Birmingham Hippodrome

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Birmingham Hippodrome
Birmingham Hippodrome
Address	Hurst Street
City	Birmingham
Country	England
Capacity	1,900 seats
Opened	1895
Previous names	Tower of Varieties, Tivoli
Current use	Ballet, Opera, West End shows, Pantomime and Drama
www.birminghamhippodrome.com
	Coordinates: 52°28′29″N 1°53′51″W / 52.4746, -1.8976

The Birmingham Hippodrome is a theatre situated on Hurst Street in the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England.

Although best known as the home stage of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, it also hosts a wide variety of other performances including visiting opera and ballet companies, touring West End shows, pantomime and drama.

Every summer, the Hippodrome usually houses a major West End touring show, some of these consist of Starlight Express, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Cats and Mary Poppins. Every year, the Hippodrome houses a pantomime from the company QDOS - the entertainer John Barrowman has been confirmed as the star of Robin Hood for 2008/09. The theatre's Chief Executive is Stuart Griffiths.

[edit] History

The first venue built on the Hippodrome site was a building of assembly rooms in 1895. In 1899 a stage and circus ring was added together with a miniature of Blackpool Tower (removed 1963) and the enterprise named the "Tower of Varieties". After failing, this reopened as the "Tivoli" in 1900, finally becoming "The Hippodrome" in October 1903. The current neo-classical auditorium seats 1,900 and was designed by Burdwood and Mitchell in 1924.

The exterior of the theatre was substantially rebuilt by Associated Architects and Law and Dunbar-Nasmith in 2001.

[edit] Sources

• Pevsner Architectural Guides - Birmingham, Andy Foster, 2005, ISBN 0-300-10731-5

[edit] External links

• Birmingham Hippodrome Official Site
• Birmingham Hippodrome Official MySpace

Coordinates: 52°28′29″N 1°53′51″W / 52.4746, -1.8976

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