Origins
The theatre originated with an attempt by the actress Frances Maria Kelly (1790–1882) to establish a dramatic academy, and thereafter it had a long tradition of actress-management. "The theatre was small, obscurely sited, perilously combustible and rarely prosperous for long, partly by reason of its consequent use for occasional or independent ventures, but it housed some productions of note." However, there was a relatively spacious stage, and Beazley's work in the auditorium was thought pretty. The Times described the theatre as "most elegantly fitted up and appointed, and painted in a light tasteful manner". The theatre was designed as a bijou for a fashionable audience, and a box was taken by Queen Adelaide.
On the opening night, three pieces were presented: Summer and Winter, by Morris Barnett; a melodrama, The Sergeant's Wife; and a farce, The Midnight Hour. The opening was unsuccessful, and within a week the theatre was closed. A contributory factor was probably the high admission charges of five or seven shillings. Kelly reopened the theatre, at reduced prices, on 22 February 1841, for a short season of her own monologues, but in the following year illness ended her active use of the theatre.
In 1850 the theatre was reopened as the (Royal) Soho Theatre, after redecoration by W. W. Deane and S. J. Nicholl, changing its name to the New English Opera House from 5 November 1850, and in the following year an entrance portico was built. Various types of productions played at the theatre, including English 'Grand Opera'. Performances were mostly by amateurs, hiring the theatre at standard rates. At other times, the theatre, as "Theatre Français", attracted patrons chiefly among the foreigners in Soho.
In 1861, the direction of the theatre was assumed by Albina di Rhona, "the young Servian artist", a dancer and comic actress. She renamed it the New Royalty Theatre, and had it altered and redecorated by "M. Bulot, of Paris, Decorator in Ordinary to his Imperial Majesty, Louis Napoleon", with "cut-glass lustres, painted panels, blue satin draperies and gold mouldings". Despite a varied opening programme, in which Miss di Rhona danced, the leader of the Boston Brass Band from America executed a bugle solo, and a performance was given by a fourteen-year-old actress named Ellen Terry (later the leading Shakespearean actress of her time), the re-opening was not successful. The theatre was managed, from 1866 to 1870, by Martha Cranmer Oliver, who featured mostly burlesques, including F. C. Burnand's burlesque of Black-eyed Susan, which ran for nearly 500 nights, and a burlesque by W. S. Gilbert, The Merry Zingara.
The theatre was managed by Henrietta Hodson during the early 1870s. She also produced mostly burlesques and comedies, including Gilbert's The Realm of Joy and Ought We to Visit her? In 1872, it became known as the Royalty Theatre and retained this name (although it was occasionally known as the New Royalty Theatre). On 25 March 1875 the theatre, under the direction of Madame Selina Dolaro, enjoyed an historic success with Trial by Jury, the first Gilbert and Sullivan opera to be staged by Richard D'Oyly Carte. It premiered together with Jacques Offenbach's La Périchole and another one-act farce, Cryptoconchoidsyphonostomata. The favourable reception of Trial led Carte to create his own company elsewhere, so it brought no continuing prosperity to the Royalty. In January 1876 at the theatre, Pauline Rita appeared under Carte's management as Gustave Muller in The Duke's Daughter.
Read more about this topic: Royalty Theatre
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