Theatre Royal Sydney 1875-1972, 1976-

Theatre in Castlereagh Street, opened 11 December 1875. Architect: J. F. Hilly. Auditorium damaged by fire 17 June 1892. Reopened 2 January 1893. Closed 29 April 1972 and demolished. Replaced by new Theatre Royal in King Street, opened 23 January 1976. Architect: Harry Seidler.

After fire destroyed the second Prince of Wales Theatre in January 1872 its architect, J. F. Hilly, was commissioned to design the third theatre on the site, the Theatre Royal. He reused the Castlereagh Street front of the Prince of Wales Theatre. The stage was reduced to 20.1 metres in depth and the auditorium was slightly increased to 21.3 metres by 18.3 metres. It seated only about 1500 people in comfort, in three levels instead of four. The groove system of scene-changing remained. The outer walls were brick and the posts and basic framing were cast-iron but the interior was still lined in timber with canvas affixed as the base for painted and modelled decoration. The theatre opened under the lesseeship of Samuel Lazar, who offered fairly eclectic fare, ranging from classical drama with Mary Scott-Siddons and later George Rignold, through Alfred Dampier's dramas to the London Comedy Company and the Emily Soldene Opera-Bouffe Company. 

The theatre was refurbished in 1882, when Williamson, Garner and Musgrove took it over. In 1883 electricity was installed. This allowed the auditorium to be plunged into darkness, producing a 'peepshow stage', which quickly became the new tradition for proscenium-stage theatres. Fire damaged the auditorium on 17 June 1892, leaving the canvas hanging in shreds. The theatre reopened on 2 January 1893 with the stage-house raised to provide full height flying facilities. About 1897 the freehold came into the hands of Gustave Ramaciotti. Stars who appeared at the Theatre Royal in the late 19th and early 20th centuries included Sarah Bernhardt, Dion Boucicault and Nellie Stewart. The theatre housed vaudeville in the 1920s. In 1921 the architect Henry E. White redesigned the facade in an Edwardian style, foyers in classical style and an auditorium, again on three levels, in classical Adam style. There was now only one post in the stalls instead of 13. Lewis Casson and Sybil Thorndike acted there in 1932 but the Theatre Royal was largely given over to musicals during the Great Depression. By the end of 1935 it and the Tivoli Theatre were the only live theatres in Sydney.

The Ramaciotti family sold the theatre to developers in 1969 and closure became imminent in 1972. John Tasker tried to save the theatre by organising a small committee of interested citizens, including Jack Mundey, president of the Builders' Labourers Federation. After public meetings, protests and a building workers' ban on demolition, the developer signed an undertaking on behalf of the owners of the site that the MLC Centre would incorporate a new fully professional theatre, seating no fewer than 1000 persons - the old theatre then held 1292 persons. It was agreed to retain items from the old theatre for 'possible inclusion in the new theatre'. These items are not in the new Theatre Royal and no-one knows where they are. The last performance before the old theatre was demolished ended a Shakespeare season by the Prospect Theatre Company from England. The new Theatre Royal, turned 90 degrees to face King Street, seats its audience on two levels, facing an unadorned proscenium. The musicals Cats and Les Miserables had long runs at the theatre.