 Venue |
Garrick Theatre
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| Address |
79-83 Castlereagh Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia
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| First Date |
1890 |
| Last Date |
1893 |
| Notes
| Opened 22 December 1890 as Garrick Theatre. Renamed Tivoli Theatre 18 February 1893. Destroyed by fire in 1899. Rebuilt and opened 12 April 1899. Closed as a live venue in 1928. It became the Embassy Cinema. Closed 1977. Demolished in mid-1980s. |
| Related Venues |
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| Map |
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| Latitude | Longitude |
-33.8731670 | 151.2091890 |
| Events |
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THARK, 22 October 1936
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Milky White / Alice Again / Living Models / Living Statuary and the Waxwork Wobblers, 10 November 1892
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Benefit Performance for Mr F. E. Hiscocks, 9 August 1892
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Adrienne Lecouvreur, 26 June 1891
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A Doll's House, 24 June 1891
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Adrienne Lecouvreur, 20 June 1891
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Forget-Me-Not, 17 June 1891
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The Money Spinner, 10 June 1891
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A Doll's House, 6 June 1891
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The New Magdelan, 6 June 1891
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Camille, 30 May 1891
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Forget-Me-Not, 23 May 1891
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Masks and Faces, 9 May 1891
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The Idler, 31 January 1891
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John Gourlay
- Actor and Singer, Performer
George Walton
- Actor and Singer, Performer
Albu
- Performer
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| Resources |
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With the newly-opened Palace Theatre there are now nine playhouses in Sydney, of which number only two will remain closed this evening. The curious feature in the local record is that all the chief theatres have been erected during the past 10 years. The exceptions are the Gaiety Theatre, which is also known as the Guild Hall, and the Opera House, which, unfortunately for its prospenty, stands in the quarter now entirely devoted to the wholesale warehouses. The Opera House was vastly improved under Messrs Majeroni and Wilson's management in the middle of 1884, when the flat ceiling was replaced by a cupola, and the theatre was then reopened with considerable éclat (30th June) with a revival of "Marie Antoinette," by Signor and Signora Majeroni. The present Theatre Royal occupies the oldest theatrical site in the city. The Prince of Wales Theatre stood there in 1854, was utterly destroyed by fire in 1860, was again demolished in 1872, and being rebuilt as the Theatre Royal was burnt a third time on 17th June, 1892. Mrs Bernard Beere had been playing " London Assurance" only a few hours previously. Only a portion of the outer walls were left standing, and the present building has only been in existence since Miss Clara Merivale's appearance in "Falka" at Christmas, 1892. The Criterion Theatre was opened with Miss Emilie Melville in " Falka," which was not played again for six years, at Christmas, I886. However, in anticipation of the Brough-Boucicault revival of "Much Ado About Nothing" (Christmas, 1892), a new face was put upon the interior, and at a cost of £8000 the present lofty dome was raised, the size of the stage was nearly doubled, and other structural improvements were made. The next new theatre was Her Majesty's, opened by Mr George Rignold with
"Henry V" in September, 1887. This splendid theatre has suffered less damage than any other in the city. Early in 1890 the little Academy of Music was pulled down, and at Christmas of that year the Garrick Theatre was completed on the same site, and was opened by Miss Olga Nethersole and Mr Charles Cartwright with "Moths". Mr Harry Rickards acquired this property, and re-named it the Tivoli on 18th February, 1893.
The opening of the Lyceum Theatre, With Miss Alice Leamar and Mr Robert Courtneidge in "Little Red Riding Hood," took place at Christmas, 1892 â a somewhat memorable date in local theatrical records. The Royal Standard Theatre was almost new when Mr Alfred Dampier was lessee in 1886 ; but no other actor-manager has flourished there, and of late years the house, like its neighbour the Gaiety, has become popular chiefly for amateur entertainments. If we glance at the history of musical enterprise in the city, we find that during much the same period the old concert halls have been displaced in favour of more central buildings. The last important occasion on which the once popular Old Masonic Hall (York-street) was used, was at the Victor Hugo Celebration Concert in 1885. The New Masonic Hall, opened in Castlereagh-street the following year, was placed a little too far away from the city, and, after the Metropolitan Liedertafel ceased to give concerts there, now some years ago, the hall fell into comparative disuse. But the eclipse of these halls and of the Protestant Hall, a once fashionable salon, where Mme Melba gave her farewell concert, was due to the erection of the elegant and central building of the Y.M.C.A. â now recognised as the favourite hall for all but the great musical functions. The inconvenient Exhibition Building almost faded out of existence when the completed Town Hall was opened on the 27th November, 1889. Mr Charles Santley was the first solo singer to appear there â the occasion being his farewell concert on the 30th November of that year. Just a year earlier, the completion of the York-street Centenary Hall furnished concert-goers with another rendezvous, which has continued to be frequently used up to the present time. In June, 1892, the Oddfellows' Temple was opened, and just two years ago the list of concert rooms was increased by the erection of the Manchester Unity Hall. Thus we see that not only all the present theatres of the city, but also all the concert halls have been erected during the past 10 or 12 years, which fact, all things considered, forms a decidedly curious feature in the theatrical and musical history of Sydney.
Article: Musical and Dramatic Notes, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 December 1896, 5
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Theatre in Castlereagh Street, opened 22 December 1890 as Garrick Theatre, seating about 1000. Architect: E. Weltzel. Renamed Tivoli Theatre 18 February 1893. Destroyed by fire 1899. Rebuilt and opened 12 April 1899, seating 1181. Architect: Backhouse and Backhouse. Closed 28 September 1929. Rebuilt as Embassy cinema. Closed 1977. Demolished in mid-1980s.
The first Tivoli Theatre in Sydney stood on land where there was entertainment for most of 126 years. In September 1851 an American named J. S. Noble established the Olympic Circus behind the Painters' Arms Hotel on the western side of Castlereagh Street, midway between King and Market Streets. For about 40 years thereafter a large yard behind the street-facing buildings was called Circus Court. The circus was converted to a theatre in May 1852. In July 1854 the theatre and the hotel in front were both called the Royal Albert. Both had gone by 1860. In 1866 the Scandinavian Hotel was built with the Scandinavian Hall, which was used in the style of a British Music Hall, with tables and chairs and free admission. In December 1869 it saw an Australian burlesque, Formosa by W. Read. In 1870 the hall was renamed the St James Hall, with fixed seating and an entrance charge, and the hotel in front was eliminated. By 1872 it was called the Scandinavian Music Hall, with a Columbia Hotel next door. It was an athletic hall by 1875, and a billiards saloon from 1877 to 1880. About 1881 both hall and hotel were renamed Victoria. In December 1881 an Australian extravaganza, Aladdin and Company Limited, was performed on the hall's small stage-about 8.5 metres feet wide and 9.4 metres deep with a 6.4 metre-wide proscenium. Dion Boucicault's The Shaughraun was also played there. After renovation, the hall was renamed the Academy of Music on 23 September 1882. Its small auditorium - 8.5 metres wide by 24 metres long - officially seated 750 on two levels.
The Colonial Architect criticised the hall as old and dilapidated only a few years later and at the end of the 1880s it and an adjacent boarding house facing into Circus Court were demolished to provide a wider frontage for the new Garrick Theatre, again behind a hotel. The Garrick had a three-level auditorium, 13.7 by 16.8 metres. The stage was 13.8 by 15.2 metres. After a short period of drama, Harry Rickards renamed the theatre Tivoli and devoted it to vaudeville. He redecorated it in gold and crimson plush in 1897, but in 1899 fire destroyed the auditorium and stage. Rickards built a slightly larger theatre behind the original facade. He died in 1911 and Hugh D. Mclntosh acquired control of the Tivoli circuit, but the Rickards estate retained the Sydney Tivoli. It sold the site in September 1928 and the Tivoli closed a year later.
Article: Ross Thorne, Tivoli Theatre, Sydney, 1890-1929, Companion To Theatre In Australia, 1995, 605
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Map: Plans of Sydney (Doves), 1880 Map 9
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Record: Ailsa McPherson, Harry Rickards's Tivoli, Dictionary of Sydney, 2008
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Websites / Online media: Sydney Architecture - Garrick Theatre / Tivoli Theatre, Sydney Architecture
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| Venue Identifier |
11240 |
| Dataset |
AusStage |
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