"group, but the building caught on fire a month before the show. After the death of Moss, Sir Alfred Butt was chosen as the impresario and it was staged in 1912. This was a lavish occasion, and his London Palace Theatre was lavishly decorated, complete with some 3 million rose petals. Top performers included Vesta Tilley, Sir George Robey, David Devant, Anna Pavlova, Harry Lauder and Cecilia Loftus. The organisers did not invite Marie Lloyd, because of a professional dispute. Her act was deemed too risqué and her three public, unsuccessful marriages were thought to make her unfit to perform"
"1912 showcased the best of music hall's talent. The Royal Command Performance took place at the Palace Theatre in London, which was managed by Alfred Butt. The show was organised by Oswald Stoll, an Australian impresario who managed a string of West End and provincial theatres. Stoll, although a fan of Lloyd's, disliked the vulgarity of her act and championed a return to a more family-friendly atmosphere within the music hall. Because of this, and her participation in the earlier music hall war, Stoll left her out of the line-up. He placed an advert in ""The Era"" on the day"
"for his friend Lord Curzon. In July 1912, at the invitation of the impresario Oswald Stoll, Robey took part for the first time in the Royal Command Performance, to which Cotes attributes ""one of the prime factors in his continuing popularity"". King George V and Queen Mary were ""delighted"" with Robey's comic sketch, in which he performed the ""Mayor of Mudcumdyke"" in public for the first time. Robey found the royal show to be a less daunting experience than the numerous private command performances that he gave during his career. At the outbreak of the First World War, Robey wished"
"Royal Command Performance A Royal Command Performance in the United Kingdom is any performance by actors or musicians that occurs at the direction or request of a reigning monarch. Although English monarchs have long sponsored their own theatrical companies and commissioned theatrical performances, the first Royal Command Performance to bear that name was staged at Windsor Castle in 1848 by order of Queen Victoria. From then on, command performances were frequently staged, often calling upon the leading actors from the London theatres, until the death of Prince Albert in 1861. There were no further command performances until they recommenced in"
"Save the Queen. The first performance, on 1 July 1912, was called the Royal Command Performance, and this name has persisted informally for the event. This was held in the Palace Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, in the presence of King George V and Queen Mary. After correspondence with Sir Edward Moss, the King said he would command a Royal Variety show in his coronation year, 1911, provided the profits went to the Variety Artistes' Benevolent Fund, as the Royal Variety Charity was then known. It was planned to be in the Empire Theatre, Edinburgh, part of the vast Moss Empires"
"1881. These included plays, revues, comic operas and other musical theatre. King Edward VII called for several performances per year. In 1911 a Great 'Gala' performance was given by the theatrical profession at His Majesty's Theatre in London in celebration of the coronation of King George V. In 1912, King George V and Queen Mary attended an all-star Royal Command Performance at London's Palace Theatre in aid of the Variety Artistes' Benevolent Fund, now the Royal Variety Charity. This was followed in 1919 by the first to be named the Royal Variety Performance. The reason for the name change followed"
"George's Pension Fund for Actors and Actresses'. From 1913, it was decided to make this a regular annual 'all-star' event to continue contributing to the fund. The 1913 show was a production of the Dion Boucicault comedy ""London Assurance"" at St James's Theatre on 27 June 1913 and raised £1,093. These events are now called Royal Variety Performances. Royal Command Performance A Royal Command Performance in the United Kingdom is any performance by actors or musicians that occurs at the direction or request of a reigning monarch. Although English monarchs have long sponsored their own theatrical companies and commissioned theatrical"
"in front of royalty. She held a rival performance in a nearby theatre, which she advertised was ""by command of the British public"". The name of the event was changed to prevent possible royal embarrassment. The Royal Variety Performance became an annual event at the suggestion of King George V from 1921 and the British Broadcasting Corporation began to broadcast it on radio. From 1928 through to 1938, the impresario-producer and manager of the London Palladium, George Black, took over the presentation of the Royal Variety Performance. He would also facilitate as compere at the shows. His first production was"
"magicians agree, [Devant] was the master performer of his time"". Devant was a fixture in British entertainment and it was he who was selected to represent ""the world of wizardry"" at King George V's command performance at the Palace Theatre in London on 1 July 1912. Devant made headlines not long after when an escaped mental patient cornered him in London and insisted that the conjurer pull coins from the air as he had been seen to do on stage. Devant did so until attendants arrived from the hospital to take the disturbed spectator away. Elliott O'Donnell featured the pair"
