116-733: The New Wimbledon Theatre is situated on the Broadway, Wimbledon, London , in the London Borough of Merton . It is a Grade II listed Edwardian theatre built by the theatre lover and entrepreneur, J. B. Mulholland, who at the time was also owner of the King's Theatre in Hammersmith and had owned the Theatre Metropole in Camberwell in the 1890's. Built on the site of a large house with spacious grounds,
232-674: A film version of Cats , which was filmed at the Adelphi Theatre in London. David Mallet directed the film, and Gillian Lynne choreographed it. The cast consisted of performers who had been in the show before, including Ken Page (the original Old Deuteronomy on Broadway), Elaine Paige (original Grizabella in London) and John Mills as Gus: the Theatre Cat. In 1998, Whistle Down the Wind made its debut,
348-582: A knighthood in 1992, followed by a peerage for services to the arts, six Tonys , seven Olivier Awards , three Grammys (as well as the Grammy Legend Award ), an Academy Award , 14 Ivor Novello Awards , a Golden Globe , a Brit Award , the 2006 Kennedy Center Honors , and two Classic Brit Awards (for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2008, and for Musical Theatre and Education in 2018). In 2018, after Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert won
464-627: A song cycle , a set of variations , two film scores , and a Latin Requiem Mass . Several of Lloyd Webber's songs have been widely recorded and widely successful outside their parent musicals, such as " Memory " from Cats , " The Music of the Night " and " All I Ask of You " from The Phantom of the Opera , " I Don't Know How to Love Him " from Jesus Christ Superstar , " Don't Cry for Me Argentina " from Evita , and " Any Dream Will Do " from Joseph and
580-575: A 'Privilege Card' which provides discounts and benefits within the town centre. The UK's leading car-sharing company Zipcar has its UK headquarters in Wimbledon. Other notable organisations with head offices in Wimbledon include CIPD , Ipsotek, United Response , the Communication Workers Union (United Kingdom) and, until 2022, Lidl . The Wimbledon Times (formerly Wimbledon Guardian ) provides local news in print and online. In
696-465: A King's plate." However, he gives no further details and does not say how successful horse racing was or how long it lasted. Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber , KG (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway . He has composed 21 musicals,
812-594: A Problem Like Maria? . Its aim was to find a new Joseph for his revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat . Lee Mead won the contest. Viewers' telephone voting during the series raised more than £ 500,000 for the BBC's annual Children in Need charity appeal, according to host Graham Norton on air during the final. In 2007, Lloyd Webber's cat, Otto, leaped onto his Clavinova piano and "destroyed
928-606: A backer. Although composed in 1965, The Likes of Us was not publicly performed until 2005, when a production was staged at Lloyd Webber's Sydmonton Festival . In 2008, amateur rights were released by the National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA) in association with the Really Useful Group. The first amateur performance was by a children's theatre group in Cornwall called "Kidz R Us". Stylistically, The Likes of Us
1044-563: A concert of music from the Lloyd Webber musicals on 24 August 2007. Denise Van Outen introduced songs from Whistle Down the Wind , The Beautiful Game , Tell Me on a Sunday , The Woman in White , Evita and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – as well as Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music , which Lloyd Webber revived in 2006 at the London Palladium , and
1160-586: A deal was agreed for the theatre to be managed by the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG). Following a name change to the New Wimbledon Theatre, the venue reopened in February 2004 with Matthew Bourne 's production of The Nutcracker followed by a season of touring musicals, dance, and ballet, culminating in the London revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber 's Cats . In November 2005, the theatre saw
1276-510: A favourable review in The Times . For its subsequent performances, Rice and Lloyd Webber revised the show and added new songs to expand it to a more substantial length. Continued expansion eventually culminated in a 1972 stage musical and then a two-hour-long production being staged in the West End in 1973 on the back of the success of Jesus Christ Superstar . In 1969, Rice and Lloyd Webber wrote
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#17328587128481392-420: A feat that his heroes Rodgers and Hammerstein had previously achieved. Lloyd Webber's memoir, Unmasked , was published in 2018. On 9 September 2018, Lloyd Webber, along with Tim Rice and John Legend each won an Emmy for Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert . With this win, Lloyd Webber, Rice and Legend joined the list of people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards . Lloyd Webber wrote
1508-521: A figure which has remained reasonably stable since. Wimbledon is covered by several wards in the London Borough of Merton, making it difficult to produce statistics for the town as a whole. The largest ethnic groups (up to 10%) in the wards according to the 2011 census are: At the time the Domesday Book was compiled (around 1086), Wimbledon was part of the manor of Mortlake. From 1328 to 1536,
1624-598: A grueling period in the wilderness, one characterized by failures, disappointments and missteps. ... It seemed, for a time, as though the Lloyd Webber formula, which relied on swooning, rapturous melodies and razzle-dazzle, had grown stale. In 2022, Lloyd Webber appeared alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda in the BBC Platinum Jubilee Concert for Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II . They initially appeared singing alternative words to "The King's Song" from Jesus Christ Superstar and " Any Dream Will Do " from Joseph and
1740-643: A large variety of major touring productions, plus the UK launch of Josef Weinberger's UK collection of Disney musicals available to amateur companies throughout the British Isles. In 2010, the national tour of Spamalot , the musical based on the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail , opened at the New Wimbledon. The venue is frequently hired out for television production, with many television series having been shot at
