Somewhat unusually, at its opening the theatre's facilities included a Turkish baths.

* Feature article on the theatre's history and the opening of the new cinema, with many images

Terence Frisby's There's a Girl in My Soup, opening in 1966, ran for 1, 064 performances at the theatre, a record that was not surpassed until Andrew Lloyd Webber's production of the Olivier Award-winning comedy Daisy Pulls It Off by Densie Deegan opened in April 1983 to run for 1, 180 performances, the theatre's longest run.

Gilbert's Robert the Devil ( a burlesque of the opera Robert le Diable ) had been on the programme on the theatre's opening night on 21 December 1868, with Nellie Farren in the title role, and played successfully for over 100 nights.

Toby Cockerell played Katherine of France in the theatre's opening production of Henry V in 1997, while Mark Rylance played Cleopatra in the 1999 production of Antony and Cleopatra.

There is a plaque honoring Arthur Mayer mounted at the entrance to boxes L-M-N. Mayer watched the theatre being built, was hired by Curran as part of the theatre's opening night staff, and continued working at the theatre until he was nearly 100-years-old.

Many of the current features are original from the theatre's first opening.

Orton's legacy stands to live on in his hometown, Leicester ; the development of the " cultural quarter " of the city, a former industrial area, continues apace and the new Theatre, Curve, the central development in the area, has a new pedestrian concourse outside the theatre's main entrance named " Orton Square.

Tree played Cardinal Wolsey in a 1911 studio film by William Barker of a five-scene version of Henry VIII, based on the theatre's 1910 production.

Some of the last performances immediately before closure of the theatre's building were Swan Lake on 30 September with the Ballet Estable del Teatro Colón and the Buenos Aires Philharmonic ( Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires ).

The theatre's final performance before its closure for refurbishment works in 2005 was a concert on November 1 starring folklore singer Mercedes Sosa in performance with the Argentine National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pedro Ignacio Calderón.

Artaud claimed theatre's reliance on literature was inadequate and that the true power of theatre was in its visceral impact.

* The Olivier Theatre ( named after the theatre's first artistic director, Laurence Olivier ), is the main auditorium, and was modelled on the ancient Greek theatre at Epidaurus ; it has an open stage and a fan-shaped audience seating area for 1, 160 people.

This Boardroom is marked as such on the original 1929 plans and it is now being hired out by the theatre's Dominion Events department for meeting, training and conference bookings.

In 1869, he produced the Gymnase theatre's Les Faux ménages, a four-act comedy depending for its interest on the pathetic devotion of the Magdalene of the story.

She is also credited with voicing the widow Fantine in Focus on the Family radio theatre's version of Les Misérables.

The inaugural performance in the new theatre on 28 May 1994, given sixty years to the day after the old theatre's first performance, was once again Le nozze di Figaro.

Beauvert also describes the theatre's backstage facilities as being extremely modern, allowing for nine times the volume of the stage and the ability to roll entire sets off and on intact.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there have been a few attempts to reduce the theatre's traditional dependence on large state subsidies.

An office building, St. James's House, was built on the theatre's site.

Lloyd Richards, dean and artistic director from 1979 to 1991, increased the theatre's emphasis on new plays, premiering works by Athol Fugard, Lee Blessing, and August Wilson.

The theatre's longest tenant was Cats, which opened on October 7, 1982 and ran 7, 485 performances spanning nearly nineteen years.

Street access to that theatre was greatly constricted, and after an attempted assassination of Napoleon III at the theatre's entrance on 14 January 1858, it was decided to build a new opera house with a separate, more secure entrance for the head of state.

In the meantime, Praskovya the actress was making strides on stage and her theatre's fortnightly performances always played to a full house.

The theatre's ballet company found a new home at the Old Vic and soon took on the name of the Vic-Wells Ballet.

The theatre's capacity is 1, 216 seats on four levels.

" Beginning in the mid-1970s, the theatre's midnight screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show gave the movie a popular cult following, often attracting patrons dressed up in costumes based on characters in the film.

The " new theatre's " first show was Les Misérables in May 2005.

On 12 May 2005, Barnes and Managing Director Brian Jackson resigned after it was found that the theatre's deficit of € 1. 85 million had been underestimated.

The showgirls, cast members and crew moved into the safety of the theatre's two underground floors during some of the worst air attacks, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941.

Another notable production was the first at the reconstructed Shakespeare's Globe from 15 May to 21 August 2010, as part of the theatre's first season of Shakespeare's history plays, with cannon fire at the same point as the 1613 production and a cast including Dominic Rowan as Henry, Miranda Raison as Anne, Ian McNeice as Wolsey and Kate Duchêne as Katherine ( with Raison also playing Anne in the same season's Anne Boleyn ).

The theatre's biggest hit was the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Trevor Nunn musical Cats, choreographed by Gillian Lynne which premièred in the theatre on 11 May 1981.

" In fact, two other yards, also measuring between 5 and 10ft wide, extended along the theatre's south and east ends, as Edward A. Langhans (" Pictorial Material on the Bridges Street and Drury Lane Theatres ," Theatre Survey 7 ( May 1966 ), 80 – 100 ), shows in maps, plans and surveys from the period.

The original theatre's final performance was on 25 June 1836.

It became a regular part of the theatre's repertory, playing 77 times over the next 25 years.

The Allied Mediterranean theatre's Commander-in-Chief, Allied Force, the American Commander-in-Chief South West Pacific and Commander-in-Chief Pacific Ocean Areas also functioned as de facto supreme commanders.

The first productions at the new theatre were Les Folies de Paris et Londres, starring George Robey, followed by Folies De Can-Can in 1938, a continuation of the old theatre's series of successful risqué revues, which ran continuously until 2am every night.

After being rejected by his girlfriend, Peter Rooker decides to audition for a small role in an upcoming local community theatre's production of " Cyrano de Bergerac ".

This resulted in the creation of the new Ballet du XXième Siècle which became the theatre's new ballet company until 1987 when Béjart and his Ballet left la Monnaie after a conflict with Gérard Mortier.

Although the performance was officially directed by Michael Umlauf, the theatre's Kapellmeister, Beethoven shared the stage with him.

The shows started at 11. 30 pm, after the performance of the theatre's regularly scheduled play.

The next year he began his first important operatic performance at Covent Garden in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, becoming the theatre's youngest principal tenor.

During a performance of Henry VIII at the Globe Theatre in 1613, a cannon shot employed for special effects ignited the theatre's thatched roof ( and the beams ), burning the original building to the ground.

The critic Ernest Newman wrote: " It was a subtle stroke to open with The Gondoliers ; there is a peculiar richness of blood in the music of this work that makes the new theatre and the new designs and dresses by Mr. Charles Ricketts particularly appropriate ...." The performance was conducted by Malcolm Sargent, and the theatre's only box was occupied by Lady Gilbert.

The theatre's inaugural performance, on 6 March 1637, was L ' Andromeda by Francesco Manelli and Benedetto Ferrari.

The first post-war performance of the Gang Show ran for three weeks at the Blackpool Opera House and broke that theatre's box-office records.