quote;"Tough times dont last, tough people do!!!
Gregory Peck (1916-2003).
 
Ray Barrett said:
chinnychin,
It was the "White Horse Inn" a musical,the star was the Irish tenor, Joseph Locke,songs included "goodbye" and "Soldiers Dream"...I think!
Another show I saw there was "French Can Can",but don't remember when.
Click to expand...
You are right and do you know i still know those songs and many years later around 1970 i think, i was having a pint with my brothers in the wheatsheaf on the coventry road sheldon where we were having a sing song when we were joined by a very convivial gent with a glorious tenor voice( Joseph Locke) and we had a wonderful night belting out all his songs, he missed his show in birmingham and i never heard of him after that but he was a gentleman
 
There was an interest in Joseph Locke recently,can't remember what,they may have made a film about him.We shall have to look it up Chinny.
 
Ray Barrett said:
There was an interest in Joseph Locke recently,can't remember what,they may have made a film about him.We shall have to look it up Chinny.
Click to expand...

Josef Locke was the subject of a 1991 feature film, Ray. Josef Locke's charactor was played by an American actor in a story about a long-lost singing-star who comes out of retirement to save the day regarding some musical presentation.

The poster and summary of the movie is here:

www.moviegoods.com/movie_poster/hear_my_song_1991.htm
 
Thanks for that Richie.Josef Locke also appeared at the Aston Hip.and in the Bartons Arms.
Glad to see the Wolves & Blues back in the premiership.
 
Well, if nothing else, Josef Locke could certainly blow the wax out of your ears...

He used to be on The Frankie Howerd Show, and he'd empty the room apart from my Gran, because he was about the only TV singer she could actually hear. I hate to say this, because he was abviously popular, but if he had a genuinely great voice he wouldn't have been stuck on TV variety shows for most of his professional life. He was, like a lot of music-hall tenors were, LOUD!

Didn't he fall foul of the taxman at some time?

Big Gee
 
I remember seeing "The White Horse Inn" at the Birmingham Hippodrome In 1949 and many opera's at the Theatre Royal my favourite being " Carmen " and also " Bless the Bride" with George Guetary and Elizabeth Webb all 1948/9. What a feast of music
 
Sospiri - that is a useful history, thanks very much for sharing it. So the 1821 view that I posted was in fact when the 1774 Theatre was in it's third life, although the visible facade seems to be from the original facelift in 1780 if I interpret correctly.
 
Hi Aidan,

I don't know a great deal about the buildings as my interests lie in some the people who worked there between 1865 and the turn of the century.

https://www.copac.ac.uk will turn up about 300 references to the Theatre and its productions and there are a few snippet views on Google Books, though the original books are available on the 6th Floor of Central Library. It might also be worth checking the Photographic Collection as well.

Maurice :cool:
 
Hi Aidan: Here is the photo of the last night of the Theatre Royal in 1956. I have another photo which has a script that says Patricia Routledge was on stage when this photo was taken. Haven't come across it yet.I think that the actors and the audience were singing "Auld Lang Syne". One feature of the photo I like is the last actress on the left linking hands with a member of the audience. Very emotional at the time. This article is from Douglas V Jones book "Around the Rotunda".
Replacement photo, but not original as is plain from references above

City New St Theatre Royal New St Last Night 15-12-56.JPG
 
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Jennyann - that's a sweet and poignant picture. What a loss after 200 years. Interesting to see Paganini and Charles Dickens played there - thanks for sharing it.

PS - the author doesn't mention which Rotunda he was talking about by any chance? I am trying to find info on the first Rotunda that was just across the road from the Theatre Royal in the early 1800s on the "Panorama - the first Rotunda" thread
 
Hi Aidan: Douglas Jones" book is about the buildings around the"new" Rotunda. Douglas wrote several books a few years ago
and has since passed away. His books were published by Westwood Press which was located in Boldmere Road, Sutton Coldfield. They were bought out by Brewin Books I believe. Douglas's books can be found in most Brum libraries.

I hope you have some luck finding out about the Panorama-Rotunda building. Bit more digging on that one.
 
Sadly i remember working on the building that replaced it i must have been about 20 at the time 1961-62 the Woolworths building the start of concrete and steel boxes on New Street. Dek
 
evening all, i hope i am not mistaken ,but, didnt Bill haley and the Comets play at theOdean cinema in the early 60's?

shardeen
 
Was in Oxfam bookshop in Harborne this morning and spotted a 1950s book on the Theatre Royal, so I snapped it up. It has a complete history of everything to do with the theatre from it's opening in 1774, with costs etc.
I'll try to read it through this weekend and summarise the important bits. Happy to answer specific questions in the meantime...

[and no, Aiden, as far as I can see there isn't anything on the rotunda/panorama!]
 
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