42-707: John Baldwin Buckstone (14 September 1802 – 31 October 1879) was an English actor, playwright and comedian who wrote 150 plays, the first of which was produced in 1826. He starred as a comic actor during much of his career for various periods at the Adelphi Theatre and the Haymarket Theatre , managing the Haymarket from 1853 to 1877. Buckstone was born in Hoxton , London, the son of John Buckstone,
84-550: A 314-night run of Our American Cousin , with Sothern in his most famous role as Lord Dundreary . Robertson's David Garrick was a hit in 1864, also with Sothern in the title role. Sothern also starred in H. J. Byron 's An English Gentleman at the Haymarket in 1871. In 1868, Buckstone's son Frederick appeared at the theatre in Walter Gordon's farce Pay to the Bearer a Kiss . W. S. Gilbert premiered seven of his plays at
126-505: A New One In . In 1848, The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain was performed. The old theatre was demolished, and on 26 December 1858, The New Adelphi was opened and was considered an improvement on the cramped circumstances of the original, which had been described as a "hasty conversion from a tavern hall, permanently kept in its provisional state". The new theatre could seat 1,500 people, with standing room for another 500. The interior
168-787: A cameo appearance in The Pickwick Papers The famous busker, Billy Waters often performed outside the Adelphi Theatre in the years before his death in 1823. The Adelphi came under the management of Madame Celeste and comedian Benjamin Webster , in 1844, and Buckstone was appointed its resident dramatist. Dramatisations of Dickens continued to be performed, including A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present, and Future opening on 5 February; and Beckett's The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that rang an Old Year out and
210-539: A high position in the provinces. In January 1838, however, he returned to Drury Lane, and played Hamlet with a success which gave him a place among the principal tragedians of his time. He married the actress Ellen Tree (1805–1880) on 25 January 1842, they performed on the Lincoln Circuit in April and May 1845 appearing at Stamford, Peterborough, Boston, Lincoln (where the theatre was uncommonly well attended) and
252-588: A list beginning in 1979). A proposed redevelopment of Covent Garden by the GLC in 1968 saw the theatre under threat, together with the nearby Vaudeville , Garrick , Lyceum and Duchess theatres . An active campaign by Equity , the Musicians' Union , and theatre owners under the auspices of the Save London Theatres Campaign led to the abandonment of the scheme. On 27 February 1982,
294-666: A mentor in Edmund Kean . He made his first London appearance, on 30 January 1823, at the Surrey Theatre , as Ramsay in The Fortunes of Nigel . In 1824 he joined that theatre and played Peter Smink in The Armistice with great success. He also began to write plays. His successes led to his engagement in 1827 at the Adelphi Theatre , where he remained as the leading low comedian until 1833. Buckstone's acting
336-530: A number of plays, including his extraordinarily successful play Jack Sheppard , based on the novel of the same name published that year by William Harrison Ainsworth . After his return from a visit to the United States in 1840, where he met with little success, Buckstone played in his own play, Married Life , at the Haymarket. He then appeared at several London theatres, among them the Lyceum , where he
378-540: A retired shopkeeper, and his wife Elizabeth (née Baldwin). He was educated at Walworth Grammar School and was briefly apprenticed on a naval ship at age 10 but returned to school. He studied law and was articled to a solicitor but turned to acting by age 19. Buckstone first joined a travelling troupe in 1821 as Gabriel in The Children in the Wood . and toured for three years, mostly in the southeast of England. He found
420-534: A sign says that the killer was one of the theatre's stage hands, but Richard Archer Prince committed the murder. It has been said that Terriss' ghost haunts the theatre. Terriss' daughter was Ellaline Terriss , a famous actress, and her husband, actor-manager Seymour Hicks managed the Adelphi for some years at the end of the 19th century. The stage door of the current Adelphi is in Maiden Lane but back then it
462-680: Is notable for being thought the first Dickens adaption performed. This was the first of many of Dickens's early works adapted for the stage of the Adelphi, including The Pickwick Papers as William Leman Rede 's The Peregrinations of Pickwick ; or, Boz-i- a-na , a three-act burletta first performed on 3 April 1837, Frederick Henry Yates 's production of Nicholas Nickleby ; or, Doings at Do-The-Boys Hall in November and December 1838, and Edward Stirling's two-act burletta The Old Curiosity Shop ; or, One Hour from Humphrey's Clock (November and December 1840, January 1841). The theatre itself makes
