Sondheim Theatre (formerly Queen's Theatre)

The renowned Queens Theatre in London was built as an exact copy of the Geilgood Theatre, previously known as the Globe Theatre. Some of the stalls and much of the front of the building was destroyed in 1940, when a German bomber scored a direct hit during a devastating air raid. Instead of reopening immediately, the Queens Theatre was used as a venue for actors to rehearse and set designs and choreography to be practiced.

On the eighth of July 1959 the Queens Theatre was reopened. The stalls were repaired and the exterior of the building now boasted a magnificent façade, designed by Brian Westwood and Sir Hugh Casson. It became one of London’s most distinctive Theatre buildings, and underwent a significant further refurbishment in 1992 to modernise the ailing facilities.

In 1961 the celebrated musical ‘Stop the World- I want to get off’ opened with Anthony Newley in the title role. This production ran for more than four hundred performances. Noel Coward famously made his final stage appearance here in 1966. Coward was starring in ‘Suite in Three Keys’. In 1972 superstar actors Robert Stephens and Maggie Smith appeared together at the Queens Theatre. One of the longest running productions was ‘Otherwise Engaged’ which ran for more than one thousand performances. Kenneth Branagh’s West End debut was at the Queens Theatre in ‘Another Country’. ‘Beyond Reasonable Doubt’, Jeffery Archers first play ran for seventeen months, starting in 1987.

In recent years the Stephen Sondheim musical ‘Passion’ and ‘Masterclass’ with Patti Lupone has shown at the Queens Theatre, and perhaps most notably it has been home to the hugely successful Les Miserables.

In 2019, the theatre underwent further renovation and improvement, and was renamed as the Sondheim Theatre, in honour of Stephen Sondheim, one of the most influential figures in musical theatre in recent years, and friend of current theatre owner and producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh.