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Post by Jon on Oct 22, 2017 14:58:02 GMT
The Mermaid is still used for odd concerts. Have fond and less fond memories of "Horses" there, too. Personally, I really miss the Shed at the National. I'd quite forgotten the Mermaid and yes, I still pine for The Shed at the NT and don't see why they couldn't have kept it, as it was one of the more affordable NT spaces and there's no exact equivalent left there for most of the type of work it housed. Theatre Royal Stratford East was supposed to be acquiring its own version (or maybe the actual Shed, re-used?), but I've heard no more about this. The Shed/Temporary Venue was always meant to be a temporary venue while the Dorfman was being renovated. |
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Post by Mr Snow on Oct 22, 2017 17:05:42 GMT
The Futurist in Scarborough has a special place in my heart - I lived in Scarborough for a few years in the early 90s and it was definitely on the touring circuit, saw Victoria Wood there, as well as Elaine Paige, Beautiful South, among many others. It served as a cinema when not being used as a live venue. But even back then it was in a poor state of repair and steadily declined ever since. It's very sad to see it go rather than restored. I've got huge nostalgia for all the Scarborough theatres/concert halls. I used to, as a child in the 60s, be taken on holiday by my auntie to Scarborough a number of times and we always went for a fortnight! Incredibly we seemed to go to a different show every night. We were there when the Beatles came to The Futurist. We didn't see the show but I remember vividly the mayhem of Beatlemania; loads of teenage girls screaming loudly with a high police presence and all traffic stopped as they arrived at the theatre. I must have gone to several shows there but the only one I remember seeing was The Black and White Minstrels. I recall being outraged at this, not because of my youthful liberal conscience, but because they were all miming! We used to go regularly to The Floral Hall, where we saw people like Dick Emery and Mike and Bernie Winters - surely the most unfunny double act in history. At the Spa Theatre we used to see a variety show called 'Dazzle' - this was low-rent variety, no big names but I loved it - and the excellent Max Jaffa at the Spa Concert Hall. I also remember going to plays at the Opera House, usually comedies, one memorable one being a version of Nearest and Dearest with Hilda Baker, Jimmy Jewel and Madge Hindle. About a decade ago R3 had a feature on a Scarborough Hotel that still had a Cafe Orchestra giving two concerts a day during the summer season. I think it was the last one in GB and I have cassette of the program somewhere. Played what we call light music and lots of Waltz's. Only made it there a couple of years ago and no one could remember this. Did your aunt ever take you? I wouldn't have liked it as a teen, but I'd love to visit one now. |
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Post by profquatermass on Oct 22, 2017 17:33:24 GMT
The Mermaid is still used for odd concerts. Have fond and less fond memories of "Horses" there, too. Personally, I really miss the Shed at the National. I'd quite forgotten the Mermaid and yes, I still pine for The Shed at the NT and don't see why they couldn't have kept it, as it was one of the more affordable NT spaces and there's no exact equivalent left there for most of the type of work it housed. Theatre Royal Stratford East was supposed to be acquiring its own version (or maybe the actual Shed, re-used?), but I've heard no more about this. I'm glad the Shed was dismantled. Far nicer to have the outdoor space which gets used for events in summer. I miss the Landor - saw some great things there over the years |
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Post by tmesis on Oct 22, 2017 18:00:31 GMT
About a decade ago R3 had a feature on a Scarborough Hotel that still had a Cafe Orchestra giving two concerts a day during the summer season. We never went to a hotel for the concerts, it was always the Spa Concert Hall. I remember this being a very elegant place and Max Jaffa and his orchestra would play high quality salon music, Monti's Czardas etc. I was just getting into classical music and had started learning the clarinet and really loved it. I think I must have been, aged 11, the very definition of a young fogey |
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Post by tmesis on Oct 22, 2017 18:15:23 GMT
I'm glad the Shed was dismantled. Far nicer to have the outdoor space which gets used for events in summer. I miss the Landor - saw some great things there over the years I really don't miss The Shed but I really do miss The Landor. |
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Post by bimse on Oct 22, 2017 19:07:01 GMT
I also remember going to plays at the Opera House, usually comedies, one memorable one being a version of Nearest and Dearest with Hilda Baker, Jimmy Jewel and Madge Hindle.[/quote]
Do you have any recollection what year Hylda Baker and Jimmy Jewel did their stage play at the Royal Opera House? They did it at the Grand Theatre in Blackpool in the 1960s for a tremendously successful summer season , but as I understand they didn’t get on very well with each other , and it wasn’t repeated .