1856-610: A manor of Wimbledon was recorded as belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury . The manor of Wimbledon changed hands many times during its history. Wimbledon was an Ancient Parish from the medieval period, later being re-organised as the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon within the county of Surrey . In 1965, the London Government Act 1963 abolished the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon, Merton and Morden Urban District and
1972-495: A mentor when the 6 finalists had to select one of his songs to perform for the judges that week. Lloyd Webber accepted the challenge of managing the UK's entry for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest , to be held in Moscow. In early 2009 a series, called Eurovision: Your Country Needs You , was broadcast to find a performer for a song that he would compose for the competition. Jade Ewen won
2088-435: A musical based on the life of Eva Perón . As with Jesus Christ Superstar , Evita was released first as a concept album (1976) featuring Julie Covington singing the part of Eva Perón. The song " Don't Cry for Me Argentina " became a hit single and the musical was staged at the West End's Prince Edward Theatre in a production directed by Harold Prince and starring Elaine Paige in the title role. This original production
2204-590: A musical written with lyrics supplied by Jim Steinman . Originally opening in Washington, Lloyd Webber was reportedly not happy with the casting or Harold Prince's production and the show was subsequently revised for a London staging directed by Gale Edwards. The production included the Boyzone number-one hit " No Matter What ", which remained at the top of the UK charts for three weeks. His The Beautiful Game opened in London and has never been seen on Broadway. The show had
2320-443: A new dramatic tension to Mendelssohn's original melody through the confused emotions of Mary Magdalene. The opening theme may be Mendelssohn, but the rhythmic and harmonic treatment along with new lines of highly effective melodic development are Lloyd Webber's. The song works in its own right as its many performers and audiences can witness. An accusation of plagiarism regarded the 1971 Pink Floyd album Meddle . The sixth track of
2436-890: A number of new songs for the production to supplement the songs from the film. On 1 March 2011, The Wizard of Oz opened at The Palladium Theatre, starring Hope as Dorothy Gale and Michael Crawford as the Wizard of Oz . In 2012, Lloyd Webber fronted a new ITV primetime show Superstar which gave the UK public the chance to decide who would play the starring role of Jesus in an arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar . The arena tour started in September 2012 and also starred comedian Tim Minchin as Judas Iscariot , former Spice Girl Melanie C as Mary Magdalene and BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles as Herod Antipas . Tickets for most venues went on sale on 18 May 2012. In 2013, Lloyd Webber reunited with Christopher Hampton and Don Black on Stephen Ward
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#17328587128482552-479: A part of the composer's upbringing and the composition was inspired by an article he had read about the plight of Cambodian orphans. Lloyd Webber had on a number of occasions written sacred music for the annual Sydmonton Festival . Lloyd Webber received a Grammy Award in 1986 for Requiem in the category of best classical composition. Pie Jesu from Requiem achieved a high placing on the UK Singles Chart and
2668-523: A project with his cellist brother Julian, the Variations , based on the 24th Caprice by Paganini ; this reached number two in the pop album chart in the United Kingdom. The main theme was used as the theme tune for ITV 's long-running South Bank Show throughout its 32-year run. The same year, Lloyd Webber also composed a new theme tune for the long-running documentary series Whicker's World , which
2784-542: A respectable run at The Cambridge Theatre in London. The show was re-worked into a new musical, The Boys in the Photograph , which had its world première at The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in April 2008. Having achieved great popular success in musical theatre, Lloyd Webber was referred to by The New York Times in 2001 as "the most commercially successful composer in history". In 2002 he turned producer, bringing
2900-507: A role he had recently played in the West End. Following the opening of Love Never Dies , Lloyd Webber again began a search for a new musical theatre performer in the BBC One series Over the Rainbow . He cast the winner, Danielle Hope , in the role of Dorothy Gale , and a dog to play Toto in his forthcoming stage production of The Wizard of Oz . He and lyricist and composer Tim Rice wrote
3016-480: A search for three young actors to play and share the title character's role, but the show's main focus was on the search for Nancy. The role was won by Jodie Prenger despite Lloyd Webber's stated preference for one of the other contestants; the winners of the Oliver role were Harry Stott, Gwion Wyn-Jones and Laurence Jeffcoate. Also in April 2008, Lloyd Webber was featured on the U.S. talent show American Idol , acting as
3132-495: A song for the Eurovision Song Contest called "Try It and See", which was not selected. With rewritten lyrics, it became "King Herod's Song" in their third musical, Jesus Christ Superstar (1970). Debuting on Broadway in 1971, by 1980 the musical had grossed more than $ 237 million worldwide. Running for over eight years in London between 1972 and 1980, it held the record for longest-running West End musical before it
3248-493: A stable rural population coexisting with nobility and wealthy merchants from the city. In the 18th century the Dog and Fox public house became a stop on the stagecoach run from London to Portsmouth , then in 1838 the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) opened a station to the southeast of the village at the bottom of Wimbledon Hill. The location of the station shifted the focus of
3364-545: A successful Broadway show, opening with the largest advance in Broadway history, and winning seven Tony Awards that year. Even so, by its closing in 1997, "it had not recouped its reported $ 13 million investment." From 1995 to 2000, Lloyd Webber wrote the Matters of Taste column in The Daily Telegraph where he reviewed restaurants and hotels, and these were illustrated by Lucinda Rogers. In 1998, Lloyd Webber released
3480-572: Is 7 miles (11.3 km) south-west of Charing Cross . The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It is considered an affluent suburb with its grand Victorian houses, modern housing and low-rise apartments. The residential area splits into two sections: the village and the town, with the village near the common centred on the High Street, being part of
