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Outside the West End, [[Sadler's Wells Theatre]] opened in [[London Borough of Islington|Islington]] on 3 June 1683. Taking its name from founder [[Richard Sadler]] and monastic springs that were discovered on the property,[{{cite web |url=http://www.storyoflondon.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=442 |title=London's Lost Tea-Gardens: I|publisher=Story of London |access-date=17 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827083501/http://www.storyoflondon.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=442 |archive-date=27 August 2009 }}][{{cite web |url=http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Entertainment/Sadlers_Wells_Theatre/f2dc/ |title=Sadler's Wells Theatre |publisher=LondonTown.com |access-date=17 January 2010}}] it operated as a "Musick House", with performances of opera; as it was not licensed for plays. In the West End, the [[Theatre Royal Haymarket]] opened on 29 December 1720 on a site slightly north of its current location, and the [[Royal Opera House]] opened in [[Covent Garden]] on 7 December 1732.[{{cite news |title=Royal Opera House |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Opera-House-London |access-date=1 June 2020 |work=Encyclopaedia Britannica}}] [[John Gay]]'s ballad opera ''[[The Beggar's Opera]]'' ran for 62 performances in 1728, and held the record for London's longest run for nearly a century. It has been called "the most popular play of the eighteenth century."[{{Cite journal|jstor = 3206338|title = A Fresh Look at Hogarth's 'Beggar's Opera'|last = Carlson|first = Marvin|date = 1975|journal = Educational Theatre Journal|volume = 27|issue = 1|pages = 31–39|doi = 10.2307/3206338}}] Another musical show, ''[[Tom and Jerry, or Life in London]]'' (1821), was the first London production to reach [[Long runs on the London stage, 1700–2020#18th and 19th centuries|100 consecutive performances]].[{{cite book | editor-last= Parker | editor-first= John | year=1925 | title= Who's Who in the Theatre | location=London |edition=fifth| publisher=Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons | page= 1196| oclc=10013159 }}] ''Tom and Jerry'''s combination of a tour of London interspersed with song and dance, gave rise to numerous similar, loosely constructed entertainments, and "planted the seeds for later musical comedy and revue".[{{Cite book|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195169867.001.0001/acref-9780195169867-e-3098|isbn = 978-0-19-516986-7|title = The Oxford Companion to American Theatre|chapter = Tom and Jerry; or, Life in London|year = 2004|publisher = Oxford University Press}}] In 1823, ''[[Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein]]'', the first adaptation of [[Mary Shelley]]'s ''[[Frankenstein]]'', was staged at the [[Lyceum Theatre, London|English Opera House]] (renamed the Lyceum Theatre in 1834) by [[Richard Brinsley Peake]], who also introduced the line "It lives!".[{{cite book |last1=Plath |first1=James |last2=Sinclair |first2=Gail |last3=Curnutt |first3=Kirk |title=The 100 Greatest Literary Characters |date=2019 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=94}}] Shelley attended a performance on 29 August 1823 and following the success of the play she wrote, "lo & behold! I found myself famous!".[{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Andrew |title=The Cambridge Companion to Frankenstein |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=20}}] |
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Outside the West End, [[Sadler's Wells Theatre]] opened in [[London Borough of Islington|Islington]] on 3 June 1683. Taking its name from founder [[Richard Sadler]] and monastic springs that were discovered on the property,[{{cite web |url=http://www.storyoflondon.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=442 |title=London's Lost Tea-Gardens: I|publisher=Story of London |access-date=17 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827083501/http://www.storyoflondon.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=442 |archive-date=27 August 2009 }}][{{cite web |url=http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Entertainment/Sadlers_Wells_Theatre/f2dc/ |title=Sadler's Wells Theatre |publisher=LondonTown.com |access-date=17 January 2010}}] it operated as a "Musick House", with performances of opera; as it was not licensed for plays. In the West End, the [[Theatre Royal Haymarket]] opened on 29 December 1720 on a site slightly north of its current location, and the [[Royal Opera House]] opened in [[Covent Garden]] on 7 December 1732.[{{cite news |title=Royal Opera House |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Opera-House-London |access-date=1 June 2020 |work=Encyclopaedia Britannica}}] [[John Gay]]'s ballad opera ''[[The Beggar's Opera]]'' ran for 62 performances in 1728, and held the record for London's longest run for nearly a century. It has been called "the most popular play of the eighteenth century."[{{Cite journal|jstor = 3206338|title = A Fresh Look at Hogarth's 'Beggar's Opera'|last = Carlson|first = Marvin|date = 1975|journal = Educational Theatre Journal|volume = 27|issue = 1|pages = 31–39|doi = 10.2307/3206338}}] Another musical show, ''[[Tom and Jerry, or Life in London]]'' (1821), was the first London production to reach [[Long runs on the London stage, 1700–2020#18th and 19th centuries|100 consecutive performances]].[{{cite book | editor-last= Parker | editor-first= John | year=1925 | title= Who's Who in the Theatre | location=London |edition=fifth| publisher=Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons | page= 1196| oclc=10013159 }}] ''Tom and Jerry'''s combination of a tour of London interspersed with song and dance, gave rise to numerous similar, loosely constructed entertainments, and "planted the seeds for later musical comedy and revue".[{{Cite book|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195169867.001.0001/acref-9780195169867-e-3098|isbn = 978-0-19-516986-7|title = The Oxford Companion to American Theatre|chapter = Tom and Jerry; or, Life in London|year = 2004|publisher = Oxford University Press}}] In 1823, ''[[Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein]]'', the first adaptation of [[Mary Shelley]]'s ''[[Frankenstein]]'', was staged at the [[Lyceum Theatre, London|English Opera House]] (renamed the Lyceum Theatre in 1834) by [[Richard Brinsley Peake]], who also introduced the line "It lives!".[{{cite book |last1=Plath |first1=James |last2=Sinclair |first2=Gail |last3=Curnutt |first3=Kirk |title=The 100 Greatest Literary Characters |date=2019 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=94}}] Shelley attended a performance on 29 August 1823 and following the success of the play she wrote, "lo & behold! I found myself famous!".[{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Andrew |title=The Cambridge Companion to Frankenstein |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=20}}] |
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The [[patent theatre]] companies retained their duopoly on drama well into the 19th century, and all other theatres could perform only musical entertainments. By the early 19th century, however, [[music hall]] entertainments became popular, and presenters found a loophole in the restrictions on non-patent theatres in the genre of [[melodrama]]. Melodrama did not break the Patent Acts,{{what|date=April 2026}} as it was accompanied by music. Initially, these entertainments were presented in large halls, attached to [[public house]]s, but purpose-built theatres began to appear in the [[East End]], such as the [[Pavilion Theatre, Whitechapel|Pavilion Theatre]] in [[Whitechapel]].[{{cite book|first1=Jim|last1=Davis|first2=Victor|last2=Emeljanow|title=Reflecting the Audience: London Theatregoing, 1840–1880|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o_LKMEgAARgC&pg=PA69|accessdate=25 November 2016 |date=2005 |publisher=University of Iowa Press | isbn=978-1-58729-402-0|pages=55–70}}] The comic theatrical genre the [[harlequinade]] was also popular among London audiences. Its most famous performer, [[Joseph Grimaldi]], best known for developing the modern day white-face [[clown]], made his stage debut at Drury Lane in 1780.[{{cite news |title=The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi: Laughter, Madness and the Story of Britain's Greatest Comedian |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-pantomime-life-of-joseph-grimaldi-laughter-madness-and-the-story-of-britains-greatest-comedian-by-andrew-mcconnell-stott-0khk8903zrd |access-date=6 April 2022 |work=[[The Times]]}}] |
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The [[patent theatre]] companies retained their duopoly on drama well into the 19th century, and all other theatres could perform only musical entertainments. By the early 19th century, however, [[music hall]] entertainments became popular, and presenters found a loophole in the restrictions on non-patent theatres in the genre of [[melodrama]]. According to the British Library, "Unlicensed premises relied on silent or musically-accompanied action, physical theatre, animals and acrobatics, and thus both melodrama and the Victorian [[pantomime]] were developed."[{{cite book|first1=Jim|last1=Davis|first2=Victor|last2=Emeljanow|title=Reflecting the Audience: London Theatregoing, 1840–1880|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o_LKMEgAARgC&pg=PA69|accessdate=25 November 2016 |date=2005 |publisher=University of Iowa Press | isbn=978-1-58729-402-0|pages=55–70}}] The comic theatrical genre the [[harlequinade]] was also popular among London audiences. Its most famous performer, [[Joseph Grimaldi]], best known for developing the modern day white-face [[clown]], made his stage debut at Drury Lane in 1780.[{{cite news |title=The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi: Laughter, Madness and the Story of Britain's Greatest Comedian |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-pantomime-life-of-joseph-grimaldi-laughter-madness-and-the-story-of-britains-greatest-comedian-by-andrew-mcconnell-stott-0khk8903zrd |access-date=6 April 2022 |work=[[The Times]]}}] |
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[[File:Savoy pre-1920.JPG|left|thumb|Original interior of [[Savoy Theatre]] in 1881, the year it was fitted with the incandescent light bulb developed by Sir [[Joseph Swan]] to become the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity.["The Savoy Theatre", ''[[The Times]]'', 3 October 1881. "An interesting experiment was made at a performance of ''Patience'' yesterday afternoon, when the stage was for the first time lit up by the electric light, which has been used in the auditorium ever since the opening of the Savoy Theatre. The success of the new mode of illumination was complete, and its importance for the development of scenic art can scarcely be overrated. The light was perfectly steady throughout the performance, and the effect was pictorially superior to gas, the colours of the dresses – an important element in the 'æsthetic' opera – appearing as true and distinct as by daylight. The Swan incandescent lamps were used, the aid of gaslight being entirely dispensed with".][{{cite news |title=The Savoy is one of the best places to stay in London |url=https://10best.usatoday.com/destinations/uk-england/london/london/hotels/the-savoy-1/ |access-date=22 June 2024 |work=USA Today |quote=The first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity, The Savoy has a history rich in both invention and scandal.}}]]] |
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[[File:Savoy pre-1920.JPG|left|thumb|Original interior of [[Savoy Theatre]] in 1881, the year it was fitted with the incandescent light bulb developed by Sir [[Joseph Swan]] to become the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity.["The Savoy Theatre", ''[[The Times]]'', 3 October 1881. "An interesting experiment was made at a performance of ''Patience'' yesterday afternoon, when the stage was for the first time lit up by the electric light, which has been used in the auditorium ever since the opening of the Savoy Theatre. The success of the new mode of illumination was complete, and its importance for the development of scenic art can scarcely be overrated. The light was perfectly steady throughout the performance, and the effect was pictorially superior to gas, the colours of the dresses – an important element in the 'æsthetic' opera – appearing as true and distinct as by daylight. The Swan incandescent lamps were used, the aid of gaslight being entirely dispensed with".][{{cite news |title=The Savoy is one of the best places to stay in London |url=https://10best.usatoday.com/destinations/uk-england/london/london/hotels/the-savoy-1/ |access-date=22 June 2024 |work=USA Today |quote=The first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity, The Savoy has a history rich in both invention and scandal.}}]]] |
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