Prince of Wales Theatre

1884 The first hit production at the original Prince of Wales Theatre, initially known as Prince's Theatre, designed by architect C J Phipps was a comic opera called Dorothy that starred the redoubtable Marie Tempest. Dorothy became the longest-running musical theatre production at that time.

1893 Appearing opposite Marie Tempest in Dorothy was the handsome actor Hayden Coffin. The show established him on a successful career path and he starred in many of the Edwardian musical comedies produced by George Edwardes for which he became famous. One such was A Gaiety Girl.

1927 Lily Elsie, described as the most photographed woman in the world, was feted on her return to the Prince of Wales Theatre to play Eileen in the musical comedy The Blue Train, with music by Robert Stolz. She had been absent from the stage for ten years and even King George V, when attending a performance, told her how much she had been missed.

For much of the rest of its life until it was rebuilt in 1937, the Prince of Wales presented a series of French-style revues and came to be known as London's Folies Bergère. It was not until the mid-20th century that musicals were to play an important part in the theatre's history once more.