3596-455: Is fashioned after the Broadway musical of the 1940s and 1950s; it opens with a traditional overture comprising a medley of tunes from the show, and the score reflects some of Lloyd Webber's early influences, particularly Richard Rodgers , Frederick Loewe , and Lionel Bart . In this respect, it is markedly different from the composer's later work, which tends to be either predominantly or wholly through-composed , and closer in form to opera. In
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3712-464: Is home to the Wimbledon Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre , and contains Wimbledon Common , one of the largest areas of common land in London. The residential and retail area is split into two sections known as the "village" and the "town", with the High Street being the rebuilding of the original medieval village, and the "town" having first developed gradually after the building of
3828-683: Is now approved by the British Horse Society and the Association of British Riding Schools. It offers horse-riding lessons and hacks on Wimbledon Common and in Richmond Park. In 1792 the Rev. Daniel Lysons published The Environs of London: being a historical account of the towns, villages, and hamlets, within twelve miles of that capital in which he wrote: "In the early part of the present century there were annual races upon this common, which had then
3944-465: The Dog and Fox made the journey to London routine, although not without the risk of being held-up by highwaymen , such as Jerry Abershawe on the Portsmouth Road. The stagecoach horses would be stabled at the rear of the pub in what are now named Wimbledon Village Stables. The 1735 manor house burnt down in the 1780s and was replaced in 1801 by Wimbledon Park House, built by the second Earl . At
4060-509: The Iron Age when the hill fort on Wimbledon Common , the second-largest in London, is thought to have been constructed. The original nucleus of Wimbledon was at the top of the hill close to the common – the area now known locally as "the village". The village is referred to as "Wimbedounyng" in a charter signed by King Edgar the Peaceful in 967. The name Wimbledon means "Wynnman's hill", with
4176-640: The Municipal Borough of Mitcham , creating instead the London Borough of Merton. Initially, the new administrative centre was at Wimbledon Town Hall, but it moved to the 14-storey Crown House in Morden in the early 1990s. It is now in the Parliamentary constituency of Wimbledon , and since 2005 has been represented by the Conservative MP Stephen Hammond . Since 2005, the north and west of
4292-557: The Old Testament . The request for the new piece came with a 100- guinea advance from Novello. This resulted in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat , a retelling of the biblical story of Joseph , in which Lloyd Webber and Rice humorously pastiched a number of pop-music styles such as Elvis-style rock'n'roll, Calypso and country music . Joseph began life as a short cantata that gained some recognition on its second staging with
4408-699: The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) , he became the thirteenth person to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony . He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , is an inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame , and is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors . The Really Useful Group , Lloyd Webber's company, is one of the largest theatre operators in London. Producers in several parts of
4524-684: The Worshipful Company of Girdlers and a director of the British East India Company built Eagle House as a home at an easy distance from London. The Cecil family retained the manor for fifty years, before it was bought by Charles I in 1638 for his Queen, Henrietta Maria . Following the King's execution in 1649, the manor passed rapidly among various parliamentarian owners, including the Leeds Member of Parliament (MP) Adam Baynes and
4640-518: The civil war general John Lambert ; Lambert drafted the Instrument of Government , the founding document of the Protectorate , at Wimbledon. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, it was returned to Henrietta Maria (now as mother of the new King, Charles II ). The Dowager Queen sold the manor in 1661 to George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol , who employed John Evelyn to improve and update
4756-674: The "best record of the Sixties", and Dusty Springfield 's rendition of " Son of a Preacher Man " the song that taught him "the power of a perfect pop song". He studied history for a term at Magdalen College, Oxford , although he abandoned the course in the winter of 1965 to study at the Royal College of Music in London and pursue his interest in musical theatre. "The names of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice are, of course, forever bound together in musical theatre history, like those of Gilbert and Sullivan ." —Theatre critic Mark Shenton on
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4872-527: The 1820s employed a young Joseph Paxton as one of his gardeners, but in the 1840s the Spencer family sold the park off as building land. A period of residential development began with large detached houses in the north of the park. In 1864, the Spencers attempted to get parliamentary permission to enclose the common as a new park with a house and gardens and to sell part for building. Following an enquiry, permission
4988-520: The 1870s, at the bottom of the hill on land between the railway line and Worple Road, the All-England Croquet Club had begun to hold its annual championships. But the popularity of croquet was waning as the new sport of lawn tennis began to spread, and after initially setting aside just one of its lawns for tennis, the club decided to hold its first Lawn Tennis Championship in July 1877 . By 1922,
5104-516: The 1930s, residential expansion had peaked in Wimbledon and the new focus for local growth had moved to neighbouring Morden , which had remained rural until the arrival of the Underground at Morden station in 1926. Wimbledon station was rebuilt by the Southern Railway with a simple Portland stone facade for the opening of a new railway branch line from Wimbledon to Sutton in 1930. In 1931,
