Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 19/06/2026 21:20:00

Completed only weeks after the death of Queen Victoria, the Apollo Theatre opened on 21 February 1901 as the first London playhouse of the Edwardian era. It was the fourth theatre to rise along Shaftesbury Avenue, the great thoroughfare of the West End, and remains the only fully realised theatre design by its architect, Lewin Sharp, who built it for the owner Henry Lowenfeld. Named after the Greek god associated with music and poetry, the Apollo was conceived specifically for musical entertainment. Its stone-faced Renaissance frontage carries four sculpted figures representing Poetry, Music, Comedy and Dance, while the auditorium rises through four levels with three cantilevered balconies, decorated in a Louis XIV style and arranged so that every seat enjoys an unobstructed view of the stage. The opening production was the American musical comedy The Belle of Bohemia, and the theatre quickly settled into the life of Theatreland. In 1932 the architect Ernest Schaufelberg, who had recently rebuilt the nearby Adelphi, carried out significant alterations to the interior, much of which survives in the form audiences see today. The original auditorium seated 893; later reconfigurations for comfort and safety brought the capacity down to around 775. The Apollo is one of relatively few freehold theatres in London and holds Grade II listed status. In December 2013 part of its plaster ceiling collapsed during a performance, prompting a major restoration of the historic decorative scheme. Now operated by Nimax Theatres, the Apollo continues to present a mix of plays, comedies and musicals in an intimate, ornate setting. Its position near Piccadilly Circus, alongside the Lyric, the Gielgud and the Sondheim, places it at the centre of one of the densest concentrations of theatres anywhere in the world.