More about the Apollo Theatre

Opened 21 February 1901 with an American musical comedy called The Belle of Bohemia, which was not a success and came off quickly.

Queen Victoria died a month before it opened. That is the only reason the Apollo counts as the first theatre finished in the Edwardian era rather than the last of the Victorian ones.

The name on the plans was the Mascot Theatre. Apollo, the Greek god of the arts, arrived late and stuck.

The building

Designed by Lewin Sharp for the owner Henry Lowenfeld, and the only complete theatre design Sharp ever produced. French Renaissance outside, Louis XIV inside, opulently decorated, with three curved gilded balconies. Grade II listed.

Random fact: it was the fourth theatre built on Shaftesbury Avenue, next door to the Lyric of 1888. It is also one of the few London theatres held freehold, because Lowenfeld bought the land outright rather than leasing it.

The opening had a wrinkle. A selected audience was invited to a private opening on 21 February and the first public performance followed on 22 February. The Times refused to review the private night and waited for the public one.

Ownership

Nimax have run it since 2005, when Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer bought the building. Before them it belonged to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group with Bridgepoint Capital from 2000, the Stoll Moss group from 1975, and Prince Littler from 1944.

Productions the Apollo is known for

Rain Man. Jerusalem, with Mark Rylance. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The West End premiere of Everybody's Talking About Jamie. The Audience, and Boeing-Boeing.