5220-507: The 2002 musical Bombay Dreams . In April 2008, Lloyd Webber reprised his role as judge, this time in the BBC musical talent show I'd Do Anything . The show followed a similar format to its Maria and Joseph predecessors, this time involving a search for an actress to play the role of Nancy in a West End production of Lionel Bart 's Oliver! , a musical based on the Charles Dickens ' novel Oliver Twist . The show also featured
5336-454: The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat . In 2001, The New York Times referred to him as "the most commercially successful composer in history". The Daily Telegraph named him in 2008 the fifth-most powerful person in British culture, on which occasion lyricist Don Black said that "Andrew more or less single-handedly reinvented the musical." Lloyd Webber has received numerous awards, including
5452-441: The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and " The Phantom of the Opera " from The Phantom of the Opera were parts of the musical theatre section. In 2023, Lloyd Webber was one of twelve composers asked to write a new piece for the coronation of Charles III and Camilla . His anthem, "Make a Joyful Noise", was performed during the enthronement of Queen Camilla . Among the accusations of plagiarism that Lloyd Webber has received,
5568-473: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation which supports the arts, culture, and heritage of the UK. Lloyd Webber was born on 22 March 1948 at Westminster Hospital in London, the elder son of William Lloyd Webber (1914–1982), a composer and organist, and Jean Hermione Johnstone (1921–1993), a violinist and pianist. His younger brother, Julian Lloyd Webber , is a world-renowned solo cellist. On
5684-498: The BBC TV program New Tricks Wimbledon, London Wimbledon ( / ˈ w ɪ m b əl d ə n / ) is a district and town of south-west London, England, 7.0 miles (11.3 km) southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross ; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton . Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes the electoral wards of Abbey, Wimbledon Town and Dundonald, Hillside, Wandle, Village, Raynes Park and Wimbledon Park. It
5800-469: The BBC's genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? , he learned that his mother's great-great-uncle was the soldier Sir Peregrine Maitland who in 1815 served as a major general at the Battle of Waterloo . Lloyd Webber started writing his own music at a young age: a suite of six pieces at the age of nine. He also put on "productions" with Julian and his aunt Viola in his toy theatre (which he built at Viola's suggestion). In his memoir, he writes: "mum
5916-439: The Desert – the Musical , Saturday Night Fever , Carousel , Footloose – The Musical , Grease , Anything Goes , Flashdance – The Musical and An Inspector Calls . It has also been home to residencies of many Matthew Bourne productions including Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Edward Scissorhands, The Car Man, Highland Fling and The Red Shoes . The New Wimbledon Theatre is featured in "Final Curtain", Series 5 Episode 2 of
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#17328587128486032-430: The Dutch composer Louis Andriessen stated that he: "has yet to think up a single note; in fact, the poor guy's never invented one note by himself. That's rather poor". Lloyd Webber's biographer, John Snelson, acknowledged a similarity between the andante movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor and the Jesus Christ Superstar song " I Don't Know How to Love Him ", but wrote that Lloyd Webber: ...brings
6148-430: The Estate's accounts of 1236–37. Stables on the current site, behind the Dog & Fox pub in the High Street, were founded in 1915 by William Kirkpatrick and named Hilcote Stables; William's daughter Jean took over on his retirement and continued to visit the stables until her death in 2005. From 1969 Hilcote Stables were leased to Colin Crawford, and when they came up for sale in 1980 renamed Wimbledon Village Stables. It
6264-426: The Marquis Theatre on 17 November 2005. Garnering mixed reviews from critics, due in part to the frequent absences of the show's star Maria Friedman due to breast cancer treatment, it closed only a brief three months later on 19 February 2006. Lloyd Webber produced a staging of The Sound of Music , which débuted in November 2006. He made the controversial decision to choose an unknown to play leading lady Maria, who
6380-518: The Musical . For his next project, a 2015 musical adaptation of the 2003 film School of Rock , auditions were held for children aged nine to fifteen in cooperation with the School of Rock music education program , which predated the film by several years. In April 2016, the English National Opera staged a revival of Sunset Boulevard at the London Coliseum . The limited run, semi-staged production directed by Lonny Price brought Glenn Close to reprise her star turn as Norma Desmond, which
6496-419: The Opera played its 10,000th show on Broadway. With over 14,200 London productions it is the second longest-running West End musical . The Broadway production closed on 16 April 2023, having played 13,981 performances, the most in Broadway history. Aspects of Love followed in 1989, a musical based on the story by David Garnett . The lyrics were by Don Black and Charles Hart and the original production
6612-434: The Opera . Elaine Paige collaborated again with Lloyd Webber, originating the role of Grizabella in Cats , and had a Top 10 UK hit with " Memory ". Starlight Express (1984) was a commercial hit, but received negative reviews from the critics. It ran for 7,409 performances in London, making it the ninth longest-running West End show . It ran for less than two years on Broadway. The show has also seen two tours of
6728-441: The Phantom. The production was directed by Harold Prince, who had also earlier directed Evita . Charles Hart wrote the lyrics for Phantom with some additional material provided by Richard Stilgoe , with whom Lloyd Webber co-wrote the book of the musical. It became a hit and is still running in the West End; in January 2006 it overtook Lloyd Webber's Cats as the longest-running show on Broadway . On 11 February 2012, Phantom of
6844-462: The Queen's birthday, first performed at Windsor Castle . Several of the tunes were later used for Aspects of Love and Sunset Boulevard . Lloyd Webber premiered The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre in the West End in 1986, inspired by the 1911 Gaston Leroux novel . He wrote the part of Christine for his then wife, Sarah Brightman , who played the role in the original London and Broadway productions alongside Michael Crawford as
