Qualla: Dominion Theatre https://qualla.com/dominion-theatre en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:14 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/dominion-theatre-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Dominion Theatre https://qualla.com/dominion-theatre Dominion Theatre: Introduction https://qualla.com/dominion-theatre/ Photo credit James Petts from London, England, CC BY-SA 2.0. On 17 October 1814, the giant vats of the Horse Shoe Brewery on Tottenham Court Road ruptured, releasing more than 320,000 gallons of porter into the surrounding streets in a brown wave fifteen feet high. Eight people drowned in beer or in the collapsing tenement walls the flood took with it. It was called the London Beer Flood. A little more than a century later, on the same plot of ground, construction began on a Renaissance-revival theatre with two stone gryphons on its façade. The Dominion opened on 3 October 1929. It would host Chaplin in person, screen The Sound of Music for three solid years, and finally surrender itself to the rock band Queen for twelve more.

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Image: James Petts from London, England | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/dominion-theatre-wp/gcpv-dominion-theatre-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Dominion Theatre: The Brewery, the Cinema, the Theatre https://qualla.com/dominion-theatre/ Photo credit kim traynor, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Horse Shoe Brewery had stood at the corner of Tottenham Court Road since 1764. After the 1814 flood it was rebuilt and continued operating for over a century. The Court Cinema replaced it in 1911. The Court Cinema gave way to the Dominion in 1928, designed by the brothers W a...

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Image: kim traynor | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/dominion-theatre-wp/gcpv-dominion-theatre-the-brewery-the-cinema-the-theatre.mp3 0:06 2 full Dominion Theatre: Chaplin in the Stalls https://qualla.com/dominion-theatre/ Photo credit Ohconfucius, CC BY 3.0. The Dominion opened as a musical theatre but lasted less than a year in that incarnation. In February 1931 it hosted the London premiere of Charlie Chaplin's City Lights, with Chaplin himself in attendance to watch his silent masterpiece play to a London audience. The film was al...

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Image: Ohconfucius | CC BY 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/dominion-theatre-wp/gcpv-dominion-theatre-chaplin-in-the-stalls.mp3 0:06 3 full Dominion Theatre: South Pacific Forever https://qualla.com/dominion-theatre/ Photo credit Chris Downer, CC BY-SA 2.0. In February 1958 the Dominion closed for renovations. Two Philips 70mm projectors were installed along with a forty-five-foot-wide screen and the Todd-AO widescreen system, the upper circle was sealed off to become offices, and on 21 April the film version of Rodgers and Hammerst...

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Image: Chris Downer | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/dominion-theatre-wp/gcpv-dominion-theatre-south-pacific-forever.mp3 0:06 4 full Dominion Theatre: We Will Rock You https://qualla.com/dominion-theatre/ Photo credit Richard Law, CC BY-SA 2.0. On 14 May 2002 a musical opened at the Dominion that nobody quite expected to succeed. We Will Rock You used the songs of Queen, stitched together by British comedian Ben Elton into a story written with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Critics were brutal. Audiences ...

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Image: Richard Law | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/dominion-theatre-wp/gcpv-dominion-theatre-we-will-rock-you.mp3 0:06 5 full Dominion Theatre: The LED Screen and the Sunday Congregation https://qualla.com/dominion-theatre/ Photo credit APK, CC BY 4.0. When We Will Rock You finally ended, the Dominion underwent its most extensive refurbishment. Both interior and exterior were restored. The gryphons came back. The backstage flying system was modernised. In 2017 a double-sided LED screen was unveiled on the façade, billed as the ...

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Image: APK | CC BY 4.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/dominion-theatre-wp/gcpv-dominion-theatre-the-led-screen-and-the-sunday-congregation.mp3 0:06 6 full