Savoy Theatre

Savoy Theatre

Savoy Theatre on the Strand
Savoy Theatre Location within Central London
Address	Savoy Court, Strand London, WC2
Coordinates	51°30′36″N 0°07′15″W / 51.5101°N 0.1209°W / 51.5101; -0.1209
Public transit	Charing Cross; Embankment Charing Cross
Owner	Ambassador Theatre Group
Operator	Ambassador Theatre Group
Type	West End theatre
Capacity	c. 1,150 on 3 levels
Production	Mean Girls
Construction
Opened	10 October 1881; 142 years ago (1881-10-10)
Rebuilt	1929 (Frank A. Tugwell) 1993 (William Whitfield)
Architect	C. J. Phipps
Website
www.thesavoytheatre.com

The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy Palace. Its intended purpose was to showcase the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, which became known as the Savoy operas.

The theatre was the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity. For many years, the Savoy Theatre was the home of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, which continued to be run by the Carte family for over a century. Richard's son Rupert D'Oyly Carte rebuilt and modernised the theatre in 1929, and it was rebuilt again in 1993 following a fire. It is a Grade II* listed building.

In addition to The Mikado and other famous Gilbert and Sullivan premières, the theatre has hosted such premières as the first public performance in England of Oscar Wilde's Salome (1931) and Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit (1941). In recent years it has presented opera, Shakespeare and other non-musical plays, and musicals.