6960-437: The UK have staged productions, including national tours, of Lloyd Webber musicals under licence from the Really Useful Group. He is also the president of the Arts Educational Schools , London, a performing arts school located in Chiswick, west London. Lloyd Webber is involved in a number of charitable activities, including the Elton John AIDS Foundation , Nordoff Robbins , Prostate Cancer UK and War Child . In 1992, he started
7076-555: The US, as well as an Australian/Japanese production, a three-year UK touring production, which transferred to New Zealand later in 2009. Starlight Express runs full-time in a custom-built theatre in Bochum , Germany, where it has been running since 1988. The German production holds the Guinness World Record for most visitors to a musical in a single theatre. Lloyd Webber wrote a Requiem Mass dedicated to his father, William, who had died in 1982. It premiered at St. Thomas Church in New York on 24 February 1985. Church music had been
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#17328587128487192-410: The West End's Adelphi Theatre . Lloyd Webber embarked on his next project without a lyricist, turning instead to the poetry of T. S. Eliot . Cats (1981) was to become the longest-running musical in London, where it ran for 21 years and 8,949 performances before closing. On Broadway, Cats ran for 18 years, a record which would ultimately be broken by another Lloyd Webber musical, The Phantom of
7308-556: The album, " Echoes ", has a riff on which Lloyd Webber allegedly based the opening organ riff in " The Phantom of the Opera ". The two riffs share very similar notes and the order of the notes played. Lloyd Webber's pipe organ riff from "Phantom of the Opera" plays D, C ♯ , C, B, A ♯ , then ascending A ♯ , B, C, C ♯ , D. Pink Floyd's "Echoes" plays C ♯ , C, B, A ♯ , A, then ascending A, A ♯ , B, C, C ♯ . Pink Floyd bassist and co-lead vocalist Roger Waters pointed this out and said it
7424-413: The borough council, to house some of those who had lost their homes. During the 1970s and 1980s, Wimbledon town centre struggled to compete commercially with more developed centres at Kingston and Sutton . Part of the problem was the shortage of locations for large anchor stores to attract customers. After some years in which the council seemed unable to find a solution, The Centre Court shopping centre
7540-446: The borough have been represented in Westminster by Paul Kohler , a Liberal Democrat MP. The east and south of the Borough are represented by Siobhain McDonagh , a Labour MP. In 2012 the businesses in Wimbledon voted to introduce a Business Improvement District. "Love Wimbledon" was formed in April 2012, funded and managed by the business community to promote and enhance the town centre. Those who work within Wimbledon can apply for
7656-401: The city. Renewed upheaval came in 1838, when the opening of the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) brought a station to the south-east of the village, at the bottom of Wimbledon Hill. The location of the station shifted the focus of the town's subsequent growth away from the original village centre. For several years Wimbledon Park was leased to the Duke of Somerset , who briefly in
7772-454: The company meant it was never finished. The next owner was Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough , who increased the land belonging to the manor and completed the construction of a house to replace Jansen's unfinished effort in 1735. On her death in 1744, the property passed to her grandson, John Spencer, and subsequently to the first Earl Spencer . The village continued to grow and the 18th-century introduction of stagecoach services from
7888-581: The council built a new red brick and Portland stone Town Hall next to the station, on the corner of Queen's Road and Wimbledon Bridge. The architects were Bradshaw Gass & Hope . Damage to housing stock in Wimbledon and other parts of London during World War II led to a final major building phase when many earlier Victorian houses with large grounds in Wimbledon Park were sub-divided into flats or demolished and replaced with apartment blocks. Other parts of Wimbledon Park, which had previously escaped being built upon, saw local authority estates constructed by
8004-430: The early 20th century, as was recognised in 1905, when the urban district was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon , with the power to select a mayor. By 1910, Wimbledon had established the beginnings of the Wimbledon School of Art at the Gladstone Road Technical Institute and acquired its first cinema and the theatre. Unusually, the facilities at its opening included Victorian-style Turkish baths . By
8120-531: The eighth largest theatre in London following the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden , the English National Opera 's London Coliseum , and the major musical venues the London Palladium , Apollo Victoria , Drury Lane , Dominion , and Lyceum . The main auditorium is adjoined by the smaller black box space of the Time and Leisure Studio, a flexible space seating up to 80 people. It is often home to small drama and comedy productions, often prior to West End or Edinburgh Festival runs each summer. Up From Paradise ,
8236-419: The entire score for the new 'Phantom' in one fell swoop". The Phantom in question was The Phantom of Manhattan , a planned sequel to The Phantom of the Opera . On 1 July 2007, Lloyd Webber presented excerpts from his musicals as part of the Concert for Diana held at Wembley Stadium , London, an event organised to celebrate the life of Princess Diana almost 10 years after her death. BBC Radio 2 broadcast
8352-684: The film caused him to get a dog. Lloyd Webber's new version of Cinderella opened at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in the West End in 2021. The opening, which was originally set to take place in August 2020, was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Based on a book by Emerald Fennell , Lloyd Webber wrote: "Emerald Fennell has written something truly exciting and original, and the moment I read her outline I knew I'd found my latest collaborator." He garnered press attention in July 2021 for saying that he
8468-482: The final element of the name being the Celtic "dun" (hill). The name is shown on J. Cary's 1786 map of the London area as "Wimbleton", and the current spelling appears to have been settled on relatively recently in the early 19th century, the last in a long line of variations. At the time the Domesday Book was compiled (around 1086), Wimbledon was part of the manor of Mortlake , and so was not recorded. The ownership of
