About the Palace Theatre
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The Palace Theatre is a large Victorian theatre of 1,434 seats on its own island site at Cambridge Circus, at the end of Shaftesbury Avenue. Its tall red-brick frontage is one of the landmarks of the West End, and inside it keeps the steep, four-level Victorian horseshoe that makes it such a dramatic place to see a show. It's Grade II* listed and run by Nimax Theatres.
The history of the Palace Theatre
The Palace opened in January 1891, designed by the architect T. E. Collcutt and built for Richard D'Oyly Carte as the Royal English Opera House. The opera experiment was short and costly, and within a year it had become the Palace Theatre of Varieties, one of London's leading music halls.
From 1921 Charles B. Cochran ran it as a cinema, and from 1925, starting with No, No, Nanette, it became a home for musicals. Fred Astaire's final London stage role came here in the 1930s, in Cole Porter's Gay Divorce, just before he left for Hollywood.
Its large stage made it a natural fit for spectacle, and it went on to host some of the West End's biggest long-running shows. Les Misérables, London's longest-running musical, played here from 1985 to 2004, 7,602 performances in all. In 2012 the theatre was bought by Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer and became part of Nimax Theatres.
In 2015 and 2016 the theatre was refurbished for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and the play's world premiere followed here in the summer of 2016. That's when the Hogwarts wallpaper and the specialist lighting went in, along with a clock room hidden up in the Grand Circle. The show was first played in two parts, a version that ran until 20 September 2026, and it returned as a single show from 9 October 2026.
Notable past productions
- 2013 to 2015: The Commitments, from Roddy Doyle's book
- 2012 to 2013: Singin' in the Rain, with a real downpour on stage
- 2009 to 2011: Priscilla Queen of the Desert
- 2006 to 2009: Monty Python's Spamalot
- 2004 to 2006: The Woman in White, Andrew Lloyd Webber's take on Wilkie Collins
- 1985 to 2004: Les Misérables, 7,602 performances, then a transfer to what's now the Sondheim Theatre
- 1972 to 1980: Jesus Christ Superstar, Lloyd Webber and Rice's early rock opera
- 1968: Cabaret, Kander and Ebb's musical, in its first London production
- 1961 to 1967: The Sound of Music, over 2,300 performances in its West End premiere run
Other venues of similar size
- Victoria Palace Theatre, 1,557 seats, by Victoria station, the closest match in size
- Cambridge Theatre, 1,246 seats, five minutes away at Seven Dials
- His Majesty's Theatre, 1,216 seats on Haymarket, another old theatre with four levels
About FAQs
When was the Palace Theatre built?
It opened in January 1891 as the Royal English Opera House, built for Richard D'Oyly Carte and designed by T. E. Collcutt. Within a year it had become a music hall, the Palace Theatre of Varieties.
Was Les Misérables at the Palace Theatre?
Yes, from 1985 to 2004, 7,602 performances in all. It then moved down Shaftesbury Avenue to what is now the Sondheim Theatre, where Les Misérables still plays.
What was at the Palace Theatre before Harry Potter?
The Commitments, the musical of the Roddy Doyle story, from 2013 to 2015. The theatre was then refurbished for Cursed Child, which opened in 2016.
Who owns the Palace Theatre?
Nimax Theatres, the group founded by Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer, who bought the Palace in 2012.