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The Empire Leicester Square is a cinema on the north side of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, London. It is one of the cinemas in, and adjoining, the Square which are used for film premières and first runs. ==History== The Empire Theatre opened on 17 April 1884 as a West End variety theatre on Leicester Square, as well as a ballet venue, with a capacity of about 2,000 seats. The first performance was ''Chilpéric'', with music by Hervé, adapted by H. Hersee and H.B. Farnie and described as ''a Grand Musical Spectacular, in three acts and seven tableaux''. The corps de ballet for the performance was 50 strong.〔"(''Chilperic'' Theatre programme 17 April 1884 (Arthur Lloyd) )". Retrieved 19 November 2007〕 Edward Solomon and Sydney Grundy premièred their comic opera, ''Pocahontas or The Great White Pearl'', another Solomon opera, ''Polly or The Pet of the Regiment'' transferred here, and his ''Billee Taylor'' was revived here, all in 1884. Kate Vaughan starred in ''Around the World in 80 Days'' at the theatre in 1886. Hervé premièred his ''Diana'' (1888) and ''Cleopatra'' (1889) at the theatre. In 1887, the theatre reopened as a popular music hall named the Empire Theatre of Varieties. From 1887 to 1915, the designer C. Wilhelm created both scenery and costumes for (and sometimes produced) numerous ballets at the theatre, which established a fashion for stage design and were much imitated.〔"Mr. Pitcher's Art" - Obituary ''The Times'', 3 March 1925〕 George Edwardes managed the theatre around the start of the 20th century. The dancer Adeline Genée and the theatre's ballet company, working under composer-director Leopold Wenzel, did much to revive the moribund art of ballet in Britain, which had declined in the 19th century.〔Richards, Jeffrey. ( ''Imperialism and Music: Britain 1876-1953'' ). pp. 257–60. (2002) Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-4506-1〕 In March 1896, the Empire Theatre played host to the first commercial theatrical performances of a projected film to a UK audience by Auguste and Louis Lumière.〔On 14 January 1896, the first public film show in the UK, was presented using the ''Kineopticon'' system at the Queen's Hall, to members of the Royal Photographic Society by Birt Acres and Arthur Melbourne-Cooper. The Lumières first demonstrated their ''Cinématographe'' system at the Polytechnic in Regent Street five weeks later, at the same time Robert W. Paul demonstrated his ''Theatograph'' at his workshop in Hatton Garden.〕 The film programme ran for 18 months. Over the next few years, the theatre began to offer a programme of live performances with short film shows. As moving pictures grew in popularity in the 1920s, the Empire was acquired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who demolished most of the theatre in 1927 (its last live theatre performance was ''Lady Be Good'', starring Fred Astaire) and rebuilt the Empire as a film theatre designed by architect Thomas Lamb; parts of the Frank Verity designed external structure remain on the West side.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Empire (London) )〕 The theatre's capacity was increased to about 3,300 seats; it boasted a 4/21 Wurlitzer organ (removed in the 1960s), a large stage which often hosted ballet and dance performances. It was also one of the first cinemas in the UK to be fully air conditioned. The new cinema opened on 8 November 1928 with the silent film ''Trelawny of the Wells'', based on the play by Arthur Wing Pinero.〔. Retrieved 5 January 2008〕 Programmes of ''cine-variety'' were presented at the Empire after the war.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Empire Theatre, Leicester Square )〕 These were elaborate live shows, similar to those presented at the Radio City Music Hall; the American producer, Nat Carlson, was hired, and its slogan "The Showplace of the Nation" was adopted. In 1952 the Empire featured in Charlie Chaplin's film ''Limelight'', and can also be seen in archived newsreel footage of special events. In 1959, the Empire installed new 70mm projectors and a new screen in front of the proscenium to show ''Ben-Hur'', which ran for 76 weeks. Following this, in 1961 the Empire was closed for extensive internal reconstruction to a design by Architect George Coles; almost all the original ornate plasterwork was removed with only two small sections remaining, hidden behind false walls and ceilings. A new 1,330 seat auditorium was formed by using the rear section of the circle, now extended forward to the other side of the building by constructing a new floor, on which a new stalls seating area was located; its side walls and ceiling were covered with plaster tiles, featuring banks of concealed colour-changing neon lighting, and reclining red upholstered seating were fitted. The vestibule was subdivided with one staircase up to the grand foyer, and was fitted with a black and white Italian marble wall, and a new grand foyer replaced the circle foyer, featuring a red coloured ceiling with several small domes, lit with white concealed lighting. In the former stalls, a Mecca Ballroom was constructed, with its main entrance using the right half of the doorway facing Leicester Square, which over the years was operated as a dance hall, discothèque and nightclub. In 2007, following further reconstruction and refurbishment, it re-opened as the Casino at the Empire.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Casino At The Empire (2007) )〕 The 1928 façade was retained but remained hidden for many years by a full building hoarding advertising the current films featured and Mecca Dancing; it was not until 1988 that it was re-exposed, with a new canopy built featuring rows of semi-circular neon lights, which was subsequently altered and then completely replaced when the Casino was opened. The theatre re-opened on 19 December 1962, with ''Jumbo''. The auditorium would later be named Empire 1 or Screen 1. In 1988, Screen 1 and the grand foyer were refurbished. Fibre optic starfields were fitted in the foyer ceiling and above the screen, and a THX-certified JBL sound system was installed. A laser projector was also installed, and until the mid-1990s, Empire 1 featured a short sound-and-light show; the projection was onto the curtains and walls, and the concealed lighting was sequenced. It preceded the start of each programme, proclaiming it to be "The Most Spectacular Cinema in the World," and advertised the THX certified sound system. The THX certification would later be dropped and Martin Audio speakers were installed. The Empire was operated for many years by Cinema International Corporation (CIC), which would subsequently be merged with AMC Theatres to form United Cinemas International (UCI) Cinemas in the UK. In 2004, UCI Cinemas merged with Odeon Cinemas to form the Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group; the Office of Fair Trading approved the merger on the condition that the Empire Leicester Square, along with ten other former UCI sites, were sold. In October 2005, all were sold to Empire Cinemas Ltd. and then rebranded as Empire Cinemas. The THX certification of Screen 1 was reinstated in 2006, with the sound system completely replaced, using 5 JBL 4632 Custom ScreenArray screen speakers, each with dual 18" drivers, and 16 18" JBL 4645C subwoofers, all flush with a baffle wall; a rear array comprising 42 JBL 8340A surround speakers, dbx DriveRack 4800 digital active crossovers, and 56 kW of Crown CTs series amplification; the screen was also replaced by one 4 metres (≈13 feet) wider, measuring 18.2 meters by 7.68 metres. In May 2009, Screen 1 was fitted with the UK's first Dolby 3D large screen system, which used a Barco digital cinema twin-projector. The UK's first public Dolby Atmos sound system was installed in Screen 1 in July 2012, which provides up to 128 discrete sound tracks and up to 64 unique speaker feeds; new ceiling speakers were installed, hanging down through holes in the ceiling, but covered over with grey fabric, and additional side wall speakers were installed towards the front. In August 2013, Screen 1 was closed for redevelopment, to a design by UNICK Architects, for subdivision into a 728-seat IMAX and a 400-seat IMPACT screen. The final screening, ''Big Bad Wolves'', occurred on 26 August 2013 to close out FrightFest 2013, and building work commenced immediately afterwards. Following several delays due to structural difficulties, the IMPACT screen opened on 16 May 2014 with ''Pompeii'', and the IMAX screen on 30 May with ''Edge of Tomorrow''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Empire, Leicester Square」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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