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#1732780078345504-605: The Adelphi Theatre Company Limited, a partnership between Andrew Lloyd Webber's LW Theatres and Nederlander International . Charles Kean Charles John Kean (18 January 1811 – 22 January 1868) was an Irish-born English actor and theatre manager, best known for his revivals of Shakespearean plays. Kean was born at Waterford , Ireland, a son of actor Edmund Kean and actress Mary Kean ( nee Chambers). After preparatory education at Worplesdon and at Greenford, near Harrow , he
546-566: The Adelphi from 10 March to 22 September 2012, transferring from the Chichester Festival Theatre, starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton. In March 2019, Waitress opened at the Adelphi. It was set to close on 4 July 2020, but it closed on 16 March, when West End theatres shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic ; the producers later announced the show would not re-open. The theatre is currently owned and managed by
588-401: The Adelphi hosted the final night of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for a concert performance of songs from all thirteen Savoy Operas as well as Cox and Box and Thespis . In 1993, Andrew Lloyd Webber 's Really Useful Group purchased the theatre and completely refurbished it prior to the opening of his adaptation of Sunset Boulevard . The 1998 video of Lloyd Webber's musical Cats
630-856: The Adelphi, he wrote The Green Bushes and The Flowers of the Forest , both in 1847. He also dramatised The Last Days of Pompeii . For the Haymarket, in 1848, he wrote and played in An Alarming Sacrifice , Leap Year and A Serious Family . During this period, he memorably played Moses in Stirling Coyne's adaptation of The Vicar of Wakefield , Appleface in Jerrold's Catspaw , Shadowly Softhead in Lord Lytton 's Not as Bad as We Seem and in many Shakespeare productions with Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean . Buckstone became lessee of
672-564: The Georgian Angles Theatre , Wisbech before making a second visit to America with her from 1845 to 1847. Returning to England, he entered on a successful engagement at the Haymarket Theatre , and in 1850, with Robert Keeley , became lessee of the Princess's Theatre, London . The most noteworthy feature of his management was a series of gorgeous Shakespearean revivals that aimed for "authenticity". Kean also mentored
714-476: The Haymarket during this time including his blank verse "fairy comedies" starring the Kendals, such as The Palace of Truth (1870), Pygmalion and Galatea (1871) and The Wicked World (1873). Buckstone also produced Gilbert's dramas, Charity (1874) and Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith (1876), as well as his 1877 farce Engaged . In 1873 Buckstone introduced the innovation of matinées starting at 2.00 pm. By
756-558: The Haymarket from 1853 to 1877. For this theatre, he continued to write plays and farces , though markedly fewer than before. As actor-manager of the Haymarket, he surrounded himself with an admirable and effective ensemble company, including Edward Askew Sothern , Henry Compton , Mr. and Mrs. Charles James Mathews and the Kendals . He produced the plays of James Planché , Thomas William Robertson , Tom Taylor , John Oxenford , H. J. Byron and W. S. Gilbert , as well as his own, and in most of these he acted. Buckstone's management made
798-574: The Haymarket into the premier comedy theatre of the age. His own gifts as a comic actor contributed much to the theatre's remarkable success. According to The Times , "Few men... have possessed to a greater extent the power of communicating the spirit of mirth to an audience. ... He was helped, too, in his vocation by remarkable physical attributes" and a peculiar, hilarious voice. In the 1850s, Buckstone produced An Unequal Match and Taylor's The Overland Route , A Hero of Romance by Westland Marston, and Home by Robertson. In 1861–1862, Buckstone produced
840-474: The Haymarket was the drama Thirty Years of a Woman's Life . At that theatre, his acting was praised in The Housekeeper by Douglas Jerrold (1833), Pyramus and Thisbe , and in his own plays, Uncle John , Rural Felicity and Agnes de Vere (all in 1834). He stayed at the Haymarket until 1838, producing The Dream at Sea among other plays. In 1839–40 he returned to the Adelphi to write and star in
882-503: The Haymarket. Adelphi Theatre The Adelphi Theatre / ə ˈ d ɛ l f i / is a West End theatre , located on the Strand in the City of Westminster , central London. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals . The theatre
