Her Majesty's Theatre
In the 1920's, the Haymarket area of central Sydney was thought to be ripe for the development of live theatres. It had the Empire Theatre, the Capitol Theatre, the Lyric Theatre, the Tivoli Theatre and the Barclay Theatre, all large capacity houses.
The Empire Theatre was built diagonally on its cramped site and never had the facilities a first class live theatre should have. It opened on 26th February 1927 with a production of "Sunny", but within two years had switched to films. It was sold to Empire Talkies Ltd., a division of General Theatres Corporation. It ran as a cinema associated with Hoyts as a major first release house until 1948.
The Capitol Theatre, Lyric Theatre and Barclay Theatre were now cinemas and there was a demand for large live theatre. The Empire Theatre briefly joined the Tivoli variety circuit before being bought by J.C. Williamson. The Empire Theatre became the home of practically all the big Broadway musicals and was renamed Her Majesty's Theatre on 21st May 1960, presenting "My Fair Lady" on its stage. The $100 Australian banknote (in the background of the Dame Nellie Melba portrait) features an image of the interior of the theatre.
In 1970 it was leased to the Elizabethan Theatre Trust and was destroyed by fire early in the morning of 31st July 1970. Three years later, on 30th November 1973, a smaller version of Her Majesty's Theatre was opened as part of the redeveloped site, presenting "A Little Night Music".
Location: 107 Quay Street, Sydney, NSW
Her Majesty's Theatre, Cnr Pitt and Market Street, Sydney
A third Her Majesty's Theatre was located on the corner of Pitt and Market Street, Sydney, where Centrepoint stands today, though it was in fact the first theatre in Sydney to bear that name. Payntens Hotel occupied the upper levels of the building. The foundation stone was laid by Sydney Mayor Thomas Playfair in December 1884. It opened on 10 September 1887 and closed on 10 June 1933. The opening play was Henry V, George Rignold was the lessee and lead player. The Governor of New South Wales, Robert Carrington attended the opening night, arriving with his wife in a carriage, with a military escort. Rignold held the lease for eight years, his final production was 'Cloncarty' on 21 September 1895. For a short period, Alfred Woods leased the theatre, then J. C. Williamson and George Musgrove took over in 1896.
Financial pressures from a new amusement tax, competition from the new talking movies and the economic climate led to the closure of the theatre on 10 June 1933. The last performance was The Maid of the Mountains, starring Gladys Moncrieff. Bulldozers moved in the next day and demolished the theatre. A Woolworths supermarket opened on the site 22 March 1934.
