Lyceum Theatre
Book The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre
Theatre build date:
1834
History:
There have been theatres on the Lyceum site on Wellington Street since 1765. The original building had a great number of uses and between 1794 and 1809, it had been a circus, a chapel, a concert hall and even the first British venue to host the waxworks of Madame Tussauds.
The current building was opened in 1834, and has played host to a number of theatrical and cultural legends. In the mid-nineteenth century Charles Dickens was present as consultant on the first stage adaptation of A Tale Of Two Cities (1860). WS Gilbert, who of course went on to have enormous success with Arthur Seymour Sullivan, produced his first professional play Uncle Baby (1863) at the Lyceum.
Bram Stoker was business manager of the theatre from 1878 to 1898 and took his inspiration for Dracula from the theatre’s general manager at the time, Sir Henry Irving, who had incidentally taken on the role after playing a number of Shakespearean roles at the theatre with famous actress Ellen Terry.
In 1951, the theatre became the Lyceum Ballroom, playing host to a number of big bands before acting as a venue for such acts as the Grateful Dead, Gary Numan and Hanoi Rocks in from the 1960’s to the early 1980’s. The Lyceum Ballroom closed its doors in 1985, reopening as the Lyceum Theatre with a revival of Jesus Christ Superstar in 1996.
Hauntings:
During its use as a dance hall and concert venue, the auditorium played host to a number of spooky sightings, including a woman frequently seen seated at the back of the stalls holding the head of Henry Courtenay. There have been no reports since the Lyceum resumed its use as a theatre in 1985.
Previously called:
English Opera House
Theatre Royal Lyceum & English Opera House
Lyceum Ballroom
Previously showing:
Oklahoma! (1999)
Jesus Christ Superstar (1996)
Close to:
Covent Garden
Waterloo Bridge
Contact Details
Lyceum Theatre
Wellington Street
WC2E 7RQ
For all ticket enquiries, call:
0871 789 1004
Map
Facilities
Theatre capacity:
2000
Stage door location:
The stage door is located in Exeter Street, just to the right of the theatre.
Theatre layout:
The seating in the Lyceum theatre’s auditorium is arranged in the traditional Stalls, Dress Circle and Upper Circle layout. Because the seats bottleneck towards the front of the stalls (row L forwards), the only slightly sidelined views are in the last two seats at each end of rows A-K.
Because of the generous height of the two circles, only the back row of the Stalls and Dress Cirlce suffer from any overhang restriction. Because of the curvature in the Upper Circle, there are a number of restricted view seats towards the sides, especially from row J backwards, but this is always reflected in the price and taller theatregoers may be able to see just fine. All differences in view are reflected in the prices.
Air conditioned:
‘Air-cooled’