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#1732780078345924-558: The age of 77 and was buried in Ladywell Cemetery . According to director Nigel Everett and stagehands at the Haymarket Theatre, Buckstone's ghost has often been seen at the theatre, particularly during comedies and "when he appreciates things" playing there. In 2009, The Daily Telegraph reported that the actor Patrick Stewart saw the ghost standing in the wings during a performance of Waiting for Godot at
966-437: The book Benn W. Levy. Noël Coward 's Words and Music premièred at the theatre in 1932. The operetta Balalaika (a revised version of The Gay Hussars ) played at the theatre in 1936, and in 1940 the theatre's name again reverted to 'The Adelphi'. The theatre continued to host comedy and musicals, including Bless The Bride (1947), Maggie May (1964), and A Little Night Music (1975), as well as dramas (see below for
1008-735: The first public performance of Arthur Sullivan 's first opera, Cox and Box . The building was renovated in 1879 and again in 1887 when the house next door, along with The Hampshire Hog in The Strand and the Nell Gwynne Tavern in Bull Inn Court, were bought by the Gattis in order to enlarge the theatre. They also built a new enlarged facade and part of this can still be seen today above the Crystal Rooms next door to
1050-511: The melodrama Luke the Labourer (1827), which he had written in 1826. Other well known plays were Wreck Ashore (1830) and Forgery (1832) Perhaps the most successful of these early plays was his 1833 play, The Bravo , based on James Fenimore Cooper 's novel of the same name . He first appeared at the Haymarket Theatre during the summer season in 1833, also writing plays for this theatre, including Ellen Wartham (1833). Another hit for
1092-419: The mid-1870s, however, Buckstone's company was disbanding, and in 1877, ill and bankrupt after sustaining heavy losses, he gave up management of the theatre. Buckstone was first married in 1828 to Anne Maria Honeyman, with whom he had at least five children before she died in 1844. Their son Frederick was an actor. For many years, Buckstone was closely associated with the actress Fanny Copeland Fitzwilliam , who
1134-605: The most successful of which included The Earl and the Girl (1904), The Dairymaids (1907), The Quaker Girl (1910), The Boy (1917), Clowns in Clover (1927), and Mr. Cinders (1929). The present Adelphi opened on 3 December 1930, redesigned in the Art Deco style by Ernest Schaufelberg. It was named the 'Royal Adelphi Theatre' and re-opened with the hit musical Ever Green , by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers , based on
1176-615: The premiere of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Love Never Dies , which closed on Saturday 27 August 2011. The National Theatre transferred their show One Man, Two Guvnors to the theatre from 8 November 2011. This production moved out of the theatre on 25 February 2012, transferring to the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London. Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street began a limited season at
1218-462: The present Adelphi Theatre. An actor who performed regularly at the Adelphi in the latter half of the 19th century, William Terriss , was stabbed to death during the run of 'Secret Service' on 16 December 1897 whilst entering the Theatre by the royal entrance in Maiden Lane which he used as a private entrance. This is now recorded on a plaque on the wall by the stage door. Outside a neighbouring pub,
1260-693: The show, beginning previews on 2 June 2006 before completing a twelve-month run on 26 May 2007. Brian Wilson performed his album Pet Sounds for the last time in the UK at the Adelphi in November 2006. From 6 July 2007, the Adelphi was home to another Lloyd Webber revival, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat . The actor playing Joseph, Lee Mead , was cast by winning the BBC television show Any Dream Will Do , and starred alongside Preeya Kalidas and Dean Collinson. 9 March 2010 saw
1302-655: The spring of 1828 for the provinces. In Glasgow , on 1 October in that year, father and son acted together in Arnold Payne's Brutus , the elder Kean in the title-part and his son as Titus. After a visit to the United States in 1830, where he was received with much favour, he appeared in 1833 at Covent Garden as "Sir Edmund Mortimer" in Colman 's The Iron Chest , but his success was not pronounced enough to encourage him to remain in London, especially as he had already won
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1344-493: The theatre reopened under its present name, which was adopted from the Adelphi Buildings opposite. In its early years, the theatre was known for melodrama , called Adelphi Screamers . Many stories by Charles Dickens were also adapted for the stage here, including John Baldwin Buckstone 's The Christening , a comic burletta, which opened on 13 October 1834, based on the story The Bloomsbury Christening . This