"12) coincided with the Great Blizzard of 1888, and only five theatergoers braved the storm. One of the attendees was Sullivan, who was checking his competition. Bandmann's production inspired a letter from Stevenson to the New York ""Sun"" saying that only the Mansfield version was authorized and paying him royalties. The English actor Henry Irving saw Mansfield's performance in New York and invited him to bring the play to London, where Irving managed the Lyceum Theatre in the West End. Although the play was scheduled to premiere in September 1888, Mansfield discovered that Bandmann planned to open his competing version"
"in London theatres and seven in other cities and towns. ""Note: Where no town or city is noted in the theatre column in the following table, the venue is situated in London."" A total of 17 members of the Royal Family have attended the 86 ""Royal Variety Performances"", and the ""1912 Royal Command Performance"". The performance is broadcast on television throughout the world and is considered by many to be a tradition of the Christmas and New Year holiday season, particularly within the 53 countries of the British Commonwealth. For example, in Norway the programme is broadcast following the chimes"
"February 1711, possibly under Handel's direction, was a triumphant success. A further 12 performances were immediately scheduled; at the end of the run, popular demand was such that two more were added. Notwithstanding this enthusiasm, the financial strains of such a grand production led to legal actions against Hill from unpaid craftsmen. Nine days after the premiere the Lord Chamberlain's Office revoked the impresario's licence. Under Hill's successors the opera was played at the theatre in most seasons until 1716–17, by which time it had totalled 47 performances, far more than any other opera at the Queen's. The public's general"
"and theatre. At the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign in 1837 the command performance was an established part of Britain’s theatrical life. The first Royal Command Performance as we know it today is generally accepted to have been that staged at Windsor Castle on 28 December 1848 by order of Queen Victoria. The play was ""The Merchant of Venice"", and the cast included Mr and Mrs Charles Kean, Mr and Mrs Keeley, Henry Lowe, Leigh Murray and Alfred Wigan. From then on, command performances were frequently staged, often calling upon the leading actors from the London theatres and their supporting"
"1734 his company took up residency in the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden, opened two years previously by John Rich. Handel was engaged to give two performances every week, usually on Wednesday and Saturday, during the season. During the first season 1734-1735 there were three important features of the company's artistic activities: All performances of the first season were advertised in the local newspapers as ""By His Majesty's Command"" or ""By Her Majesty's Command"" when the King was absent. The King and Queen attended a large number of performances, essentially snubbing the Opera of the Nobility supported by their son."
"hit in the middle of a concert: After the war, the Queen's Hall operated for a few years much as it had done before 1914, except for what Wood called ""a somewhat disagreeable blue-green"" new decor. New performers appeared, including Solomon, Lauritz Melchior and Paul Hindemith. During the 1920s, however, the hall became the battleground between proponents and opponents of broadcasting. William Boosey, the head of Chappells, and effective proprietor of the Queen's Hall, was adamantly against the broadcasting of music by the recently established British Broadcasting Company (BBC). He decreed that no artist who had worked for the BBC"
"Royal Variety Performance in Britain, commanded by King George V, and produced by Butt. During the First World War, the theatre presented revues, and Maurice Chevalier became known to British audiences. After the war, the theatre was used mostly for films for a few years, but the Marx Brothers appeared at the theatre in 1922, performing selections from their Broadway shows. On 11 March 1925, the musical comedy ""No, No, Nanette"" opened at the Palace Theatre starring Binnie Hale and George Grossmith, Jr. The run of 665 performances made it the third longest-running West End musical of the 1920s. ""Princess"
"music hall grew in popularity and respectability, and as the licensing authorities exercised ever firmer regulation, the original arrangement of a large hall with tables at which drink was served, changed to that of a drink-free auditorium. The acceptance of music hall as a legitimate cultural form was established by the first Royal Variety Performance before King George V during 1912 at the Palace Theatre. However, consistent with this new respectability the best-known music hall entertainer of the time, Marie Lloyd, was not invited, being deemed too ""saucy"" for presentation to the monarchy. The development of syndicates controlling a number"
