Welcome to the Her Majesty’s Theatre Renewal Project. The Grand Old Dame of Grote Street is set to undergo a major makeover. This ambitious project cannot happen without your support and we invite you to look around and explore the world of Her Majesty’s and become a part of this historic restoration process.
My first appearance in a play on the stage of a real theatre – as opposed to a campus or ecclesiastical auditorium, was on the stage of the old Theatre Royal in Adelaide. The 94 year old theatre was demolished in the 1960s when it was thought that television would soon take the place of what was comically called “flesh and blood” theatre. If only someone had thought of telling the City Fathers that theatre was a branch of sport, money would have poured into the salvation of this wonderful old theatre.
My memories of all the shows I have done over the past 60 years are associated with the bricks and mortar, stucco and gilding and the red plush upholstery of the theatres where I have worked throughout the English speaking world. But there is none I hold more dearly than South Australia’s surviving Her Majesty’s Theatre. Now, Adelaide may be rightly proud that plans are already underway for its restoration, not merely to its former glory but its glory yet to come. South Australia will have a golden feather in its cap once the new Her Majesty’s opens its doors.
I am proud to support this enterprise and I am sure you will join me.
Her Majesty’s Theatre opened as the Tivoli in 1913. The theatre seated 2170 patrons and was regarded as the finest theatre in Australia. For many years Her Majesty’s was part of the famous Tivoli circuit. It is now the last surviving Tivoli theatre in the country and is an important part of Australia’s theatrical history.
During World War I many overseas artists were featured and fundraising concerts were held for the Australian troops. In 1918 A C Blackburn was awarded his Victoria Cross on the stage and two years later the theatre hosted a reception for Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith after their record-breaking 28-day flight from Britain to Australia.
There were many dark nights during the Depression and the impact of this severe economic downturn was magnified by the introduction of talking pictures and a state entertainment tax on tickets.
Over 104 years the Maj has showcased many famous and infamous celebrities including W C Fields, Stiffy and Mo, Sir Robert Helpmann, Googie Withers, Rudolf Nureyev, Dame Maggie Smith, Luciano Pavarotti, Lauren Bacall, Dame Joan Sutherland, Barry Humphries, Angela Lansbury, Whoopi Goldberg and Nancye Hayes. Our Her Majesty’s Theatre ambassadors have also performed on its stage – Robyn Archer AO, Greta Bradman, Rhonda Burchmore OAM, David Campbell, Kate Ceberano AM, Peter Goers OAM, Ali McGregor, Todd McKenney, Meow Meow and Geoffrey Rush AC.
Her Majesty’s Theatre will be reinvigorated and redesigned as a bigger capacity contemporary theatre space. A stylish fusion of modern architecture whilst still maintaining the integrity of the original heritage design, the theatre will be re-opened in 2020.
With the renovation of Her Majesty’s increased seating capacity will make it a much more attractive and lucrative venue for music, dance, comedy, theatre and musical productions. This will result in an increase in the number of both matinee and evening performances.
Since 2014 South Australians have missed the opportunity of seeing eleven major musicals such as The Lion King, Strictly Ballroom and Les Misérables because Her Majesty’s with only 970 seats does not provide a commercial return when the 2000 seat Festival Theatre is unavailable.
State Government financial support, together with strong community backing, will ensure the much needed renewal of this historic theatre and an increase in capacity to 1500 seats.
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, actor, satirist, artist, and author. He is best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He is also a film producer and script writer, a star of London's West End musical theatre, an award-winning writer, and an accomplished landscape painter.
For his delivery of dadaist and absurdist humour to millions, biographer Dr Anne Pender excitedly described Humphries in 2010 as not only "the most significant theatrical figure of our time … [but] the most significant comedian to emerge since Charlie Chaplin", with which Mr Humphries modestly agrees.
Robyn Archer is often referred to as a national treasure. She is known to many for her one woman shows in the 1970s and 80s, by others for her original songs and recordings, and now by thousands more for her memorable arts festivals in Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Tasmania. Among her proudest recent moments was when Indigenous colleagues in the arts referred to her publicly as ‘aunty’ – a genuine measure of respect and acknowledgement of experience and wisdom.
These days Robyn combines artistic direction with concert performance, strategic advice, mentoring younger artists and artistic directors, speaking and writing about the arts across Australia and the world.
Greta Bradman is an internationally acclaimed Australian soprano at home on the opera, recital, and concert stage. She is an exclusive Decca Classics recording artist. Greta has performed with orchestras, ensembles, opera companies and choirs in concert halls around Australia, New Zealand, UK, Europe, USA, and India. International tours have included with the Australian World Orchestra and Zubin Mehta. She has performed operas conducted by her mentor Richard Bonynge, and received critical acclaim for her debut as Mimì in La bohème for Opera Australia in the Sydney Opera House (2017). Greta is a broadcaster on ABC Classic FM, and as a psychologist developed the Arts Wellbeing Collective in conjunction with Arts Centre Melbourne. As a presenter her areas of interest involve wellbeing, mental health, and performance.
After 30 years in the business, Rhonda Burchmore has endeared herself to the hearts of all Australians. This vivacious, flame-haired beauty continues to turn heads wherever she goes and draw thunderous applause wherever she performs. Highlights of Rhonda Burchmore's illustrious career are performing on London's West End in a number of musicals including Sugar Babies featuring Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller, Stop The World I Want To Get Off with Anthony Newley and starring opposite David Atkins in the original Hot Shoe Shuffle.
