Apollo Theatre

Apollo Theatre, West End theatre, situated on Shaftesbury Avenue, London. It was intended by its proprietor, Henry Lowenfeld, to be a venue for musicals and was therefore built with an orchestra pit. However, its opening musical production in 1901, The Belle of Bohemia, proved a failure. Later the theatre became more successful, housing The Pélissier Follies from 1908 until 1912, and, during the Great War, staging Hobson’s Choice by Harold Brighouse; on the eve of World War II, the Pulitzer-Prize winning play Idiot’s Delight by Robert Sherwood was a major success, and in 1942 Flare Path by Terence Rattigan was one of many productions staged during the war.

Later, farces and light comedies such as The Happiest Days of Your Life (1948) and Boeing, Boeing (1962) proved popular, and subsequent productions included Forty Years On (1968) by Alan Bennett and Home (1970) by David Storey, both starring Sir John Gielgud; Lettice and Lovage (1987) by Peter Shaffer starring Maggie Smith; and Our Song by Keith Waterhouse with Peter O’Toole. The Apollo has since played host to Popcorn (1997) by Ben Elton, a revival of Noel Coward’s Fallen Angels (2000) starring Felicity Kendal and Frances de la Tour, and in 2001 The (Female) Odd Couple, an alternative take by Neil Simon on his own 1965 Broadway hit.

The theatre’s façade features four angel statues, and the interior decoration includes an ornate Roma emblem associated with the Lowenfeld family, after which Lowenfeld is supposed to have considered naming the theatre The Mascot. The auditorium was carefully designed so that there are no pillars obscuring the view, and it seats 796. The Apollo is now managed by Really Useful Theatres.