"1809 at the Royal Circus described in its publicity as ""this matchless piece of pantomimic and choral performance"", which circumvented the illegality of speaking Shakespeare's words through mimed action, singing, and doggerel verse written by J. C. Cross. In 1809, in an unsuccessful attempt to take Covent Garden upmarket, Kemble installed private boxes, increasing admission prices to pay for the improvements. The inaugural run at the newly renovated theatre was ""Macbeth"", which was disrupted for over two months with cries of ""Old prices!"" and ""No private boxes!"" until Kemble capitulated to the protestors' demands. Edmund Kean at Drury Lane gave"
"transmitted live from Her Majesty's Theatre in Westminster, London. An assistant had helped him put on a cloak for his sketch, while Jimmy Tarbuck, the host, was hiding behind the curtain waiting to pass him different props that he would then appear to pull from inside his gown. The assistant smiled at him as he collapsed, believing that it was a part of the act. Likewise, the audience gave ""uproarious"" laughter as he fell, gasping for air. At this point, Alasdair MacMillan, the director of the television production, cued the orchestra to play music for an unscripted commercial break (noticeable"
"constructed under order by Robert Redford, who had rented the Theatre Royal for the previous nine years. At the time of the initial build, the stage was one of the largest in the country, measuring wide, by deep and between the stage itself and the pulley grid hanging above. The first public performance was a performance of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, conducted by the company of Herbert Beerbohm Tree. The company had been brought from His Majesty's Theatre, London, and repeated the performance at the New Theatre on 13 December, and again for a matinee on 15 December. Also performed"
"artist and director Leolyn Gustav Hart who had been involved in The Festival of Empire which was held at The Crystal Palace in London in 1911, to celebrate the coronation of King George V. The idea was to hold a colonial exhibition to encourage local business and trade with the British dominions. Support from some of the leaders of the city's civic leaders was limited as many were already involved in organising the annual exhibition of the Royal Agricultural Society of England which was to be held in Bristol in 1913 on Durdham Down. In 1913 shares were issued in"
"Liverpool. Their success and reputation led them to turn professional and rename themselves the 'Birmingham Repertory Company' in 1911. By September 1912 Jackson had bought a site in Station Street in Birmingham City Centre and appointed an architect to design what would become Britain's first purpose-built repertory theatre. Construction started the following month and the building – now the Old Rep – opened with a production of ""Twelfth Night"" only four months later, on 15 February 1913. The Rep's stated mission was ""to enlarge and increase the aesthetic sense of the public ... to give living authors an opportunity of"
"elderly entertainers, Brinsworth House, once a year thereafter. This tradition and fundraising event for the Royal Variety Charity, continues to the present day, with the Royal Variety Performance now attracting over 150 million worldwide television viewers, making it the longest running and most successful entertainment show in the world. As long as there has been a monarchy, kings and queens have maintained minstrels and jesters to entertain their courts, and these performances could be called ""command performances"". The history of the command performance as we recognise it today dates back at least to the time of Queen Elizabeth I, during"
"honed their skills in music hall sketches include Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, George Formby, Gracie Fields, Dan Leno, Gertrude Lawrence and Marie Lloyd. Most of the early top performers on British television and radio did an apprenticeship either in stage variety, or during World War II in Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). In the UK, the ultimate accolade for a variety artist for decades was to be asked to do the annual Royal Command Performance at the London Palladium theatre, in front of the monarch. Later known as the ""Royal Variety Performance"" (from 1919), it continues today. In the 1940s,"
"perform in London again until 1919, only touring throughout Britain during that time. Carte wrote in 1911 that her health made it impossible for her to produce any more revivals at the Savoy. In March 1909, Charles H. Workman assumed management of the Savoy Theatre from the now frail Helen Carte Boulter. She continued to manage the rest of the family businesses with the assistance of Rupert. In 1911, the company hired J. M. Gordon, who had been a member of the company under Gilbert's direction, as stage manager. Carte was so generous that King George V granted to her"
"humour succeeded with unexpected ease, and their Majesties praised him very highly after the performance."" Formby was embarrassed by his performance. His usual act partly consisted of a running patter with the orchestra conductor, which he again did on this occasion; behind the conductor sat the royal party, and it looked to some that Formby was speaking disrespectfully to them. The king understood to whom Formby was talking, however, and afterwards presented him with a tiepin. In October Formby appeared in his second Royal Command Performance of the year, in a charity show organised by the French actress Sarah Bernhardt."