8584-581: The landscape in accordance with the latest fashions, including grottos and fountains. After his death in 1677, the manor was sold again to the Lord High Treasurer , Thomas Osborne , Earl of Danby . The Osborne family sold the manor to Sir Theodore Janssen in 1712. Janssen, a director of the South Sea Company , began a new house to replace the one built by the Cecils, but the spectacular collapse of
8700-407: The late 1990s, incorporating a brand new backstage area, fly tower, and a complete re-seating of the orchestra stalls as well as redecoration of the interior. During this period, the theatre was closed for an entire year. The venue fell into severe financial difficulties in 2003 and was forced to close. Following lengthy talks between leading producers, local councillors, and companies, in autumn 2003
8816-824: The launch of a new UK pantomime company, First Family Entertainment with their flagship production being Cinderella starring Susan Hampshire , Richard Wilson , John Barrowman , Naomi Wilkinson , Peter Duncan , and Tim Vine . In 2006, the theatre welcomed its first Hollywood star in the shape of Happy Days ' Henry Winkler . Subsequent Christmases have seen global stars including Pamela Anderson , Warwick Davis , Edna Everage , Linda Gray , David Hasselhoff , Priscilla Presley , Jerry Springer , and Ruby Wax , alongside British household names including Brian Blessed , Jo Brand , Bobby Davro , Anita Dobson , Gareth Gates , Ross Kemp , Alistair McGowan , Paul O'Grady , Joanna Page , Wayne Sleep , Louie Spence , Claire Sweeney , and Tim Vine . The theatre has since played host to
8932-550: The location, including The Optimist , The Bill , The IT Crowd , De-Lovely , Little Britain , Extras (the Aladdin pantomime episode with Les Dennis ), Jonathan Creek and We Are Most Amused , a comedy gala performance to celebrate the 60th birthday of The Prince of Wales , in aid of The Prince's Trust . Notably, the venue was the home of annual televised Christmas pantomimes, including: The Real Full Monty (ITV1 2023) Touring shows that have visited Wimbledon over
9048-417: The manor of Wimbledon changed hands many times during its history. The manor was held by the church until 1398 when Thomas Arundel , Archbishop of Canterbury fell out of favour with Richard II and was exiled. The manor was confiscated and became crown property. The manor remained crown property until the reign of Henry VIII when it was granted briefly to Thomas Cromwell , Earl of Essex , until Cromwell
9164-441: The mother of the writer Frederick Marryat . Their association with the area is recorded in the names of nearby Calonne and Marryat roads. Directly south of the common, the early 18th-century Warren House ( Cannizaro House from 1841) was home to a series of grand residents. The first decades of the 19th century were relatively quiet for Wimbledon, with a stable rural population coexisting alongside nobility and wealthy merchants from
9280-644: The musical Bombay Dreams to London. With music by Indian Music composer A.R. Rahman and lyrics by Don Black, it ran for two years at the Apollo Victoria Theatre . A revised Broadway production at the Broadway Theatre two years later ran for only 284 performances. On 16 September 2004, his production of The Woman in White opened at the Palace Theatre in London. It ran for 19 months and 500 performances. A revised production opened on Broadway at
9396-441: The musical Jeeves with Alan Ayckbourn , who provided the book and lyrics. Jeeves failed to make any impact at the box office and closed after a run of only 38 performances in the West End in 1975. Many years later, Lloyd Webber and Ayckbourn revisited this project, producing a thoroughly reworked and more successful version entitled By Jeeves (1996). Lloyd Webber collaborated with Rice once again to write Evita (1978),
9512-556: The only musical written by Arthur Miller , directed by Patrick Kennedy received its London premiere at the Studio in July 2014 following a successful year of musical programming. Until 2001, the theatre was owned and operated by the Wimbledon Civic Theatre Trust, on behalf of the London Borough of Merton, who still own the freehold of the building. The trust was responsible for overseeing a multimillion-pound refurbishment in
9628-469: The original medieval village, and now a prime residential area of London commanding high prices, and the "town" being part of the modern development, centred on The Broadway, since the building of the railway station in 1838. The majority of the adult population of around 68,200 adults belong to the ABC1 social group. The population grew from around 1,000 at the start of the 19th century to around 55,000 in 1911,
9744-414: The partnership of Lloyd Webber and Rice. In 1965, when Lloyd Webber was a 17-year-old budding musical-theatre composer, he was introduced to the 20-year-old aspiring pop-song writer Tim Rice . Their first collaboration was The Likes of Us , an Oliver! -inspired musical based on the true story of Thomas John Barnardo . They produced a demo tape of that work in 1966, but the project failed to gain
9860-426: The popularity of tennis had grown to the extent that the club's small ground could no longer cope with the numbers of spectators and the renamed All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club moved to new grounds close to Wimbledon Park. Wimbledon historian Richard Milward recounts how King George V opened the new courts. "He (the king) gave three blows on a gong, the tarpaulins were removed, the first match started – and
9976-546: The project did not come to fruition until after the completion of Aspects of Love when the composer finally managed to secure the rights from Paramount Pictures , The composer worked with two collaborators, as he had done on Aspects of Love ; this time Christopher Hampton and Don Black shared equal credit for the book and lyrics. Sunset Boulevard opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London on 12 July 1993, and ran for 1,529 performances. In 1994, Sunset Boulevard became
10092-512: The property until 1574 when she gave the manor house (but not the manor) to Christopher Hatton , who sold it in the same year to Sir Thomas Cecil , Earl of Exeter . The lands of the manor were given to the Cecil family in 1588 and a new manor house, Wimbledon Palace , was constructed and gardens laid out in the formal Elizabethan style. Wimbledon's proximity to the capital was beginning to attract other wealthy families. In 1613 Robert Bell, Master of