The Blackpool season had a pre season run in Bristol, maybe Scarborough was also a pre season showing?
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Post by Phantom of London on Oct 22, 2017 19:44:03 GMT
The Astoria is being reborn as a new theatre which Nimax will be running Part of me is rather miffed by this. The Astoria that was knocked down want a nimax theatre for plays. It was a gig venue and a night club. When it was knocked down we wrre told we wrre getting a similar replacement, which we aren't. As a theatre lover (and worker) I like the idea of another new West End House. But as music fan, what we are getting is not what was taken. Oddly enough you had the Astoria Theatre, that did both concerts and a G-A-Y event there and a few doors down where the Wetherspoons pub is now, you had the the Marquis Club, that did heavy metal concerts and when I attended a couple of concerts there, it seemed to be an old theatre, as I remember a balcony. But sadly now both theatres are ancient history. |
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Post by tmesis on Oct 22, 2017 20:18:01 GMT
I also remember going to plays at the Opera House, usually comedies, one memorable one being a version of Nearest and Dearest with Hilda Baker, Jimmy Jewel and Madge Hindle. Do you have any recollection what year Hylda Baker and Jimmy Jewel did their stage play at the Royal Opera House? They did it at the Grand Theatre in Blackpool in the 1960s for a tremendously successful summer season , but as I understand they didn’t get on very well with each other , and it wasn’t repeated . The Blackpool season had a pre season run in Bristol, maybe Scarborough was also a pre season showing? Sadly I can't remember when. We visited Scarborough several times between 1960 and 1970 and when not there it was other exotic places like Skegness, Southport, Llandudno, Great Yarmouth and Blackpool and, occasionally south of Watford to Margate (which we considered posh.) |
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Post by Jon on Oct 22, 2017 20:56:07 GMT
Do theatres that are now used for something else count? I’ve been to the Hippodrome which is now a casino and they did a great job restoring it, I quite like the Empire Haymarket which was a former theatre and also the Odeon Covent Garden which was the Saville although there is nothing left of it on the inside
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2017 21:17:36 GMT
Do theatres that are now used for something else count? I’ve been to the Hippodrome which is now a casino and they did a great job restoring it, I quite like the Empire Haymarket which was a former theatre and also the Odeon Covent Garden which was the Saville although there is nothing left of it on the inside They do indeed! I didn’t know about the Saville Theatre so thanks for the information. Some time ago someone mentioned the original entrance to the Savoy Theatre, around the back from its current entrance. I took a little walk to see it. It’s there, and I find it fascinating! At least the ones you mention seem to be used for some kind of ‘entertainment’. It’s when they become carpet warehouses, lie derelict or get bulldozed I feel sad. The stories they could tell... No wonder Sondheim created Follies. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2017 8:10:46 GMT
The Mermaid is still used for odd concerts. Have fond and less fond memories of "Horses" there, too. Personally, I really miss the Shed at the National. How come "fond and less fond" Theatremonkey? I can't remember that much about it other than I enjoyed it but was horrified by the thought that I might have been asked to participate. Though in reality I was sufficiently young to have been ignored in this case.
Probably started my life long aversion to audience participation 
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2017 8:41:52 GMT
The Mermaid is still used for odd concerts. Have fond and less fond memories of "Horses" there, too. Personally, I really miss the Shed at the National. How come "fond and less fond" Theatremonkey? I can't remember that much about it other than I enjoyed it but was horrified by the thought that I might have been asked to participate. Though in reality I was sufficiently young to have been ignored in this case.
Probably started my life long aversion to audience participation
I too was confused by monkey’s “fond and less fond”, and await his elucidation. I have just Googled that production of Horses at the Mermaid and seen that Henry Goodman was also in the cast. The poster shows that it was produced by the RSC, which I’d forgotten. I have also forgotten the audience participation, Jelly Bean. Can you remind me? (I also have an aversion to it...  ) |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2017 8:45:54 GMT
When they had the dance rounds a few of the cast members took partners from the audience. They were then quickly eliminated from the competition so nothing major but enough to make me wary for any future possibilities in shows!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2017 9:24:40 GMT
Matcham's Empire in Liverpool isn't far off. ATG running it into the group both sides of the proscenium.
