Birmingham Hippodrome

The Birmingham Hippodrome is a theatre situated on Hurst Street in the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England.

Although best known as the home stage of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, it also hosts a wide variety of other performances including visiting opera and ballet companies, touring West End shows, pantomime and drama.

The Hippodrome is the venue for West End touring theatrical shows, such as Wicked, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Lion King, Mary Poppins and We Will Rock You. The pantomime from the company QDOS is held there annually. Celebrity fashion guru Gok Wan, John Partridge, Stephanie Beacham, Paul Zerdin, Matt Slack and Danielle Hope starred in the 2013/14 production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the theatre's most successful pantomime in ten year. The theatre's Chief Executive is Fiona Allen.

With a regular annual attendance of over 600,000, the Hippodrome is the busiest single theatre in the United Kingdom, and the busiest venue for dance outside London.

History

Banner advertising the Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Birmingham Hippodrome

The first venue built on the Hippodrome site was a building of assembly rooms in 1895. In 1899 a stage and circus ring was added together with a Moorish tower (removed 1963) and the enterprise named the "Tower of Varieties". After failing, this was soon rebuilt as a normal variety theatre,reopened as the "Tivoli" in 1900, finally becoming "The Hippodrome" under the ownership of impresario Thomas Barrasford in October 1903. The current neo-classical auditorium seats 1,900 and was designed by Burdwood and Mitchell in 1924. Following the construction of the nearby Smallbrook Queensway, the entrance building and tower were demolished in 1963, and a new modern entrance constructed. At the same time, the theatre was renamed 'Birmingham Theatre' for a time. This plain facade was refaced in the 1980s with a mock-Victorian plasterwork, whilst the stagehouse was demolished and rebuilt to accommodate larger shows. The decade also saw the theatre host the Central Television revival of the ITV talent show New Faces, hosted by Marti Caine.

The exterior of the theatre was substantially rebuilt by Associated Architects and Law and Dunbar-Nasmith in 2001, with a new glass facade and accommodation for the Birmingham Royal Ballet and additional performance space.

Sources

• Pevsner Architectural Guides - Birmingham, Andy Foster, 2005, ISBN 0-300-10731-5

External links

• Official website
• Birmingham Hippodrome in the Theatres Trust database