Regent Theatre, Melbourne

Infobox Theatre
name = Regent Theatre


caption =
address =
city = Melbourne
country = Australia
designation = National Trust of Australia, Victorian Heritage Register
latitude =
longitude =
architect =
owner =
capacity = 2162
type =
opened = 1929
rebuilt =
closed =
othernames =
production =
currentuse = musicals, opera
website = www.marrinertheatres.com.au/venue_regent.jsp

The Regent Theatre is a 2162 seat theatre in Melbourne, Australia. It is listed by the National Trust of Australia and is on the Victorian Heritage Register.

History

When first opened on Collins Street in 15 March, 1929 as the flagship Melbourne theatre for Francis W. Thring's Regent franchise (later sold to Hoyts), the theatre had 3250 seats and equipped with a Wurlitzer organ and was the second largest theatre to the State Theatre. It also had a ballroom, the Plaza, in the basement.

The cinema was gutted by a fire on the 29 April, 1945 which destroyed both the auditorium and organ. The reconstructed Regent opened on 19 December, 1947, including a new organ, making it one of the last Picture Palaces to be built in the country.

By the 1960s, persistent rumours of the theatre's closure (and of the Plaza Theatre in the basement) forced proposals for it to be split into two cinemas. Ultimately, this was not to be, the theatre being replaced by the Hoyt's Cinema Centre in Bourke Street.

On 1 July, 1970, Hoyts shut the doors of the Regent for the last time. The South Yarra Regent closed the same night and Ballarat location soon followed suit. The Plaza closed in November of that year. In December, 1970, an auction was held at the theatre where everything that was not bolted down was auctioned off, raising a few thousand dollars.

It is the last remaining fully intact theatre of the Regent picture palace franchise. The Regent in Sydney was demolished in 1988 and the Regent Theatre in Brisbane had its interiors substantially altered in 1978. The Ballarat Regent Theatre remains only as a historical facade to a complex developed in the 1990s. The cinema in Melbourne was the only to be used as a performing arts venue.

Lord Mayor Ron Walker was an early advocate of demolition of the old theatre, however Norm Gallagher helped to place a green ban on the building at the time.

The building lay derelict for 26 years. Many suggestions were made during this time as to the Regent's future including demolition, redevelopment as a carpark and even as a poker machine venue. Sadly, much of the Plaza theatre's interior was gutted to make way for the City Square project, with only the ceiling remaining as an original item.However, from photos supplied by a member of the Save The Regent Theatre Committee, Ian Williams, the interior was reconstructed to its original glory.

Redevelopment

Entrepreneur David Marinner earmarked the Regent for restoration when he established a revival movement for classical performing arts theatres in Melbourne during 1991 as part of a strategy to create a monopoly and promote the city as a performing arts capital. In a deal with the Melbourne City Council, Marriner proposed to purchase the adjacent City Square site for development of the multi-storey Westin Hotel and apartments on the condition that some of the money go towards restoring the theatre. The redevelopment took 3 years from September 1993, to its final reopening gala on August 17th 1996. The Plaza Theatre was also fully and magnificently restored to its original ballroom format.

The exterior of the Regent is near identical to the Sydney theatre and is Renaissance Revival in style. The interiors are of a Rococo style.

The Regent Theatre reopened on October 26, 1996 with a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard".

Use

Over the years, the Regent has seen many live shows, including:

*1996 - Sunset Boulevard (musical)
*1997 - Fiddler on the Roof (musical)
*1998 - Show Boat (musical)
*1999 - (John Farnham concert)
*2001 - Annie (musical)
*2001 - The Wizard of Oz (musical)
*2002 - Man of La Mancha (musical)
*2002 - Oliver! (musical)
*2003 - We Will Rock You (musical)
*2004 - Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala; APRA Music Awards; AFI Awards
*2004 - Gone with the Wind
*2005 - The Lion King (musical)
*2007 - The Wizard of Oz (film with live orchestra)
*2007 - Imperial Russian Dance Company's Flying Tzars
*2007 - Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala
*2007 - Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake (ballet)
*2007 - Priscilla Queen of the Desert - the Musical
*2008 - Wicked (musical)

External links

* [http://www.marrinertheatres.com.au/ Marriner Theatres] http://www.donaldbinks.com.au/regent.htm