The theatre
The Prince Edward seats around 1,700 across stalls, dress circle and balcony, which puts it among the bigger West End rooms and explains the musicals it attracts. Edward A. Stone designed it and it is Grade II listed. The outdoor balcony looking over Old Compton Street is unusual for a London theatre and is the reason many people take the interval outside.
A building that kept changing use
It opened on 3 April 1930 with the musical Rio Rita. In 1936 it reopened as the London Casino, a cabaret restaurant known for lavish staging, and during the war it served as the Queensberry All Services Club for troops. In 1954 it was converted into a cinema for London's first Cinerama screen, a curved sixty-four-foot display. It returned to live theatre in 1978 under its original name, reopening with the world premiere of Evita starring Elaine Paige.
Good to know
Leicester Square and Tottenham Court Road are both a few minutes' walk, and the theatre sits in the middle of Soho's restaurants, so eating before or after is easy.
