Empire Theatre, Sydney

The Empire Theatre is a former theatre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was a live music venue for a few years before 1929, when it became a cinema. Around 1940 it had a dual role and by 1950 it was hosting various kinds of stage shows, increasingly musicals, and was finally destroyed by fire in the early 1960s.

History

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Railway Square, Haymarket
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Empire Theatre
Facade, Empire Theatre
Empire Theatre interior, 1927. The audience were there for the musical comedy Sunny. Photo by Sam Hood.

The theatre was designed by Kaberry and Chard,[1][2] and built by R. P. Blundell as a music hall for a syndicate led by leading bookmaker Rafe Naylor.[3] The site was a 150 by 130 feet (46 m × 40 m) block on the Bijou Lane corner of Quay Street ("Saunders' Corner"[a]), Railway Square, near the side entrance to Central Station. It opened on 1 May 1927 with the new Jerome Kern musical Sunny, followed by The Student Prince.[4]

By this time stage musicals as public entertainment had been largely usurped by "talkies" and the theatre was reconfigured as a talking picture house around June 1929.[5] It was one of the few Sydney cinemas independent of the General Theatres Corporation / Fullers' Theatres combination, so showing few "first release" films, until management signed up with RKO, and with Paramount Pictures, who already had an arrangement with Prince Edward Theatre.[6]

During World War II, the Empire again hosted live performances, mounted by the A.I.F. Entertainment Unit[7][8] interspersed with regular movie programmes.

From 1950 the Empire was used by "The Firm" of J. C. Williamson's for minor attractions: "The Great Franquin" (a stage hypnotist),[9] a season of Gilbert and Sullivan favorites,[10] — and ballet performances, hosting a three-week season of the National Ballet Company of Melbourne, which included the world premiere of Corroboree, with its composer John Antill conducting the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.[11] Other ballet companies followed, culminating in the Borovansky Ballet in 1952.[12]

In 1953 "The Firm" announced a major refit and facelift for the old theatre, leading to calls (around the time of the Coronation of Elizabeth II) for it to be renamed "Her Majesty's Theatre".[13] The suggestion was taken up much later, when the musical My Fair Lady was being staged there.[when?]

The building was destroyed by fire in the early 1960s.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "Advertising: Sydney City Council applications". Construction And Local Government Journal. Vol. XXXIV, no. 954. New South Wales, Australia. 19 May 1926. p. 2. Retrieved 5 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "Side of proscenium surround, new Empire Theatre, Sydney", Building: The Magazine for the Architect, Builder, Property Owner and Merchant, 40 (237), Sydney: Federated Builders' Association of Australia.: 3, 12 May 1927, nla.obj-343997713, retrieved 15 February 2024 – via Trove
  3. ^ "New Sydney Theatre". The Sun (Sydney). No. 4591. New South Wales, Australia. 22 July 1925. p. 10. Retrieved 7 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Our New Theatre". The Evening News (Sydney). No. 18395. New South Wales, Australia. 7 June 1926. p. 11. Retrieved 5 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "The Australian Theatre and the Outlook". Sydney Mail. Vol. XXXV, no. 908. New South Wales, Australia. 21 August 1929. p. 10. Retrieved 5 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Film War". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 29, 688. New South Wales, Australia. 27 February 1933. p. 9. Retrieved 6 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "Concert In Aid Of A.I.F. Talkie Unit". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Vol. VI, no. 71. New South Wales, Australia. 13 June 1941. p. 10. Retrieved 6 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "Servicemen, Families, Crowd Sunday Show". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Vol. VII, no. 241. New South Wales, Australia. 28 December 1942. p. 5. Retrieved 6 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "The Greatest Entertainer Show Business has Ever Known". The Sun (Sydney). No. 12, 490. New South Wales, Australia. 7 February 1950. p. 18. Retrieved 7 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "Mikado Opens At Empire". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 35, 158. New South Wales, Australia. 26 August 1950. p. 10. Retrieved 7 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "Corroboree heads big ballet gala". The Sun (Sydney). No. 2448. New South Wales, Australia. 19 March 1950. p. 5. Retrieved 6 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "Tributes to ballet company". The Sun (Sydney). No. 13, 158. New South Wales, Australia. 1 April 1952. p. 14. Retrieved 6 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ "Contact". The Sun (Sydney). No. 13, 517. New South Wales, Australia. 6 June 1953. p. 1. Retrieved 7 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  1. ^ So named for the long-established jewellery and gift shop nearby