The Dominion Theatre

The Dominion Theatre is located on Tottenham Court Road close to St. Giles Circus. Built in 1929 by architects William and TR Millburn the Dominion Theatre in London once boasted an impressive capacity of almost three thousand. This capacity has been reduced to just over two thousand with just the stalls and the front circle now in use. The theatre is now a grade II listed building. Upon opening, the Dominion was known for its productions of stage musicals. In 1930 the Dominion began showing some of the early movies to feature spoken word. In between showing talkies the Dominion also staged opera, dance and variety shows.

Due to the large capacity offered by the Dominion major concerts were performed here including Shirley Maclaine and Judy Garland shows. During the fifties and sixties both ‘the Sound of Music’ and ‘South Pacific’ enjoyed lengthy stays at the Dominion. Singing sensation Cliff Richard made his theatre debut at the Dominion in the musical ‘Time’ by David Clarke. ‘Grand Hotel’ and Bernadette’ transferred from Broadway to the Dominion but failed to make a significant impact. The Tangerine Dream album ‘Logos’ was recorded at the Dominion Theatre and as a result there is a track on the Album called Dominion. The Dominion Theatre still shows movie premiers today though recent stage hits have included Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘We Will Rock You’. Sharon D Clarke won an Olivier award in 2003 for he supporting role in ‘We Will Rock You’. Grease enjoyed a lengthy stay at the Dominion from 1993 until 1996.