Apollo Victoria Theatre Overview
Opened as a Cinema in 1930 the now 'Apollo Victoria' is a 2304 capacity theatrical venue brimming with art deco design. In the era where talking pictures were influencing the creation of 'super' cinemas, Provincial Cinematograph Theatres (PCT) invited Ernest Walmsley Lewis to submit plans to build such a cinema a stone’s throw away from Victoria Station.
Designing of the venue was challenging to say the least especially due to the disadvantage of having two major roads running either side of it. Having two frontages was considered very severe, taxi drivers were said to have nicknamed the venue 'Sing-Sing'.
The interior was inspired, unique and a testament to art deco design. 'Imagine a fairy cavern under the sea, or a mermaid’s dream of Heaven; something one has never seen or thought of before; huge submarine flowers against the walls that branch up and out and throw mysterious light towards the realms above, and glassy illuminated stalactites hanging from the ceiling; and a proscenium like a slender host of silver trees, and silvered organ pipes that shoot up to the roof; while over the whole the lights change from deep-sea green to the colours of the dawn, and from these to the warm comfort sunlight'. Gaumont-British News
15th October 1930 the New Victoria opened with the film Old English and a stage show called Hoop-La, years of highs and lows followed. Now heading into its 75th year the Cinema has transformed into one of the leading West End venues hosting musicals such as The Sound of Music with Petula Clark, Camelot with Richard Harris and Fiddler on the Roof with Topol. In 1984 Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical extravaganza Starlight Express opened and considered the Apollo Victoria its home for many years.
In 2005 Saturday Night Fever opened.
In 2006 Wicked, the smash-hit Broadway show opened and continues to go from strength to strength.
