the Cambridge Theatre is a rare, complete and early example of a London theatre adopting the moderne, [[expressionist]] style pioneered in Germany during the 1920s. It marked a conscious reaction to the design excesses of the [[music hall]] and contemporary cinemas. Theatres looked for a new style appropriate to the greater sophistication of their entertainment and found it in the Germanic moderne forms of simple shapes enlivened by concealed lighting, shiny steelwork and touches of bright colour; this was not taken up by cinema designers until 1935.lt;/blockquote> The theatre was listed building in January, 1999.

Productions

Productions at the Cambridge Theatre have been characterised by relatively short runs interspersed with several dark periods and the theatre was used for trade film shows in the late 1930s and again in 1969 as a cinema. Notable productions include Joan Sims in Breath of spring by Peter Coke in 1958, Tommy Steele in [[Half a Sixpence]]in 1963 (678 performances), Bruce Forsyth in [[Little Me]]in 1964 in music (334 performances), [[The Black Mikado]](1975-76), and in the late 1970s the Kander and Ebb musical [[Chicago]]ran for 590 performances. More recently the rocknroll musical [[Return to the Forbidden Planet]] which was based on Shakespeare s [[The Tempest (play)|The Tempest]]and used 1950s and 1960s songs opened in September 1989 and lasted until early 1993, winning the Olivier Award for Best New Musical—beating the favourite, [[Miss Saigon]]http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/CambridgeTheatre.htm Theatre History] accessed 28 Apr 2007. The controversial show [[Jerry Springer - The Opera]]had a run from 14 October 2003 - 19 February 2005. This was followed by a month run of illusionist Derren Brown s Something Wicked This Way Comestour, before the London première of Flying Music s [[Dancing In The Streets]] which opened on 7 July 2005. This finished its run on 22 April 2006 and [[Chicago (musical)|Chicago]]moved across Theatreland from the Adelphi Theatre to continue its London run into its tenth year at the theatre that originally hosted the show in the 1970s. It opened at the Cambridge on Friday 28 April.

Recent and present productions

* [[Grease (musical)|Grease]](24 October 1996 - 11 September 1999) by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, starring at various times Shane Richie and Ben Richards * Great Balls of Fire(6 October 1999 - 18 December 1999) * The Beautiful Game(26 September 2000 - 1 September 2001) by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton * [[Fame (musical)|Fame]](20 September 2001 - 31 August 2002) * [[Our House (musical)|Our House]](28 October 2002 - 16 August 2003) by Madness (band) and Tim Firth * [[Jerry Springer - The Opera]](14 October 2003 - 19 February 2005), starring David Soul * Something Wicked this Way Comes(2 June 2005 - 2 July 2005), starring Derren Brown * Dancing in the Streets(19 July 2005 - 22 April 2006) * [[Chicago (musical)|Chicago]](27 April 2006 - ) * [[Chicago (musical)|Chicago - 10th Anniversary Gala]](5 December 2007)

References

* Guide to British Theatres 1750-1950 John Earl and Michael Sell pp. 102 (Theatres Trust, 2000) ISBN 0-7136-5688-3

External links

* http://www.rutheatres.com/venueinfo/cam.htm Cambridge Theatre homepage] Category:Theatres in Camden Category:Grade II listed buildings in London Category:1930 architecture Category:Art Deco buildings in London pl:Cambridge Theatre