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Post by TallPaul on Oct 23, 2017 13:46:52 GMT
Perhaps my information is now out of date, but when the Opera House in Scarborough was demolished, all the decorative plasterwork was put into storage, ready and waiting for someone with a passion for jigsaws, and several million pounds.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2017 14:05:49 GMT
The Mermaid is still used for odd concerts. Have fond and less fond memories of "Horses" there, too. Personally, I really miss the Shed at the National. I saw Toyah Wilcox in "Trafford Tanzi" at the Mermaid. Great little theatre. As you can see from the website - www.the-mermaid.co.uk/ - the auditorium is still there in (I assume) something close to its original state but its now run mainly as a corporate event space. How it went from Bernard Miles' long campaign to build the first new theatre in the City since the 17th Century to a corporate space for hire is a bit of a sorry saga - see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaid_Theatre |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2017 14:15:15 GMT
I lived in Gt Yarmouth from the mid sixties until the early seventies which was very much in its heyday as far as summer shows were concerned. The likes of Morecambe and Wise, Engelbert Humperdinck, Billy Fury and many others starred at the ABC, The Royal Aquarium, The Windmill and The Wellington Pier Pavillion, sadly all gone. The Aquarium is now a cinema but the others were demolished or abandoned or converted into sideshows like Ripley's Believe It or Not.
The only theatre that is vaguely functioning from back then is the Brittania Pier Theatre which has the odd show during the summer. Gone are the 12 week summer seasons of artists like Dora Bryan, Norman Vaughn, Mike and Bernie Winters. I was a stagehand at the Brit for a few summer seasons so mingled with the "stars". The best time was the annual midnight matinee when all the shows contributed to a 4 hour marathon of performers trying to be the "Who's Best?".
There was and still is a Circus but I always preferred the smell of greasepaint to the smell of animals.
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Post by rmechanical on Oct 23, 2017 14:25:10 GMT
I saw the great Ken Dodd at the Futurist at least ten years ago and it was in dire need of repair then.
It is an ugly building not helped by the facade which I guess is from the 60's
Given how seaside holidays have changed I wonder how economically viable it would be to open a new theatre that size in that location now
However Flamingoland redeveloping the site does not fill me with optimism.
Also they'll have to be careful when it goes the cliff and the Grand Hotel doesn't join it.
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Post by TallPaul on Oct 24, 2017 13:41:35 GMT
If I rubbed Aladdin's lamp and was granted a return journey on a theatrical time machine, the destination I think I'd pick would be the Stoll Theatre on Kingsway, in that there London.
Built by Oscar Hammerstein and originally called the London Opera House, it looked, from the pictures online, magnificent. Imagine if the Coliseum and ROH had a love child, and you won't be far wrong!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I think I'd be slightly less angry if just a modicum of thought had gone into its replacement. The site is now occupied by the monstrous carbunkle that also houses the Peacock Theatre.
All theatres have a ghost, so I hope the Stoll Theatre ghost found an appropriate new home.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2017 15:21:58 GMT
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Post by Jan on Oct 24, 2017 16:21:17 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2017 16:33:43 GMT
I’d like to have seen either of The Gaiety theatres on The Strand and, going back further, the music and fireworks of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. A few photos of the former and sketches and writings about the latter are all that we have. On the other side of the Atlantic, I’d love to have known what it was like to have been at one of the roof garden theatres, such as the New Amsterdam. I wonder what people in succeeding centuries will think of us now that they can see moving pictures of their distant past. How will we look to them?
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Post by showgirl on Oct 25, 2017 3:49:40 GMT
Yes! As small children, my brother and I would be taken on an eagerly-awaited pre-Christmas trip to Gamages to see the (Hornby?) model train layout - though from the little I recall, it was so popular that you would see very little and for a very short time. Another Christmas "treat" was being taken to Peter Pan at, I think, the Scala Theatre, though as we were very small and unused to London and crowds generally, let alone the theatre or panto, I suspect the experience was more bewildering and overwhelming than enjoyable. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2017 7:09:13 GMT
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Post by showgirl on Oct 25, 2017 17:58:20 GMT
Thanks for the memory, @caiaphas; as you say, the photos might slightly pre-date our time but the fact that majority of onlookers was probably didn't change.
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