London Palladium
 |
The London Palladium in 2004 |
The
London Palladium is one of the most famous of
London's
West End theatres. Built by
Frank Matcham, a famous theatrical
architect who designed two famous
London theatres: the London Palladium and the
London Coliseum. The annual
Royal Variety Performance, the most prestigious Variety event of all, is staged at the Palladium.
It is also one of London's largest theatres, boasting 2,286 seats.
In the
1950s and 60s it was the setting for the top-rated
ITV variety show
Sunday Night at the London Palladium which was broadcast live every week and hosted first by
Tommy Trinder, then by
Bruce Forsyth. The programme was made by
ATV, which was owned by the famous theatrical impresario
Lew Grade. Production was by
Val Parnell.
In January
1973, glam rock band
Slade played a gig in the theatre which resulted in the venue's balcony nearly collapsing. In 1977,
Marvin Gaye recorded his live concert on a Double LP Entitled "Marvin Gaye Live at the London Palladium" in which is considered Gaye at his finest while recording a live album, it also included his number one hit "Got to Give it up".
In the late 1980s the venue was once again the setting for the popular
ITV1 variety show,
Live from the Palladium, compered by
Jimmy Tarbuck.
During this time, the theatre was under the ownership of the
Stall Moss Theatres Group.
In 2000, ownership of the theatre changed once again when it was acquired by
Andrew Lloyd Webber's
Really Useful Group. This was followed by a revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's
The King and I starring
Elaine Paige.
In 2002, the famous (but outdated) revolving stage was removed to make way for more modern technology.
From
2002 to 4 September 2005, the Palladium played host to a theatrical version of
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Throughout its three and a half year run at the venue, the production starred many celebrities including
Michael Ball,
Richard O'Brien,
Russ Abbott,
Brian Blessed,
Brian Conley,
Gary Wilmot,
Paul O'Grady,
Derek Griffiths,
Stephen Gately,
Wayne Sleep,
Lionel Blair and the final cast on
Jason Donovan,
Jo Gibb,
Christopher Biggins, Louise Gold, Tony Adams and
Alvin Stardust as the Childcatcher. The production also played a successful run at Broadway's Hilton Theatre and is now on a massive UK national tour to
Sunderland,
Manchester,
Birmingham,
Liverpool,
Bristol,
Southampton and
Edinburgh.
For Christmas 2005-6, the venue played host to
Bill Kenwright's production of
Scrooge - The Musical which closed on 14 January 2006. The show starred
Tommy Steele who returned once again to the Palladium. Since February 2006, the theatre has played host to a new musical production entitled
Sinatra At The London Palladium, which features a live band, large screen projections and dancers performing
Frank Sinatra's greatest hits.
Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Ian's new production of
The Sound of Music will open at the theatre in November 2006.
Appearing on
Heavy Weather, along with
Joe Zawinul's Birdland, is
Wayne Shorter's composition "Palladium" (which is, of course, a tribute to the London Palladium), the lesser known of the two
Weather Report songs about music venues.
