Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
q2K BHP
Black History Portal
THE BHP WIRE —
HIDDEN TRUTHS
What's New!
Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| |
 London Coliseum in 2004 | |
 Interactive map of London Coliseum | |
| Address | St Martin's Lane London, WC2 United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°30′35″N 0°07′35″W / 51.509722°N 0.126389°W |
| Owner | English National Opera |
| Capacity | 2,359 seats on 3 tiers (4 levels) |
Current use | Opera house |
| Public transit | |
| Construction | |
| Opened |
|
| Renovated | 1968, 2000–2004 |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
Official name | London Coliseum |
| Designated | 20 September 1960 |
| Reference no. | 1236022 |
| Architect | Frank Matcham |
| Website | |
| londoncoliseum | |
The London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre) is a theatre in St Martin's Lane, Westminster, built as one of London's largest and most luxurious family variety theatres. Opened on 24 December 1904 as the London Coliseum Theatre of Varieties, it was designed by the architect Frank Matcham for the impresario Oswald Stoll.[1] Their ambition was to build the largest and finest music hall, described as the "people's palace of entertainment" of its age.[2]
At the time of construction the Coliseum was one of the few theatres in Europe to provide lifts for taking patrons to the upper levels of the house,[3] and was the first theatre in England to have a triple revolve installed on its stage. It has 2,359 seats – the largest capacity of any theatre in London.
After being used for variety shows, musical comedies, and stage plays for many years, then between 1963 and 1968 as a cinema screening films in the Cinerama format, the Sadler's Wells Opera Company moved into the building in 1968. The Sadler's Wells company changed its name to the English National Opera in 1974, and today the theatre is used primarily for opera as well as being the London home of the English National Ballet.
The London Coliseum was built by the architect Frank Matcham, who intended it to be one of London's largest and most luxurious family variety theatres. Construction began in 1903, and the venue opened on 24 December the following year as the London Coliseum Theatre of Varieties. It is located in St Martin's Lane, London.[4]
Matcham built the theatre for the theatrical impresario Sir Oswald Stoll, and had the ambition of it being the largest and finest "people's palace of entertainment" of the age.[4]
Matcham wanted a theatre of variety – not a music hall but equally not highbrow entertainment. The resulting programme was a mix of music hall and variety theatre, with one act – a full scale revolving chariot race – requiring the stage to revolve. The theatre's original slogan was pro bono publico ('for the public good'). It was opened in 1904 and the inaugural performance was a variety bill on 24 December that year.
English Heritage, in its description of the theatre when it was given listed status in 1960, notes that it is an "exuberant Free Baroque ambitious design, the Edwardian 'Theatre de Luxe of London' with richly decorated interiors and a vast and grandiose auditorium."[5] The theatre has a "lavish foyer and circulation areas with marble facings, culminating in vast 3-tier auditorium with wealth of eclectic classical detail of Byzantine opulence, some motifs such as the squat columns dividing the lowest tier of slip boxes, backing the stalls, almost Sullivanesque; pairs of 2-tiered bow fronted boxes with domed canopies at gallery level and semi-domed, Ionic-columned pairs of 2 tiered orchestra boxes, contained in arched and pedimented frames surmounted by sculptural groups with lion-drawn chariots. Great, semi-circular, blocked architrave proscenium arch with cartouche-trophy keystone."[5]
The inaugural performance was a variety bill on 24 December 1904, but it "was a total failure and closed down completely only two years after opening in 1906 and remained closed until December of 1907 when it was reopened and at last became successful."[2] In 1908, the London Coliseum was host to a cricket match between Middlesex and Surrey.[6] In 1911, dramatist W. S. Gilbert produced his last play here, The Hooligan.
The theatre changed its name from the London Coliseum to the Coliseum Theatre between 1931 and 1968 when a run of 651 performances of the operetta White Horse Inn began on 8 April 1931. Additionally, "pantomimes began in 1936 with Cinderella and continued regularly until 1946. In 1947 the musical Annie Get Your Gun was staged at the Coliseum and had a staggeringly successful run for the time, of 1,304 performances and three continuous years which was the longest run in theatrical history. There then followed a long run of major American hits beginning with Kiss Me, Kate in 1951, Guys And Dolls in 1953, The Pajama Game in 1955, and Damn Yankees in 1957. But this exceptional period did at last come to an end in 1957 when the production of Bells Are Ringing failed to enthrall anyone."[2]
The Coliseum reverted to its original name when the Sadler's Wells Opera Company moved there in 1968, and in 1974 the company changed its name to the English National Opera; it bought the freehold of the building for £12.8 million in 1992.[2] The theatre hosted both the 2004 and 2006 Royal Variety Performances and is also the London base for performances by English National Ballet, which perform regular seasons throughout the year when not on tour.
