Savoy Theatre tickets London

Posted on 30 May 2011

Afternoon tea in London – a time-honoured indulgence, not to be missed can be enjoyed at the Savoy Hotel next to the Savoy Theatre. If you want the best Savoy Theatre tickets London has to offer go online and book with an offical agent or at the Savoy Theatre box office.

With an enviable location on the River Thames, the Savoy hotel is literally steps away from some of the world’s finest theatres, museums and opera houses. Afternoon Tea has been served at The Savoy throughout its entire history. Served in the famous Upper Thames Foyer, Afternoon Tea at The Savoy is an enduring custom where guests can choose from a range of teas served with finger sandwiches, homemade scones with clotted cream & jam and a mouthwatering selection of cakes and pastries. Inspired by London’s Edwardian shopping arcades, the walls are covered in a fabric whose design hints at the Asian origins of tea. Guests also have the opportunity to see the hotel’s pastry chefs and chocolatiers at work as they put the finishing touches to the exquisite cakes and confectionary.

Then once you have relaxed and devoured your afternoon tea go next door to the Savoy Theatre. Currently it is home to one of London's most popular musicals. Legally Blonde tickets are now available and booking through to 2012 after winning multiple awards at the Olivier Awards earlier this year.

The Savoy Theatre that we know today opened on the 21st of October 1929 with a production of Gilbert and Sulivan's 'The Gondoliers'. However the original Theatre on the site, also called the Savoy Theatre, opened on the 10th of October 1881 with a production of Gilbert and Sulivan's 'Patience or Bunthorne's Bride.'

The Savoy Theatre is intimately connected with Gilbert and Sulivan and D'Oyly Carte who originally became partners whilst working at the Royalty Theatre in Soho. D'Oyly Carte was the business manager of that Theatre and both Gilbert and Sulivan had produced a one act cantata called 'Trial By Jury' there. Together they formed a company called the 'Comedy Opera Company' in order to promote the work of Gilbert and Sulivan.

The First Savoy Theatre was built by Messrs Patman and Fotheringham and designed by C. J. Phipps with its main entrance on the Embankment. The plot was a steep one stretching from the Strand down to the Embankment along Beaufort Street. In 1903, when the Savoy Hotel was built with profits from the Theatre, the entrance to the Theatre was moved to the Hotel's courtyard off the Strand, where it still is today.

This Savoy Theatre was the first Theatre to use electricity to light its auditorium rather than Gas Lighting which was used everywhere else at the time and later it was also used to light the stage. However Gas Lighting was also installed in case the electricity failed. The new Savoy reconstructed in 1929 was a far more modern construction and hailed at the time as being 'a really outstanding example of modern decoration applied to a public place on a commercial basis.' The new auditorium was on three levels, Stalls, Dress, and Upper Circle with a capacity of 1,138 and the new stage was much smaller at 29' 4" Wide by 29' 6" Deep.

In February 1990, whilst the Theatre was being renovated, a fire started in the middle of the night in the auditorium and was soon to engulf the building. Everything but the stage and backstage areas was completely gutted and it looked as if the Savoy Theatre had come to its end as nobody believed that it would, or indeed could, be rebuilt. However by 1993 the Theatre had been rebuilt, despite the fact that D'Oyly Carte himself had long ago destroyed the original plans. The Theatres Trust says 'the restoration is a triumphant example of what can be achieved by a meticulous examination of fragmentary remains, coupled with research and deductive skill.' During the renovation an extra storey was added above the Theatre to house plant machinery, a health club for the hotel, and amazingly a swimming pool above the stage. The renovation was carried out by Whitfield Partners who restored the original Ionides auditorium and decorations but added some alterations for modern requirements.

All in all the renovation of the Savoy after a catastrophic fire is remarkable, first that it happened at all, and second that it was so meticulously done, leaving the Savoy Theatre to carry on into the 21st Century in style. The current capacity on the Savoy Theatre seating plan is 1,158.

Apart from The Mikado and other famous Gilbert and Sullivan premières, the theatre has hosted such notable premières as Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit in 1941. In 2005 the Savoy Theatre became part of the Ambassadors Group and in recent years it has presented opera, Shakespeare and other non-musical plays, as well as musicals, including revivals of Fiddler on the Roof and Carousel, and new shows like Never Forget. The original London production of Legally Blonde has been playing at the theatre since December 2009. Book your Savoy Theatre tickets London now and avoid disappointment!