The birth of musicals on our stage

Now renowned for presenting big, spectacular musicals, it was not until nearly 40 years after we had opened that the first full-scale musical was staged here at Birmingham Hippodrome.

On 24 April, 1911, J. Bannister’s Company had presented ‘an impression in Five Scenes’ of the then London
hit musical The Belle of New York, performed by six artistes as part of the music hall bill for that week.

It was not until the week of 23 January, 1939 that the first real musical arrived- this was Me and My Girl. It was a touring version of the huge hit that had been packing them in at London’s Victoria Palace since 1937, with the Royal Family among the audience who enjoyed its new dance craze of The Lambeth Walk. The show was so successful at the Hippodrome that it returned for another week in October, 1939.

The Blitz and the essential focus on the war effort meant there were no more musicals here until 22 January, 1945. The war was nearing its end and the Hippodrome had a huge coup for two weeks in staging the most successful wartime musical of all-The Dancing Years, starring its composer, Ivor Novello himself, with a full London cast.  The show returned- in 1954, this time on ice!

Me and My Girl was back again for the week of 3 November, 1947.

For nine weeks from 19 December, 1949, the Hippodrome staged its first big American musical Annie Get Your Gun, and set a trend for longer running shows. It was with this show that the Forward Operatic Company made its Hippodrome debut in May, 1957.

The American theme continued with Brigadoon in 1951 and Carousel in 1952- the latter was the first of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals to be staged here.Oklahoma! and South Pacific had already been staged at the Theatre Royal.

By now, the Hippodrome was claiming its place as a theatre that presented musicals, and gradually becoming less the home of Variety. With ongoing improvements to our facilities and with the stage being doubled in size, we looked forward to even bigger and more spectacular musicals to come- like Mary Poppins, the family favourite that shows the Hippodrome at its best.

Written by Hippodrome Heritage volunteer, Ivan Heard