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Drury Lane’s legacy as a home for visually staggering set-pieces began in the late 19th century and was really nailed down during the 1920s after a succession of adventurous managers, most notably FB Chatterton, Augustus Harris, Arthur Collins and Alfred Butt, had made it London’s go-to destination for lavish musicals. A highlight surely has to be The New Moon (1929), which included a blazing pirate ship as one of its scenic attractions, and whose star Evelyn Laye received ‘torrents of applause’. Talk about crowd-pleasing.
Since then the theatre has gone from strength to strength. The 1930s saw Noël Coward’s Cavalcade, with its stunning sets and huge cast of 400, become a major success, as well as a string of popular efforts from iconic composer and actor Ivor Novello. Glamorous Night (1935), Careless Rapture (1936), Crest of the Wave (1937) and The Dancing Years (1939) had crowds flocking to Covent Garden, with Novello starring in all of the productions. In true Drury Lane fashion, he would also introduce as many edge-of-your-seat scenic effects as possible, including sinking ships, a fair on Hampstead Heath, a train crash and an earthquake.
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