Savoy Theatre - Richard D'Oyly Carte's Theatre

Richard D'Oyly Carte's Theatre

Carte bought the freehold of the site, then known as "Beaufort Buildings", early in 1880 for £11,000, but had begun planning his theatre several years before. In 1877, he employed Walter Emden, an architect whose work includes the Garrick and the Duke of York's theatres. Before purchase, Carte had been assured by government officials that they would open a new street on the south side of the plot, provided he paid half the cost. He paid his half in March 1880, but the officials caused lengthy further delays. Carte told The Times, "I am struggling in the meshes of red tape". He finally received the necessary agreement in June. At the same time he ran into another obstacle: Emden suddenly revised his estimate of building costs upward from £12,000 to £18,000. Carte dismissed Emden, who sued for £1,790 for services to date and £3,000 for wrongful dismissal.

Design of the theatre was given to C. J. Phipps. The builders were Patman and Fotheringham. Plans were drawn up and executed with speed and efficiency. Nonetheless, the advertised opening date had to be put back several times while the innovative electrical work was completed. The Savoy finally opened on 10 October 1881. Carte had at one time intended to call it the Beaufort Theatre, but he announced in a letter to The Daily Telegraph in 1881, "On the Savoy Manor there was formerly a theatre. I have used the ancient name as an appropriate title for the present one."

On the opening night Phipps took curtain calls along with Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte. The Times commented, "A perfect view of the stage can be had from every seat in the house." The decoration by Collinson and Locke was "in the manner of the Italian Renaissance", with white, pale yellow and gold predominating, including a gold satin curtain (instead of the usual printed act-drop), red boxes and dark blue seats. Exits on all four sides of the theatre were provided, and fireproof materials were used to ensure maximum safety. There were three tiers with four levels: stalls and pit, balcony, circle, and amphitheatre and gallery at the top. The total seating capacity was 1,292. The proscenium arch was 30 feet (9.1 m) high by 30 feet (9.1 m) wide, and the stage was 27 feet (8.2 m) deep from the proscenium to the back wall. The theatre originally had its main entrance on the Embankment. The parcel on which it was built is steep, stretching from the Strand down to the Embankment along Beaufort Street. After Carte built the Savoy Hotel in 1889, the entrance to the theatre was moved to the hotel's courtyard off the Strand, where it is today.

The Savoy was a state-of-the-art theatre and the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity. Sir Joseph Swan, inventor of the incandescent light bulb, supplied about 1,200 Swan incandescent lamps, and the lights were powered by a 120 horsepower generator on open land near the theatre. Carte explained why he had introduced electric light: "The greatest drawbacks to the enjoyment of the theatrical performances are, undoubtedly, the foul air and heat which pervade all theatres. As everyone knows, each gas-burner consumes as much oxygen as many people, and causes great heat beside. The incandescent lamps consume no oxygen, and cause no perceptible heat." The first generator proved too small to power the whole building, and though the entire front-of-house was electrically lit, the stage was lit by gas until 28 December 1881. At that performance, Carte stepped on stage and broke a glowing lightbulb before the audience to demonstrate the safety of the new technology. The Times described the electric lighting as superior, visually, to gaslight. Gaslights were installed as a backup, but they rarely had to be used. The Times concluded that the theatre "is admirably adapted for its purpose, its acoustic qualities are excellent, and all reasonable demands of comfort and taste are complied with." Carte and his manager, George Edwardes (later famous as manager of the Gaiety Theatre), introduced several innovations including numbered seating, free programme booklets, proper whisky in the bars, the "queue" system for the pit and gallery (an American idea) and a policy of no tipping for cloakroom or other services. Daily expenses at the theatre were about half the possible takings from ticket sales.

The work that opened the new theatre was Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera Patience, which been running since April 1881 at the smaller Opera Comique. The last eight of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas were premièred at the Savoy: Iolanthe (1882), Princess Ida (1884), The Mikado (1885), Ruddigore (1887), The Yeomen of the Guard (1888) The Gondoliers (1889), Utopia, Limited (1893), and The Grand Duke (1896), and the term Savoy Opera has come to be associated with all their joint works. After the end of the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership, Carte, and later his widow, Helen (and her manager from 1901–1903, William Greet), staged other comic operas at the theatre by Arthur Sullivan and others, notably Ivan Caryll, Sydney Grundy, Basil Hood and Edward German. The Savoy Operas of the 1890s, however, were far less successful than those of the Gilbert and Sullivan heyday. After Carte's production of The Chieftain ended in March 1895, the Theatre briefly hosted the Carl Rosa Opera Company and then closed until late 1895, when Carte resumed productions at the theatre. Sullivan died in 1900, and Richard D'Oyly Carte died in 1901.

In 1903, the theatre closed and was reopened under the management of John Leigh and Edward Laurillard from February 1904 (beginning with a musical, The Love Birds) to December 1906. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company returned to the Savoy for repertory seasons between 1906 and 1909, in which year C. H. Workman took over the management of the theatre. He produced, among other works, Gilbert's final opera, with music by German, Fallen Fairies in 1909–10, which ran for only 51 performances. He also produced Two Merry Monarchs and Orpheus and Eurydice in 1910, the latter of which starred Marie Brema and Viola Tree in the title roles. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company did not play in the theatre from 1909 until 1929, instead touring throughout Britain and playing London seasons in other theatres, and other works held the stage of the Savoy. George Augustus Richardson managed the theatre from November 1911 to February 1915.