Qualla: Piccadilly Theatre https://qualla.com/piccadilly-theatre en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:15 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/piccadilly-theatre-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Piccadilly Theatre https://qualla.com/piccadilly-theatre Piccadilly Theatre: Introduction https://qualla.com/piccadilly-theatre/ Photo credit Celsoazevedo, CC BY 4.0. Walk past 16 Denman Street and you might miss it entirely. The facade is almost shy, a calm stone front tucked between Sherwood Street and the neon roar of Piccadilly Circus. Then you push through the doors and the building shows you what it has been hiding since April 1928: a 1,232-seat Art Deco auditorium painted in shades of pink. The impresario Edward Laurillard built it on the site of some derelict stables. He gave the front to the city's nineteenth-century rhythms; the inside, designed by Marc-Henri Levy and Gaston Laverdet, belongs to the Jazz Age.

Read more: Piccadilly Theatre on Qualla

Image: Celsoazevedo | CC BY 4.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/piccadilly-theatre-wp/gcpv-piccadilly-theatre-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Piccadilly Theatre: A Theatre Born in the Jazz Age https://qualla.com/piccadilly-theatre/ Photo credit N Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Piccadilly opened on 27 April 1928 with Blue Eyes, a musical scored by Jerome Kern and headlined by the soprano Evelyn Laye. The show ran 276 performances split between this house and Daly's. Architects Bertie Crewe and Edward A. Stone designed a building meant to be heard as...

Read more: Piccadilly Theatre on Qualla

Image: N Chadwick | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/piccadilly-theatre-wp/gcpv-piccadilly-theatre-a-theatre-born-in-the-jazz-age.mp3 0:06 2 full Piccadilly Theatre: Bombs, Blithe Spirit, and a Lavish Macbeth https://qualla.com/piccadilly-theatre/ Photo credit Turquoisefish, CC BY 3.0. The Second World War found the Piccadilly hosting some of the most ambitious theatre in London. Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit had its premiere here in 1941, and John Gielgud staged a lavish Macbeth on the same boards. The theatre took a hit during the late stages of the war, closin...

Read more: Piccadilly Theatre on Qualla

Image: Turquoisefish | CC BY 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/piccadilly-theatre-wp/gcpv-piccadilly-theatre-bombs-blithe-spirit-and-a-lavish-macbeth.mp3 0:06 3 full Piccadilly Theatre: The House of Famous Flops and Glittering Revivals https://qualla.com/piccadilly-theatre/ Photo credit uncredited, Public domain. Histories of the Piccadilly tend to dwell on its appetite for the spectacular failure. The 1989 musical Metropolis, adapted from Fritz Lang's 1927 silent film, became one of the West End's most expensive shows of its era and closed at a loss of GBP 2.5 million. The Daily Telegrap...

Read more: Piccadilly Theatre on Qualla

Image: uncredited | Public domain

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/piccadilly-theatre-wp/gcpv-piccadilly-theatre-the-house-of-famous-flops-and-glittering-revivals.mp3 0:06 4 full Piccadilly Theatre: An American in London: Henry Fonda's West End Debut https://qualla.com/piccadilly-theatre/ Photo credit Sean MacEntee from Monaghan, Ireland, CC BY 2.0. In July 1975, Henry Fonda made his British stage debut at the Piccadilly in Clarence Darrow. He was seventy years old. The one-man play about the famous American defence attorney ran just 47 performances, but Fonda was the headline, and the house had drawn him. The Piccadilly had...

Read more: Piccadilly Theatre on Qualla

Image: Sean MacEntee from Monaghan, Ireland | CC BY 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/piccadilly-theatre-wp/gcpv-piccadilly-theatre-an-american-in-london-henry-fondas-west-end-debut.mp3 0:06 5 full Piccadilly Theatre: Modern Era: Moulin Rouge! Takes the Stage https://qualla.com/piccadilly-theatre/ Photo credit uncredited, Public domain. The Piccadilly's recent productions tell the story of a house still trying to dazzle. Guys and Dolls played here in 2005, Grease in 2007, Jersey Boys in 2014. The Lehman Trilogy and a revival of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman brought serious drama back to its boards. Then in...

Read more: Piccadilly Theatre on Qualla

Image: uncredited | Public domain

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/piccadilly-theatre-wp/gcpv-piccadilly-theatre-modern-era-moulin-rouge-takes-the-stage.mp3 0:06 6 full