Qualla: Savoy Theatre https://qualla.com/savoy-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/savoy-theatre-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Savoy Theatre https://qualla.com/savoy-theatre Savoy Theatre: Introduction https://qualla.com/savoy-theatre/ Photo credit Spudgun67, CC BY-SA 4.0. On the evening of 28 December 1881, Richard D'Oyly Carte walked onto the stage of his new theatre, held up a glowing electric lightbulb in front of the audience, and broke it. The bulb did not explode. The audience saw, for themselves, that this brand-new technology was safe. That mattered, because the Savoy Theatre had become, just months before, the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity. Joseph Swan, the inventor of the incandescent bulb, had supplied about 1,200 of them. The lights were powered by a 120 horsepower generator on open ground near the theatre. The first generator was too small to run everything at once, so the stage stayed on gas for ten weeks while the front-of-house ran electric. By December the new generator was working and gas became the backup it would remain.

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Image: Spudgun67 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/savoy-theatre-wp/gcpv-savoy-theatre-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Savoy Theatre: A Theatre for Gilbert and Sullivan https://qualla.com/savoy-theatre/ Photo credit Steve Daniels, CC BY-SA 2.0. Richard D'Oyly Carte was the impresario who had introduced W. S. Gilbert to Arthur Sullivan, and he had a problem. Their comic operas were filling the Opera Comique, but the building was too small and too tired for what the partnership was about to become. He bought the old Savoy...

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Image: Steve Daniels | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/savoy-theatre-wp/gcpv-savoy-theatre-a-theatre-for-gilbert-and-sullivan.mp3 0:06 2 full Savoy Theatre: No More Smoke and Smell https://qualla.com/savoy-theatre/ Photo credit Clement-Smith & Co. (London), Public domain. Carte explained the electric lighting in unsentimental terms: the greatest drawbacks to the enjoyment of theatrical performances were the foul air and heat that pervaded all theatres. Each gas burner consumed as much oxygen as several people, and produced great heat besides. Inca...

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Image: Clement-Smith & Co. (London) | Public domain

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/savoy-theatre-wp/gcpv-savoy-theatre-no-more-smoke-and-smell.mp3 0:06 3 full Savoy Theatre: The Mikado and After https://qualla.com/savoy-theatre/ Photo credit N Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0. Across the next two decades the Savoy was home to the great Gilbert and Sullivan run. The Mikado, Iolanthe, The Yeomen of the Guard, Princess Ida, and Ruddigore all premiered or moved here. Sullivan died in 1900. Richard D'Oyly Carte died in 1901. The theatre closed briefly in 19...

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Image: N Chadwick | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/savoy-theatre-wp/gcpv-savoy-theatre-the-mikado-and-after.mp3 0:06 4 full Savoy Theatre: Fire, Restoration, Chess https://qualla.com/savoy-theatre/ Photo credit Steve F, CC BY-SA 2.0. Coward's Blithe Spirit premiered in 1941. Relative Values ran 477 performances in 1951. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company finally closed in 1982. Three years later Dame Bridget, Rupert's daughter and the last of the line, died childless. In February 1990, during a renovation, fire g...

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Image: Steve F | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/savoy-theatre-wp/gcpv-savoy-theatre-fire-restoration-chess.mp3 0:06 5 full Savoy Theatre: The Ambassador Era https://qualla.com/savoy-theatre/ Photo credit Kate Carew., Public domain. In December 2013, the Ambassador Theatre Group acquired sole ownership. The Savoy has since presented Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Gypsy, Funny Girl, Dreamgirls, Dolly Parton's 9 to 5: The Musical, Pretty Woman: The Musical, and Sunset Boulevard starring Nicole Scherzinger. Sarah Jes...

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Image: Kate Carew. | Public domain

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/savoy-theatre-wp/gcpv-savoy-theatre-the-ambassador-era.mp3 0:06 6 full