1386-470: The third theatre was opened as the Century Theatre , although the name reverted in 1904 under the management of Otho Stuart . This theatre was built by Frank Kirk to the design of Ernest Runtz. George Edwardes , the dean of London musical theatre, took over management of the theatre from Stuart in 1908. In the early part of the 20th century, the Adelphi was home to a number of musical comedies ,
1428-544: The young Ellen Terry in juvenile roles. In melodramatic parts such as the king in Dion Boucicault 's adaptation of Casimir Delavigne 's Louis XI , and Louis and Fabian dei Franchi in Boucicault's adaptation of Dumas's The Corsican Brothers , his success was complete. In 1854 the writer Charles Reade created a play The Courier of Lyons for Kean to appear in, which became one of the most popular plays of
1470-744: Was Grade II listed for historical preservation on 1 December 1987. It was founded in 1806 as the Sans Pareil ("Without Compare"), by merchant John Scott, and his daughter Jane (1770–1839). Jane was a British theatre manager, performer, and playwright. Together, they gathered a theatrical company and by 1809 the theatre was licensed for musical entertainments, pantomime , and burletta . She wrote more than fifty stage pieces in an array of genres: melodramas , pantomimes, farces , comic operettas , historical dramas, and adaptations, as well as translations. Jane Scott retired to Surrey in 1819, marrying John Davies Middleton (1790–1867). On 18 October 1819,
1512-748: Was Box at the first representation of Box and Cox , by John Maddison Morton , in 1847. There he also created the role of Bob, in Dion Boucicault 's Old Heads and Young Hearts , and played several other memorable roles, including, Slowboy in Cricket on the Hearth , Dan in John Bull , MacDunnum of Dunnum in A School for Scheming , Scrub in The Beaux' Stratagem and Golightly in Lend Me Five Shillings , and several Shakespeare roles. For
1554-404: Was described as "a union of shrewdness and drollery, with their interaction upon each other ... was irresistibly comic." Buckstone wrote most of his plays in the first half of his career, and many of these were produced at the Adelphi. As his acting career reached the height of its success, his playwriting output declined. At the Adelphi, he appeared as Bobby Trot in his first really successful play,
1596-691: Was filmed at the theatre. In November 1997, the London production of the popular American musical Chicago premiered at the Adelphi, becoming the venue's longest-ever production during its eight-and-a-half-year run (which also made it the longest running American musical in West End history). In April 2006, Chicago transferred to the Cambridge Theatre (and later to the Garrick Theatre , where it closed in 2012.). Michael Grandage 's revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber 's Evita replaced
1638-764: Was in Bull Inn Court. William Terriss would later have a Theatre named after him, the Terriss Theatre in Rotherhithe, later known as the Rotherhithe Hippodrome. The adjacent, numbers 409 and 410 Strand, were built in 1886–87 by the Gatti Brothers as the Adelphi Restaurant. The frontage remains essentially the same, but with plate glass windows, and, like the theatre, is a Grade II listed building . On 11 September 1901,
1680-407: Was lighted by a Stroud's Patent Sun Lamp , a brilliant array of gas mantles passed through a chandelier of cut-glass. In the mid-19th century, John Lawrence Toole established his comedic reputation at the Adelphi. Also in the mid-19th century, the Adelphi hosted a number of French operettas , including La belle Hélène . In 1867, however, the Adelphi gave English comic opera a boost by hosting
1722-592: Was sent to Eton College , where he remained three years. In 1827, he was offered a cadetship in the East India Company 's service, which he was prepared to accept if his father would settle an income of £400 on his mother. The elder Kean refused to do this, and his son determined to become an actor. He made his first appearance at Drury Lane on 1 October 1827 as Norval in Home 's Douglas , but his continued failure to achieve popularity led him to leave London in
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1764-647: Was widowed in 1852 and whom he was engaged to marry in 1854. She died of cholera a month before the wedding. In 1857 Buckstone married Fanny's cousin Isabella Copeland, the great-niece of the theatre manager Robert Copeland , and they had 12 children between 1857 and 1876. Their daughter Lucy Isabella Buckstone and their sons John Copeland Buckstone and Rowland Buckstone also took to the stage. After three years of ill health, Buckstone died at his home, Bell Green Lodge, in Lower Sydenham in 1879 at
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