10208-541: The railway station in 1838. Wimbledon has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age when the hill fort on Wimbledon Common is thought to have been constructed. In 1086 when the Domesday Book was compiled, Wimbledon was part of the manor of Mortlake . The ownership of the manor of Wimbledon changed between various wealthy families many times during its history, and the area also attracted other wealthy families who built large houses such as Eagle House, Wimbledon Manor House and Warren House . The village developed with
10324-545: The rain came down." The club's old grounds continue to be used as the sports ground for Wimbledon High School . Wimbledon Village Stables is the oldest recorded riding stables in England. The late Richard Milward MA, a local historian, researched the background of horses in Wimbledon over the years and found that the first recorded stables belonged to the Lord of the Manor, and are detailed in
10440-645: The rebuilding of St Mary's Church in 1849 and the construction of Christ Church (1859) and Trinity Church (1862). Street names reflect events: Denmark Road, Denmark Avenue and the Alexandra pub on Wimbledon Hill mark the marriage of Edward, Prince of Wales , to Princess Alexandra of Denmark . The change of character of Wimbledon from village to small town was recognised under the Local Government Act 1894 , which formed Wimbledon Urban District with an elected council . Wimbledon's population continued to grow in
10556-593: The right to represent Britain, winning with " It's My Time ", by Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren . At the contest, Lloyd Webber accompanied her on the piano during the performance. The United Kingdom finished fifth in the contest. On 8 October 2009, Lloyd Webber launched the musical Love Never Dies at a press conference held at Her Majesty's Theatre , where the original Phantom has been running since 1986. Also present were Sierra Boggess , who had been cast as Christine Daaé , and Ramin Karimloo , who portrayed Phantom ,
10672-508: The roads from the centre towards neighbouring Putney, Merton Park and Raynes Park . Transport links improved further with railway lines to Croydon (Wimbledon and Croydon Railway, opened in 1855) and Tooting (Tooting, Merton and Wimbledon Railway, opened in 1868). The District Railway (now the London Underground District line ) extended its service over new tracks from Putney in 1889. The commercial and civic development of
10788-468: The song " Beautiful Ghosts " with Taylor Swift for the film adaptation of Cats , produced by Greg Wells and released in December 2019. In an interview in August 2020, Lloyd Webber called the film "ridiculous" in the ways that it changed the musical: "The problem with the film was that Tom Hooper decided that he didn't want anybody involved in it who was involved in the original show." He said that seeing
10904-574: The summer of 1967, Alan Doggett, a family friend of the Lloyd Webbers who had assisted on The Likes of Us and who was the music teacher at the Colet Court school in London, commissioned Lloyd Webber and Rice to write a piece for the school's choir. Doggett requested a "pop cantata" along the lines of Herbert Chappell 's The Daniel Jazz (1963) and Michael Hurd 's Jonah-Man Jazz (1966), both of which had been published by Novello and were based on
11020-488: The theatre in 1960 before transferring to the West End 's New Theatre . The theatre also hosted the world premiere of Half a Sixpence starring Tommy Steele in 1963 prior to the West End. With several refurbishments, most notably in 1991 and 1998, the theatre retains its baroque and Adamesque internal features. The golden statue atop the dome is Laetitia , the Roman Goddess of Gaiety (although many refer to her as
11136-522: The theatre was designed by Cecil Aubrey Massey and Roy Young (possibly following a 1908 design by Frank H. Jones). It seems to have been the only British theatre to have included a Victorian-style Turkish bath in the basement. The theatre opened on 26 December 1910 with the pantomime Jack and Jill . The theatre was very popular between the wars, with Gracie Fields , Sybil Thorndike , Ivor Novello , Markova , and Noël Coward all performing there. Lionel Bart 's Oliver! received its world premiere at
11252-518: The theatre's "angel") and was an original fixture back in 1910. Laetitia is holding a laurel crown as a symbol of celebration. The statue was removed in World War II as it was thought to be a direction finding device for German bombers, and replaced in 1991. The theatre is close to Wimbledon rail, tube, and tramlink station , and a short walk from South Wimbledon tube station . The theatre has approximately 1,670 seats across three levels, making it
11368-414: The time the manor estate included Wimbledon Common (as a heath ) and the enclosed parkland around the manor house. Its area corresponded to the modern Wimbledon Park . The house stood east of St Mary's church . Wimbledon House, a separate residence close to the village at the south end of Parkside (near Peek Crescent), was home in the 1790s to the exiled French statesman Vicomte de Calonne , and later to
11484-399: The town also accelerated. Ely's department store opened in 1876 and shops began to stretch along Broadway towards Merton. Wimbledon built its first police station in 1870. Cultural developments included a Literary Institute by the early 1860s and the opening of Wimbledon Library in 1887. The religious needs of the growing population led to an Anglican church-building programme, starting with
11600-493: The town's subsequent growth away from the original village centre. Wimbledon was a municipal borough in the county of Surrey from 1905 to 1965, when it became part of the London Borough of Merton as part of the creation of Greater London . Wimbledon has established minority groups ; among the prominent ones being British Asians (mainly British Pakistanis and British Sri Lankans ), British Ghanaians , Poles and Irish people . Wimbledon has been inhabited since at least
11716-682: The years include: Cats , Starlight Express , We Will Rock You , Sister Act , Monty Python's Spamalot , Avenue Q , Shrek the Musical , Chicago , The Sound of Music , Riverdance , Waitress , Dirty Rotten Scoundrels , 9 To 5 , Rock of Ages , Dirty Dancing , Beauty and the Beast , School of Rock , Singin' in the Rain , Chitty Chitty Bang Bang , West Side Story , Jesus Christ Superstar , Bat Out of Hell: The Musical , Thoroughly Modern Millie , The Rocky Horror Show , Fame – The Musical , Priscilla Queen of
11832-480: Was "prepared to be arrested" to open Cinderella to full houses in spite of rising Covid cases and in defiance of Government advice. A 2021 feature in Variety suggested: Lloyd Webber, at 73, appears to have been reanimated creatively in recent years. Both School of Rock and Cinderella earned him some of the best reviews of his career and had a lightness and wit that had been missing from his work. They came after
