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Over the course of its 360-year existence, Theatre Royal Drury Lane has been demolished, burned down twice, struck by a bomb during the Blitz, and forcibly shuttered by the COVID-19 pandemic—rising from the ashes each time to produce yet more world-renowned productions. Where better, then, to host an evening paying tribute to the indefatigable creativity of the London arts scene? Ahead of Vogue World: London, brush up on the theatre’s legends and lore, below.
The Lane has a well-earned reputation for spectacle. Over the years, the Grade I-listed theater has produced the effect of an earthquake by dramatically raising and lowering the stage with Victorian machinery; set 12 thoroughbreds cantering on a travelator to recall the 2000 Guineas Stakes; recreated a sandstorm using several tons of biscuit flour (much of which ended up in the front row on opening night); given the illusion of 400 actors sinking beneath the waves following a shipwreck; and orchestrated an Alpine avalanche so realistic that it almost fatally crushed a cast member on stage. Even more lavish? The musicals the theater has been known for since the 1920s, hosting the West End premieres of Oklahoma!, Miss Saigon, and A Chorus Line in the latter half of the 20th century. It’s My Fair Lady, though, that’s had the greatest influence on the fashion world; opening in 1958 with Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison in the starring roles, it would go on to run for a record-breaking 2,281 performances. Vogue’s own Cecil Beaton provided the costumes for the Edwardian period piece, rumored to be the most expensive production ever staged in the West End at the time.
Drury Lane has been dubbed the most haunted theater in Britain, if not the world. It’s most notorious ghost, the Man in Grey, is said to frequent the Grand Circle in a tricorn hat and riding cloak, while two former Drury Lane stars have been reported to make appearances in actors’ dressing rooms: the Regency-era comic Joseph Grimaldi, who invented the clown as we know it, and Pantomime star Dan Leno, who first played the character of Mother Goose. More sinister is the story of renowned Irish playwright Charles Macklin, who fatally stabbed another actor in the Green Room in a row over a wig. Despite being convicted for manslaughter, “Wicked Charlie” never received a sentence, remaining a fixture on the London stage until the age of 93, when he abruptly announced his retirement in the middle of a performance at Drury Lane.
Despite being billed as “fireproof” thanks to the first iron safety curtain in the West End, the third Drury Lane stood for a mere 15 years before burning to the ground in 1809, just as the original theatre had 137 years earlier. The blaze was so intense that Parliament was interrupted, but then-owner Richard Sheridan kept a famously cool head, taking a seat at a nearby tavern and drowning his sorrows with glasses of port while watching flames consume his life’s work. “Damn it, can’t a man enjoy a bottle of wine by his own fireside without being bothered?” he quipped as someone attempted to drag him away.
Every reigning British monarch since the Restoration has visited The Lane, and it’s here that “God Save the King” was first performed in 1745, after royal troops defeated the Jacobite uprising led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Composed in a fit of patriotic fervor by musician Thomas Arne, the song was met with rapturous applause—ultimately proving so popular that it was officially named the national anthem. Fifty-five years later, as the strains of “God Save the King” filled Drury Lane to announce the arrival of George III, an ex-soldier tried and failed to shoot the monarch, who insisted the show must go on as soon as his would-be murderer had been removed from the premises.
Assassination attempts aside, George III was a noted fan of Drury Lane—as were his descendants. The king wept so much at the 18th-century tragedy The Mysterious Husband that he had the play banned, while George V was so impressed by Frank Benson’s turn as Julius Caesar in 1916 that he requested a sword from the props room and knighted him on the spot. As for Queen Elizabeth II? Back in 1947, the then princess attended the opening night of Oklahoma! at Drury Lane with King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, and her soon-to-be fiancé, Lieutenant Mountbatten. The tune “People Will Say We’re in Love,” about a couple trying to hide their feelings for each other from the world, became a favorite of the young Elizabeth, who played it on her gramophone and requested it from bands throughout her courtship with Philip. She would name it as one of her best-loved songs for the rest of her life.
Theatre Royal Drury Lane by numbers…
Enough paint to cover 10 acres worth of walls, several kilos of goldleaf, and 265 tons of steelwork were used in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s restoration of Drury Lane. The rigging system above the stage can support the weight of 18 double-decker buses, while beneath it is a 40-foot-deep cavern from which elaborate sets can pop up. Meanwhile, *466 miles of cabling—*roughly the length of England—now runs throughout the building.