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The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster. It opened on 24 April 1889 with ''The Profligate'', a play by Arthur Wing Pinero. In its early years, it appears to have specialised in the performance of melodrama, and today the theatre is a ''receiving house'' for a variety of productions. The theatre is named after the stage actor David Garrick.〔Holland, Peter. "David Garrick", in Banham, Martin (ed.) ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'', London, Cambridge University Press (1995), pp. 411–412〕 ==History== The Garrick Theatre was financed in 1889 by the playwright W. S. Gilbert, the author of over 75 plays, including the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. It was designed by Walter Emden, with C. J. Phipps brought in as a consultant to help with the planning on the difficult site, which included an underground river. Originally the theatre had 800 seats on four levels, but the gallery (top) level has since been closed and the seating capacity reduced to 656. A proposed redevelopment of Covent Garden by the GLC in 1968 saw the theatre under threat, together with the nearby Vaudeville, Adelphi, Lyceum and Duchess theatres. An active campaign by Equity, the Musicians' Union, and theatre owners under the auspices of the ''Save London Theatres Campaign'' led to the abandonment of the scheme.〔("Theatre History" ), Vaudeville Theatre, accessed 12 June 2013〕 The gold-leaf auditorium was restored in 1986 by the stage designer Carl Toms, and in 1997 the front façade was renovated. The theatre has mostly been associated with comedies or comedy-dramas. Sydney Grundy's long-running French-style comedy ''A Pair of Spectacles'' opened here in February 1890. Mrs Patrick Campbell starred five years later in Pinero's ''The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith''. Afterwards, the theatre suffered a short period of decline until it was leased by Arthur Bourchier, whose wife, Violet Vanbrugh, starred in a series of successful productions ranging from farce to Shakespeare.〔(Information about the theatre and other Victorian theatres. )〕 In 1900, the theatre hosted J. M. Barrie's ''The Wedding Guest''. Rutland Barrington presented several stage works at the Garrick, including his popular "fairy play" called ''Water Babies'' in 1902, based on Charles Kingsley's book, with music by Alfred Cellier, among others. The only piece actually premiered by W. S. Gilbert here was ''Harlequin and the Fairy's Dilemma'' (retitled ''The Fairy's Dilemma'' after a few days), a "Domestic Pantomime" (1904). In 1921, Basil Rathbone played Dr. Lawson in ''The Edge o' Beyond'' at the Garrick, and the following year Sir Seymour Hicks appeared in his own play, ''The Man in Dress Clothes''. In 1925 Henry Daniell played there as Jack Race in ''Cobra'' and appeared there again as Paul Cortot in ''Marriage by Purchase'' in March 1932. More recent productions are listed below and include ''No Sex Please, We're British'' (1982), which played for four years at the theatre before transferring to the Duchess Theatre in 1986. On 24 October 1995, the Royal National Theatre's multi-award winning production of J. B. Priestley's ''An Inspector Calls'' opened here, having played successful seasons at the Royal National Theatre's Lyttelton and Olivier theatres as well as the Aldwych Theatre and a season on Broadway. In 1986, the Garrick was acquired by the Stoll Moss Group, and, in 2000, it became a ''Really Useful Theatre'' when Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group and Bridgepoint Capital purchased Stoll Moss Theatres Ltd. In October 2005, Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer purchased the Garrick Theatre, and it became one of five playhouses operating under their company name of Nimax Theatres Ltd, alongside the Lyric Theatre, Apollo Theatre, Vaudeville Theatre and Duchess Theatre. The interior retains many of its original features, and was Grade II * listed by English Heritage in September 1960.〔(English Heritage listing details ), accessed 28 April 2007〕 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「Garrick Theatre」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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