11948-593: Was "probably actionable", but stated that he did not care to take it to court. Noting similarities between Lloyd Webber's " The Music of the Night " and a recurring melody in Giacomo Puccini 's 1910 opera, La fanciulla del West ( The Girl of the Golden West ), in 1987 the Puccini estate filed a lawsuit against Lloyd Webber, accusing him of plagiarism. The case was settled out of court , but details were not released to
12064-471: Was asked to write a song for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and he composed " Amigos Para Siempre — Friends for Life" with Don Black providing the lyrics. This song was performed by Sarah Brightman and José Carreras . Lloyd Webber had toyed with the idea of writing a musical based on Billy Wilder 's critically acclaimed movie, Sunset Boulevard , since seeing the film in the early 1970s, but
12180-459: Was certified silver. Perhaps because of its large orchestration, live performances of the Requiem are rare. In 1986, Prince Edward , the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II , commissioned a short musical from Lloyd Webber and Rice for his mother's 60th birthday celebration. Cricket (1986), also called Cricket (Hearts and Wickets) , reunited Lloyd Webber with Rice to create this short musical for
12296-616: Was determined that I should be a prodigy in something or other." His aunt Viola, an actress, took him to see many of her shows and through the stage door into the world of the theatre. His father enrolled him as a part-time student at the Eric Gilder School of Music in 1963. At this time he was working on a Genghis Khan musical called Westonia! . From 1960 to 1965, Lloyd Webber was a Queen's Scholar at Westminster School . An avid listener of 1960s rock and pop music, he called The Rolling Stones song " (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction "
12412-673: Was developed on land next to the station, providing a much-needed focus, and opened in 1990. The shopping centre incorporated the old town hall building. A new portico, in keeping with the old work, was designed by Sir George Grenfell-Baines , who had worked on the original designs over fifty years before. Wimbledon lies in the south-west area of London, three miles (4.8 km) south of Wandsworth , two miles (3.2 km) south-west of Tooting , three miles west of Mitcham , four miles (6.4 km) north of Sutton and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east of Kingston upon Thames , in Greater London . It
12528-413: Was directed by Trevor Nunn. Aspects had a run of four years in London, but closed after less than a year on Broadway. It has since gone on a tour of the UK. It is famous for the song " Love Changes Everything ", which was performed by Michael Ball in both the West End and Broadway casts. It stayed in the UK Singles Chart for 14 weeks, peaking at number 2 and becoming Ball's signature tune. Lloyd Webber
12644-492: Was enormously successful, eventually running for nearly eight years in the West End. Evita transferred to Broadway in 1979, in a production starring Patti LuPone as Eva and Mandy Patinkin as Che; it won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, helped launch the careers of both LuPone and Patinkin, and ran for almost four years. Rice and Lloyd Webber parted ways soon after Evita , although they have sporadically worked together since then. In 1978, Lloyd Webber embarked on
12760-400: Was executed in 1540 and the land was again confiscated. The manor was next held by Henry VIII's last wife and widow Catherine Parr until her death in 1548 when it again reverted to the monarch. In the 1550s, Henry's daughter, Mary I , granted the manor to Cardinal Reginald Pole who held it until his death in 1558 when it once again become royal property. Mary's sister, Elizabeth I held
12876-562: Was found through the BBC 's reality television show How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria? , in which he was a judge. The winner of the show was Connie Fisher . A 2006 project, The Master and Margarita , was abandoned in 2007. In September 2006, Lloyd Webber was named a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors with Zubin Mehta , Dolly Parton , Steven Spielberg , and Smokey Robinson . He
12992-575: Was her first time performing the role in London; she had originated the role in Los Angeles in December 1993 and then on Broadway in November 1994 (which won her the 1995 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical). The 2016 London revival was so well-received that the production transferred to the Palace Theatre on Broadway in February 2017, making Lloyd Webber the first musical-theatre composer since 1953 to have four musicals running simultaneously on Broadway –
13108-448: Was overtaken by Cats in 1989. The planned follow-up to Jesus Christ Superstar was a musical comedy based on the Jeeves and Wooster novels by P. G. Wodehouse . Tim Rice was uncertain about this venture, partly because of his concern that he might not be able to do justice to the novels that he and Lloyd Webber so admired. Rice backed out of the project and Lloyd Webber subsequently wrote
13224-467: Was recognised for his outstanding contribution to American performing arts. He attended the ceremony on 3 December 2006; it aired on 26 December 2006. On 11 February 2007, Lloyd Webber was featured as a guest judge on the reality television show Grease: You're the One that I Want! . Between April and June 2007, he appeared in BBC One's Any Dream Will Do! , which followed the same format as How Do You Solve
13340-470: Was refused and a board of conservators was established in 1871 to take ownership of the common and preserve it in its natural condition. In the second half of the century, Wimbledon experienced a very rapid expansion of its population. From under 2,700 residents recorded in the 1851 census, the population grew by a minimum of 60 per cent each decade up to 1901, to increase fifteen-fold in fifty years. Large numbers of villas and terraced houses were built along
13456-529: Was used from 1978 to 1980. He also composed the instrumental " Argentine Melody " as the theme music for the BBC's coverage of the 1978 FIFA World Cup held in Argentina. Lloyd Webber was the subject of This Is Your Life in November 1980 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the foyer of Thames Television 's Euston Road Studios in London. He would be honoured a second time by the television programme in November 1994 when Michael Aspel surprised him at
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