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Novello Theatre

Novello Theatre

Aldwych, London, WC2B 4LD

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History of the Novello Theatre

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The Novello Theatre is a theatre on Aldwych in the West End of London.

The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of the Waldorf Hotel, both being designed by W.G.R. Sprague. The theatre opened as the Waldorf Theatre on May 22, 1905, and was renamed the Strand Theatre in 1909. It was again renamed as the Whitney Theatre in 1911 before again becoming the Strand Theatre in 1913. In 2005, the theatre was renamed by its owners (Delfont- Mackintosh) the Novello Theatre in honour of Ivor Novello.

The black comedy Arsenic and Old Lace had a run of 1337 performances here in the 1940s, and Sailor Beware ran for 1231 performances from 1955. Stephen Sondheim''s musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opened here on the day of Kennedy''s assassination, running for nearly two years. In 1971 the comedy No Sex Please - We''re British opened here, remaining for over 10 years of its 16-year run until it transferred to the Garrick Theatre in 1982.

The theatre was extensively refurbished in 1930 and again in the early 1970s. For its 100th anniversary in 2005, the theatre is undergoing yet another extensive refurbishment. The current capacity is around 1,050.

It reopened on 8 December 2005 with the Royal Shakespeare Company''s annual London season, playing to 4-week runs of Twelfth Night, The Comedy Of Errors, A Midsummer Night''s Dream and As You Like It, concluding in March 2006. From April 2006 the theatre will play host to the London premiere of the smash Broadway musical Footloose starring Johnny Shentall and Steven McGann.

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