One of the West End's most venerable venues is to be turned into a casino.
Last autumn I predicted that the superb circus-cum-variety show LA CLIQUE at the Hippodrome would become a huge hit, since its wacky entertainers and louche atmosphere seemed expressly made for those seeking escape from the credit-crunch blues.
And so indeed it has proved. The show won an Olivier award for best entertainment, more than 100,000 people have been to see it and it has taken in excess of £2.5 million at the box office. But on June 27 the show closes because the Hippodrome is to be turned into a casino.
Originally built by the great theatre architect Frank Matcham in 1900 for circus, music hall and water spectacles, the Hippodrome featured a vast tank holding 100,000 gallons of water into which aerialists could dive from the theatre's central dome and in which sea-lions and polar bears would swim.
Harry Houdini played there, and made an elephant disappear, and the venue witnessed the British premiere of Swan Lake (with a real lake, presumably). In the 1950s the place was turned into the Talk of the Town, a cabaret and restaurant which attracted such major stars as Judy Garland and Stevie Wonder. By the early Eighties, however, the once glamorous venue was looking dated and dusty and it wasn't long before Peter Stringfellow turned the place into a disco.
Staging LA CLIQUE, with its acrobats, contortionists, singers, jugglers, and roller skaters, not to mention the woman who does something unmentionable with her kazoo, the Hippodrome seemed to have returned to its variety roots while attracting a hip young audience into the West End.
The owners of the new casino are promising a 158-seat cabaret space somewhere amid the slot machines and the blackjack tables and the man in charge of it, Nick Frankfort, believes he will be able to attract acts like Elaine Paige and Michael Ball as well as mind readers and magicians. Since major theatre owners like Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber have turned down the chance to buy and refurbish the dilapidated building, I suppose we should be glad that at least some form of entertainment will be provided even if it is a small space.
Nevertheless I suspect that the theatre space was largely included to persuade the planners to grant permission for yet another London casino, and it will be interesting to see if it survives. I've bet Frankfort £100 that the cabaret won't be running 12 months after the casino opens. It is cash I very much hope to lose.
Charles Spencer
Telegraph
29 May 2009
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