"Duke of Richmond: 'There is a spirit got up against the Dominion of Mr. Handel, a subscription carry'd on, and Directors chosen, who have contracted with Senesino, and have sent for Cuzzoni, and Farinelli...' On June 15, several noble lords met with the approval of Frederick, Prince of Wales, to form a new opera company, the so-called ""Opera of the Nobility"" in open opposition to Handel, with London favourite Senesino again in leading roles and others of Handel's star singers in the new company. The new opera company gave its first performance on 29 December 1733, with an opera by"
"command performance on June 20, 1887, for her Golden Jubilee guests. While Victoria herself did not attend this performance, royalty from all over Europe attended, including the future Kaiser Wilhelm II and future King George V. Queen Victoria made one more visit to the Exhibition, on June 22, 1887, although, surprisingly, she does not refer to it in her journal for that date. These royal encounters provided Buffalo Bill's ""Wild West"" an endorsement and publicity that ensured its success. Buffalo Bill's ""Wild West"" closed its London run in October 1887 after over 300 performances and more than two and a"
"Wyndham pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, for which he wrote ""I Love a Lassie"", made him a national star, and he obtained contracts with Sir Edward Moss and others. Lauder then made a switch from music hall to variety theatre and undertook a tour of America in 1907. The following year, he performed a private show before Edward VII at Sandringham, and in 1911, he again toured the United States where he commanded $1,000 a night. In 1912, he was top of the bill at Britain's first ever Royal Command Performance, in front of King George V, organised by"
"demonstrate their technical abilities by performing test pieces. Vaughan Williams's associate composer, Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, tried to persuade him to compose a new test piece. Vaughan Williams was reluctant at first, and was of the opinion that the choirs should perform established test pieces rather than introducing a new composition. Disappointed that Vaughan Williams had apparently failed to answer his letter, Armstrong Gibbs appeared to have given up on the idea:(this is not a reliable source) The songs were premiered in the Royal Festival Hall on 23 June 1951, conducted by Armstrong Gibbs. Stylistic comparisons have been made with Vaughan"
"was lost. He refused to play and walked out of the stadium – though he returned later using Whitney Houston's instruments. Once the first set of artists had signed up, broadcasters were approached, starting with the BBC. Alan Yentob, recently appointed controller of BBC2, said that he would provide five hours of airtime – and more if the bill improved. After several more top artists were added, the BBC agreed to televise the whole show. Before the concert, 24 Conservative MPs put down a House of Commons motion, criticising the BBC for giving ""publicity to a movement that encourages the"
"V and Queen Mary. After a gap of one year, on 22 May 1930, Black presented the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium, again in the presence of King George V and Queen Mary. The show was broadcast live by BBC Radio. Black went on to present and compere at the Royal Variety Performance each year (excluding 1936) thereafter up to 1938 after which the performance was halted for the duration of the Second World War. Pantomime became a regular feature at the London Palladium for many years, and the Christmas pantomime ""Peter Pan"" was so popular with audiences"
"the Blue Man Group in 2005. At the 1963 show, John Lennon delivered the famous line: The money raised by the Royal Variety Performance provides most of the funding for the Royal Variety Charity (formerly the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund) and its care-home for retired members of the entertainment profession and their dependents, Brinsworth House. After the first Royal Variety Performance on 1 July 1912 presented by Sir Alfred Butt, it was seven years before the next show, on 28 July 1919 held at the Coliseum Theatre presented this time by Sir Oswald Stoll. The orchestra was conducted by Edward"