The Who performed there on 14 December 1969, and recorded the concert.[citation needed]
While its wing space is limited due to the constricted site on which the theatre was built, "the stage of the London Coliseum was also on a vast scale; 55 feet wide by 92 feet deep".[2] The stage is not raked. It has the widest proscenium arch in London and was one of the first to have electric lighting. It was built with a triple revolving stage, although this was rarely used. The Coliseum was originally designed to seat 2,939 people on four levels.[2] Despite the seating capacity being reduced since the theatre's opening, it still has the largest seating capacity of any theatre in the West End at 2,359.[4]
The theatre retains many of its original features and was given a Grade II* listed building by English Heritage in September 1960. Prior to Sadler's Wells Opera Company taking over the Coliseum in 1968, the house was "fully restored, redecorated, and a large orchestra pit installed". It reopened on 21 August 1968, with a production of the opera Don Giovanni.[2]
Another extensive renovation took place between 2000 and 2004.[5][7] when the design team included the architects RHWL and Arup as acousticians and building engineers.
The London Coliseum has two lifts which provide step-free access for disabled patrons to all levels, except the Upper Circle.[8]
Periodically, the Coliseum was used to show films and, when the "'talkies' arrived at the Coliseum in 1933, films were run at the theatre for a year. The greatest sensation at this time was the showing of King Kong which ran at the Coliseum for months with 10,000 people seeing the film there every day."[2]
After a lacklustre period of poorly received musicals came to an end, in June 1961 the theatre was leased by MGM for use as a cinema during the period that the Empire, Leicester Square was closed for rebuilding. The initial presentation, from 6 June, was a revival of Gone With the Wind which ran for 3 months. On 2 November the World Premiere of Bachelor in Paradise took place in the presence of the film's star, Bob Hope, and following this, on 15 November, was the UK premiere of Samuel Bronston's epic King of Kings. MGM continued to use the theatre even after the new Empire, Leicester Square reopened in December 1962, but MGM's lease expired on 19 May 1963 and the theatre was then leased by the Cinerama Corporation to become the second of London's Cinerama locations (after the Casino Cinerama).
Conversion to three-strip projection which used three projectors was undertaken, and an 80 ft wide, 30 ft tall deeply curved screen was installed. Beginning on 16 July 1963, the theatre was renamed the Coliseum Cinerama, with the UK premiere of The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. This film transferred to the third of London's Cinerama houses, the Royalty Theatre on 27 November and the Coliseum was converted for single-projector Cinerama using 70 mm film for the Gala UK Premiere of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World on 2 December 1963. Other 70 mm films followed, The Magnificent Showman (the UK Title of Circus World), The Great Race (a 35 mm blow up) and The Bible. With fewer films made in the format, it later became difficult to programme the theatre. It resorted to revivals of old 70 mm movies before opening The Comedians on 18 January 1968 (a 70 mm Panavision blow up). This ran for nine weeks and was followed by a revival of the 1956 Todd-AO epic Around the World in 80 Days, the first time this film had been shown in 70 mm in London. This ran until 22 May 1968 when Cinerama pulled out and the theatre reverted to live use.[1]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
The London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre) is a theatre in St Martin's Lane, Westminster, built as one of London's largest and most luxurious family variety theatres. Opened on 24 December 1904 as the London Coliseum Theatre of Varieties, it was designed by the architect Frank Matcham for the impresario Oswald Stoll. Their ambition was to build the largest and finest music hall, described as the "people's palace of entertainment" of its age. At the time of construction the Coliseum was one of the few theatres in Europe to provide lifts for taking patrons to the upper levels of the house, and was the first theatre in England to have a triple revolve installed on its stage. It has 2,359 seats – the largest capacity of any theatre in London. After being used for variety shows, musical comedies, and stage plays for many years, then between 1963 and 1968 as a cinema screening films in the Cinerama format, the Sadler's Wells Opera Company moved into the building in 1968. The Sadler's Wells company changed its name to the English National Opera in 1974, and today the theatre is used primarily for opera as well as being the London home of the English National Ballet.
Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is an American actor and comedian. He gained fame for his role as the Harvard-educated Boston psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom Cheers (1984–1993) and its spin-off Frasier (1993–2004, and again from 2023–2024). With more than 20 years on air, this is one of the longest-running roles played by a single live-action actor in primetime television history. He has received numerous accolades including a total of six Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, two Satellite Awards, two People's Choice Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Tony Award. Grammer, having trained as an actor at Juilliard and the Old Globe Theatre, made his professional acting debut as Lennox in the 1981 Broadway revival of Macbeth. The following year, he portrayed Cassio acting opposite Christopher Plummer and James Earl Jones in Othello. In mid-1983, he acted alongside Mandy Patinkin in the original off-Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sunday in the Park with George. He has since starred in the leading roles in productions of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, My Fair Lady, Big Fish, and Finding Neverland. In film, he is known for his role as Dr. Hank McCoy / Beast in the superhero films X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), The Marvels (2023) and Avengers: Doomsday (2026). His other roles include Down Periscope (1996), The Pentagon Wars (1998), and Swing Vote (2008). He is also known for his voice roles in Anastasia (1997), Toy Story 2 (1999), and as Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons (1990–present). He took guest roles in the sitcoms 30 Rock (2010–2012), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2016), and Modern Family (2017). For his performance as the corrupt mayor in the Starz political series Boss (2011–2012), he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama. In early 2010, Grammer returned to Broadway in the musical revival of La Cage aux Folles, where he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. In mid-2016, Grammer won a Tony Award for Best Musical as producer of a musical revival of The Color Purple. In early 2019, he starred as Don Quixote in a production of Man of La Mancha at the London Coliseum. In late 2023, The Telegraph described Grammer as one of "the finest actors" of his generation. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 22, 2001.
We Will Rock You (often abbreviated as WWRY) is a jukebox musical based on the songs of British rock band Queen with a book by Ben Elton. The musical tells the story of a renegade group known as the Bohemians who struggle to restore the free exchange of thought and culture in a vaguely Orwellian society. Directed by Christopher Renshaw and choreographed by Arlene Phillips, the original West End production opened in 2002. Although the musical was at first panned by critics, it has become an audience favourite, becoming the longest-running musical at the Dominion Theatre, celebrating its tenth anniversary on 14 May 2012. The original production closed on 31 May 2014, at that time the eleventh longest-running musical in West End history. Numerous international and touring productions have followed, and We Will Rock You has been seen in six of the world's continents. By December 2022 the musical had been seen by 20 million people across 28 countries. From 2 June to 27 August 2023, We Will Rock You returned to the West End for a 12-week run at the London Coliseum.
Corbin Bleu Reivers ( BLOO; born February 21, 1989) is an American actor and singer. He began acting professionally in the late 1990s before rising to prominence in the late 2000s for his leading role as Chad Danforth in the High School Musical trilogy (2006–2008). Songs from the films also charted worldwide, with the song "I Don't Dance" peaking inside the Top 70 of the Billboard Hot 100. During this time, he also starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Jump In! (2007) and the film To Write Love on Her Arms (2015). He competed in the 17th season of Dancing with the Stars. Bleu has also pursued a music career and his debut album Another Side was released in 2007, which included the hit "Push It to the Limit". The album debuted and peaked at number 36 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart, selling 18,000 copies in its first week. His second album, Speed of Light, was released in 2009. He returned to television, starring in the short-lived Ashton Kutcher–produced CW series The Beautiful Life: TBL (2009) and the movie Free Style (2009). He has appeared in the films The Little Engine That Could (2011), Scary or Die (2012), Nurse 3D (2013), Sugar (2013), The Monkey's Paw (2013), Walk. Ride. Rodeo. (2019), Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story (2022), and Camp Hideout (2023). In 2010, Bleu made his Broadway debut as Usnavi in the musical In the Heights. In 2012, he returned to Broadway in the revival of Godspell. In 2013, he was cast as Jeffrey King in the short-lived online revival of the daytime soap One Life to Live. In 2016, Bleu played Ted Hanover in the Broadway company of Holiday Inn, the New Irving Berlin Musical. He subsequently signed a recording contract with Ghostlight Records, to distribute his Holiday Inn soundtrack music, released in 2017. In 2019, he returned to play Bill Calhoun/Lucentio in the Broadway company of Kiss Me, Kate. He subsequently signed a recording contract with Ghostlight Records, to distribute his Kiss Me, Kate soundtrack music, released on June 7, 2019. Bleu later made his West End debut in the European premiere of The Great Gatsby at the London Coliseum as Nick Carraway in April 2025 which earned him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Joe Louis.
