The new Her Majesty’s Theatre is a splendour - it just needs an audience
Today’s the day the $66 million rebuild of Her Majesty’s Theatre on Grote Street will be unveiled to the public.
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Today’s the day the $67 million rebuild of Her Majesty’s Theatre on Grote Street will be unveiled to the public.
Or at least tonight would have been the night.
Before COVID-19 hit, Her Majesty’s was going to open tonight with a big musical, Six, and was looking at solid bookings for the rest of the year.
But the life of the stage was never that easy. So now Festival Centre CEO Douglas Gautier, like everyone else, has no idea when his 10-year project will finally be christened with 1500 patrons sitting down to hear the big musical numbers that it has been built for.
“Hopefully, later this year,” he said.
If ever there was a magnificent bride deserted at the wedding, this one is it.
It is now a magnificent 107-year-old Edwardian dream of a theatre, having finally scotched all the modernist misdeeds of the past, of blocked sightlines, misplaced seating, poor acoustics, low, narrow proscenium, laughable entrance, and a nightmarish backstage.
It’s all gone, and a sneak tour through the place earlier this week showed just how magnificent it should be.
There are public spaces and bars on each of its three – note, three — levels. Yes, “the gods”, the third dress circle, is back, but just much more comfortable and better placed than in my, and Douglas Gautier’s childhood.
Thanks to the acquisition of 62 Grote Street next door, the bars and public spaces look through a huge curtain of glass across Central Market, while elevators now provide disability access across the theatre.
Gautier says 62 Grote Street was crucial to the plan, since it has allowed the theatre auditorium to swell out from its 900 seats to 1500, a sweet spot in theatre size that commercial musical presenters love.
But State Opera will be there, 32-years since it was its home, and bigger State Theatre shows, Australian Dance Theatre shows, and smaller ensemble shows by Adelaide Symphony Orchestra should all find space there.
Gautier says that Her Majesty’s is after all, for the people of South Australia.
“They are the folks who bought seats and helped raise $4.5 million in donations to see it succeed,” he said. State Government paid the rest.
He said the theatre was ideally placed in its multicultural central city precinct, and that would only add to its commercial success.
“We are looking at it being an anchor to the precinct and we have been holding discussions with businesses up and down the street. We can see it being active during the day as well.”
Go to the time-lapse video available on The Advertiser’s digital pages to see just how comprehensively gutted and rebuilt Her Maj has been.
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