New London Theatre

Previous theatres on this site include the 1851 Middlesex Music Hall which was rebuilt in 1911 by Frank Matcham and was then renamed the Winter Garden in 1919. The theatre went dark in 1960 and was demolished in 1965. The present theatre was designed with a third of the stalls on a revolve while the walls were designed to be movable, giving the New London theatre's auditorium the facility to be adaptable.

The first production at this theatre in November 1972 was actually a concert given by Marlene Dietrich which was recorded and subsquently shown on British television. The theatre then opened officially in January 1973 with the play "The Unknown Soldier And His Wife" which starred Peter Ustinov. Later that same year the musical "Grease" played here, notable for the fact that the then unknown actor Richard Gere played the part of Danny Zuko. From 1977 to 1980 is was used as a television studio before reverting back to theatre use. Various other productions come and went until 11 May 1981 when the musical "Cats" opened, it's record-breaking run finishing on its 21 birthday, 11 May 2002, after 8,949 performances.