Other productions include lead roles in Annie Get Your Gun, Easter Parade, They're Playing Our Song, Mame, The Boy Friend, Song & Dance, Guys & Dolls, Calendar Girls, Into The Woods, La Cage Aux Folles, Jerry’s Girls, The Drowsy Chaperone co-starring Geoffrey Rush and as Tanya in the original Australian production of Mamma Mia! Rhonda is currently touring in her new show Abba-Solutely Fabulous which also stars her good friend Lara Mulcahy.
Rhonda has recorded five albums and in 2011 released her auto-biography, Legs 11.
In 2014 Rhonda was awarded the OAM for her service to the performing arts and community and also won the Cabaret Icon Award at the International Adelaide Cabaret Festival.
Adelaide born and raised David Campbell is one of Australia’s most popular entertainers. A multi-platinum selling recording artist, Campbell has featured on TV, starred in theatre and cabaret, recorded three Top Ten albums, and sold out concert tours from coast to coast. He has a unique legacy as not just one of Australia’s leading musical theatre stars, but also one of the few local performers to have achieved similar success in New York.
In recent years Campbell’s position in the Australian entertainment industry expanded with his appointment as Artistic Director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival (the largest cabaret festival in the world), and the success of Luckiest Productions, the production company he runs with his wife Lisa.
She’s been Australia’s high priestess of pop, an award winning jazz singer, wears the hat of a fine artistic director (Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2012, 2013, 2014) and above all that, Kate Ceberano is a songwriter with the talent to take a tune to the top of the charts. In 2014 Kate became the first Australian woman to be inducted into the Australian Songwriters Association (ASA) Hall of Fame. Whether it is that soulful voice, her charismatic nature or exotic looks, Kate’s earned her ‘Australian icon’ status. Like many high-profile musicians, Kate Ceberano uses her celebrity to support and bring awareness to many causes close to her heart; in June of 2016, Kate was awarded an Order of Australia for Charitable Work and Services to the Music Industry. Kate spoke of this honour: "I am so very proud and honoured to be receiving this award from this great country Australia that I love.”
Peter Goers, OAM is a South Australian actor, director, reviewer and current host of the radio program The Evening Show on ABC Radio Adelaide, which broadcasts throughout South Australia and to the Silver City of Broken Hill. His career has spanned over 40 years in the entertainment industry across a range of different mediums and formats including television, print, radio and theatre, and he is frequently engaged as a guest speaker. In the Australia Day Honours, 2013, Goers was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM). Often polarising and controversial, Peter has provided South Australian focused media commentary for many decades.
Ali McGregor is a singer based between Melbourne and London. She started her career as a principal soprano with Opera Australia then ran away with the circus in the form of hit show La Clique (La Soiree). She is now an award winning cabaret performer who has performed everywhere from The Sydney Opera House to London's West End and is one of the most in demand performers on the international festival circuit. She was nominated for an ARIA award in 2014 and in 2015 was awarded a Green Room Award for her contribution to cabaret.
After wrapping a critically acclaimed season as Co - Artistic Director for Adelaide Cabaret Festival this year, Ali was announced as returning in 2018 as sole Artistic Director.
Inspiring, provocative, compelling and generous are just a few words that describe the critically acclaimed and award winning performer, actor and host – Todd McKenney. A household name in Australia, Todd’s versatile career has spanned three decades and shows no sign of slowing down. Already known as Australia’s leading man of song and dance musicals, since 1994 he’s also been the ‘colourful’ and often controversial judge on the Channel 7 hit series ‘Dancing With the Stars’. He was cast in his first professional musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song and Dance, in 1983. From here Todd’s career has followed a very neat trajectory with lead roles in Cats, 42nd Street, West Side Story, Crazy For You, Born Yesterday, Camelot, Pirates of Penzance, Cabaret, Strictly Ballroom, La Cage aux Folles, Singin’ In the Rain, Anything Goes, The Boy From Oz, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Orpheus In the Underworld for Opera Australia and more recently Annie the Musical, a return performance of La Cage Aux Folles in the lead role of Albin, Teen Angel in Grease and starred in Anything Goes. It was landing the prized role of Peter Allen in the Australian hit production The Boy From Oz that confirmed his star status on stage. The Boy From Oz performed over 1000 shows nationally and is one of the longest running and most successful musical productions in Australian history.
Post-post-modern diva Meow Meow has hypnotised, inspired, and terrified audiences globally with unique creations and sell-out seasons from New York’s Lincoln Center and Berlin’s Bar Jeder Vernunft to London’s West End and the Sydney Opera House. Named One of the Top Performers of the Year by The New Yorker, the spectacular crowd-surfing tragi-comedienne has been called “Sensational” (TheTimes), “diva of the highest order” (New York Post), “The Queen of Chanson” by the Berliner Zeitung, and “a phenomenon” by the Australian press. Her award-winning solo works have been curated by David Bowie, Pina Bausch, and Mikhail Baryshnikov and numerous international arts festivals.
Geoffrey Rush AC is an Australian actor and film producer. Rush is the youngest amongst the few people who have won the "Triple Crown of Acting": the Academy Award, the Primetime Emmy Award, and the Tony Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting (from four nominations), three British Academy Film Awards (from five nominations), two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. Rush is the founding President of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts and was named the 2012 Australian of the Year. He is also the first actor to win the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Movie Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award for a single performance in film for his performance in Shine (1996).
Our goal is to raise $5 million in the next two years. This is an ambitious target, but we are confident that with the support of the South Australian public we can achieve this goal and restore an important part of South Australia’s history.
We gratefully acknowledge the support we have from the Government of South Australia, our Corporate Partners and our current Foundation Donors. We encourage you to become a Foundation Donor and be a part of this important project.
There are many ways that you can contribute to the renewal campaign and no gesture is too small. Simply follow the link below to the payment page and donate what you can. All donations of $2 or more are tax deductible and donations over $1000 will be featured on our digital Honour Board.
