Theatre Royal Drury Lane refurb

No, no and no.

Someone please start a petition or something to keep it as Theatre Royal !

(Hubs is involved in the theatre world and says there's a trend to stop calling theatres 'Theatre Royal', to make them appeal more to the masses!
Of course, the NT was the Royal National Theatre for a while until it dropped the Royal for those reasons....but it didn't say no to having the Duchess of Sussex as it's Royal Patron....)

And it gets ever more intriguing - this is from the LWtheatres website:

"We’ve lowered the curtain, closed our doors and let the builders in. Our exciting restoration project is officially in full swing.
With this ambitious project, we’re aiming to go beyond theatre with our new destination venue, The Lane. Whilst our star attraction Theatre Royal Drury Lane will showcase world class theatre, our brand-new facilities will go beyond the regular theatrical fare offering a complete entertainment experience. The Lane will be a true destination venue where you can enjoy our iconic interiors and soak up our lavish history, even if you’re not theatre-bound. Re-opening October 2020"

So theatre itself will be called Theatre Royal Drury Lane - but the surrounding building will be The Lane? Perhaps. Who knows what is going on in people's minds?

From The Stage:

"Andrew Lloyd Webber’s LW Theatres has confirmed that the Theatre Royal Drury Lane will retain its name when it reopens next year after a £60 million redevelopment.

It follows reports that the West End theatre would be renamed the Lane when it opens its doors again in 2020 with the London transfer of Frozen.

LW Theatres, which owns the venue, has clarified that the 2,000-seat theatre will continue to be called the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

However, the theatre will sit within the Lane, which will be the name given to the wider redeveloped site and which includes a new all-day restaurant and bar offering."

Just wait until you see the logo. Because of course there's a logo.

I'm sure the place itself is going to be just fine in the end, but the whole thing just reeks of a consultancy being paid more than I'll earn in a lifetime to spend an afternoon coming up with a name and a concept. It smells very corporate.

When it opens we can have a forum road trip to see it, and we can sit there and be all sniffy about it while privately admitting that it's actually rather nice and we'd like to come back.

This is interesting. From what I've read, it seems like they might have lost their way with this one. The Theatre Royal Drury Lane is a gorgeous theatre, it was getting old, yes. But I feel like this renovation is a step too far. I don't think an "in the round" staging could ever work in this space?! Whoever came up with that idea needs a good slap. Its become less about the theatre and more about how much revenue they can squeeze out by trying to cram in bars and restaurants?! I don't like the new name either. Its nice as a nickname for the theatre but to name the theatre; "The Lane" is dull to me.

Whole thing seems a little odd to me. It's not like Covent Garden is short of bars and restaurants.

At least he didn't call it The Other Other Palace.

Let's not forget that not long ago Frozen was playing at the Theatre Royal Haymarket!

I cant really tell from the picture but are they going to add more of a slope to the stalls seats. it always seemed very flat to me

And some of the boxes gone. I remember them talking about this on a tour I did there a while ago. They said to bring the dress and upper around in a curve like it was originally.

Sausage Roll    6

I assume the 6 refers to GBP snd not inches! 😟 Or do you get a packet of six? 😋

I’ve been to the Lily Vanilli bakery and seen the sausage roll in question. Summat and nowt! And they’re knocking them out for a fiver each.

Greggs is fine for me 😑

Met up with a friend this evening for dinner in Covent Garden and on our way back to Holborn we walked past The Theatre Royal Drury Lane (it was about 8.30pm) and the side door was open, so we took a peek inside. The place was actually open to look around or have a drink. The place is absolutely stunning. Looks so different. There is a lovely bar where the box office used to be which is going to be open all day and in the evenings. Where the merch stand was is now a posh sweet shop and when you go up the steps from the foyer there is another bar/cafe which is also going to be open during the day. The auditorium wasnt open to look at but got chatting to a lovely FOH person who told us that its beautiful inside, new seats that are very comfortable and they have taken 250 seats away so there is a lot more legroom now. The dress circle curves around now so that you are nearer to the stage. She said there is also a lift which goes up to all levels.
She also told me that the back stage tours are due to start again in September and will be different from the old one but still using actors to take you around.
ALW has also brought a lot of his art collection to have on display there.
Interestingly enough there is not going to be a traditional box office anymore. There will be staff floating around during the day with tablets and they will book tickets via them and there are going to be self service ticket booths as well.
I think a visit is due soon to try the afternoon tea.
We then got on to talking about musical theatre and especially 42nd Street and the famous last performance that she was also at.