The Tivoli Theatre

The Tivoli Theatre survives deep in the memories of Sydney-siders. It’s still talked about it crowded foyers, and remembered fondly by countless performers. But there’s much more to the story of this famous venue that is best remembered as being on the corner of Hay and Campbell Streets. AussieTheatre.com’s history correspondent LEANN RICHARDS investigates….

Until 1928 the Tivoli theatre in Sydney was located at 79-83A Castlereagh Street. This site is now occupied by the Sky Garden shopping complex, next door to the Imperial Arcade. There is no indication that it was once the site of a grand old theatre.

The only site acknowledged as the Tivoli, is one on the corner of Hay and Campbell Streets, further south near Central Station. A green plaque marks this as once being the site of the Tivoli Theatre. This is true, but only from 1928 when the Adelphi theatre (1911) which stood on the site was renamed The Tivoli .

The 79 Castlereagh Street address had a long theatrical history, dating back to at least 1868. In that year it was opened as the Scandinavian Hall. It charged sixpence and three pence for entrance. The elite sixpenny patrons sat around tables, drinking and smoking and spitting into the provided spittoons. The others spat into the sawdust. Young ladies in white dresses with blonde plaits, sashayed between the patrons, serving the drinks. They were the reason the hall was named ‘Scandinavian’.

The Scandinavian was a typical music hall. It had all the features of this sort of establishment, including the slightly risqué performances and the primarily male, working class, clientele.

In 1874, the place was renamed Sullivan’s Athletic Hall and became a boxing venue. It then became a clothing factory for a period of time. Then in 1878 a billiard saloon. The place changed names from Victoria Hall to The Academy of Music in the successive years.

In 1882 it was the site of a Home Rule for Ireland meeting, held by John Redmond and William Redmond. They could find no other place to have the meeting. There was fear that the large Irish population would riot. The meeting however defied expectations and was remarkably peaceful.

In 1890 the old building was demolished and The Garrick Theatre was built. Plays such as The Middleman and The Idler were produced there.

On Saturday February 18th 1893, Harry Rickards took up the lease of the Garrick and renamed it, The Tivoli Theatre. Rickard’s wife Kate, had persuaded him to take up the lease and it proved a good investment. As the Tivoli, the theatre introduced the Sydney public to such acts as illusionist, Chung Ling Soo, and Little Tich. Harry Rickards’ Tivoli Theatre, soon became a byword to the people of Sydney.

In early 1899, Rickards bought the freehold title of the site, but disaster struck soon afterwards. In September that year, the Tivoli Theatre burnt to the ground. It was an unmitigated disaster. The loss was estimated at 25,000 pounds. Rickards did not have any insurance. One thing was rescued from the ashes. A lucky horseshoe which was placed upside down in the new Tivoli that was built on the site of the old.

The night after the fire, the Tivoli programme went ahead as scheduled. John Leete, Harry’s brother had organised a lease on the Palace Theatre . In true, “the show must go on” tradition, G W Hunter, Spry and Austin, and Little Alma Grey performed that night. They had improvised props and wardrobe, but were warmly received by a large audience.

Rickards immediately proceeded to rebuild his theatre. It took eighteen weeks for architect Backhouse and Backhouse and builder Alexander Stuart to design and build. It cost 20,000 pounds.

The new theatre was an arched sandstone marvel. It was decorated in colours of turquoise, cream, gold, silver and light grey with terracotta tints. There were elaborate decorative schemes, including ornamental pilasters and specially commissioned paintings. The theatre was electrically lit by fixtures in the domed ceiling and the style was described as “French Renaissance” by the Building Engineering and Mining Journal of 1900. A hotel was associated with the theatre with the entrance towards Castlereagh Street.

According to Valentine Day who attended the opening of the new theatre on April 12 1900, it was a place of unobstructed views and unrestricted acoustics. It had a new capacity of 1200 people, about 200 more than the old theatre.

This extravagant example of theatre design was closed as a live venue in 1928. It became a cinema, as did most of Sydney’s live theatres. Many older Sydney residents may remember it as the Embassy Cinema. It was demolished in the 1960s.

23 thoughts on “The Tivoli Theatre

  • I have inherited a box of programmes from the 40’s and 50’s from Sydney. They are Shakespearean plays, classical music, ballet etc. The theatres are Tivoli, Sydney Town Hall, Palace Theatre, Conservatorium and other Sydney venues. Some are autographed, some come with the newspaper reviews of the times and some have my aunt’s original ticket. All are in excellent condition. Does anyone know if these are of any value or is any theatre company interested in having them. Some of the actors are Laurence Olivier and Katherine Hepburn.

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    • Hi Kae,
      Do you still have these programs? It would be wonderful to be able to have a look at them, I am currently researching this subject.
      Kind regards
      Kyrilee

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    • hi you wouldnt have any programs with the Gifford Sisters or Vernon and Mack on it would you? These are my great grandparents acts and they met each other doing the circuit. in the early 1900s probably till about 1930 ish
      thankyou
      Tanya

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    • I’ve been trying to find a copy of the programme for the 1954 performance for the Queen of John Anthill’s Corroboree – it was available online once upon a time but I can no longer find it – the connection is for confirmation that Cyril Schulvater was in the SSO at the time and played cello – if you have the programme would it be possible to photograph the pages? –

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  • My mother informs me her mother, Dorothy Hilda Warburton performed at the Tivoli in the 1950’s.
    Are ther any records of her performances? ie a programme listing her as a singer.

    Any information you may have, would be greatly appreciated.

    Thany you for your time.

    Glen

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  • My name is Karen Joyce.
    Maiden name Karen Galloway
    I performed in several plays in the 60’s at the Tuvalu.
    I was wondering if anyone would have programs from the filling shows.
    Sail away . .Noel Coward
    Oliver. Toni Lamond

    I am trying to find anyone who may happen to have these. Sadly mine were destroyed.
    Karen
    [email protected]

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  • I am interested in programs of the “Follies Bergere Revue” – the show started on July 18 1952. I’d like to know when the season finished. Also what show was playing Sept/Oct at the Tiv? Thanks in advance 🙂
    Geraldine

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  • I am a carer for a lady who is 103.
    She performed at the Tivoli in the 1930s
    Sometimes on the same bill as Roy Rene and George Wallace jnr

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  • Hi my great aunt my pops aunty was apparently one of the main dances back in the early 1900s her name was peggy have to check last name if anyone has any information would be great thanks

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  • I played drums in a family band called The Midnight Aces or just Aces in 1942. I was the youngest at 9yrs old. There could have been five in the band or four as my eldest brother served 4 yrs in New Guinea during the period. I am the last living and I wondered if I could find any programmes for that time printed for the Tivoli theatre in Sydney. Would anyone be able to help?

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  • My Dad ‘Leslie Levi ‘& his siblings ‘The Four Ivels’ performed there around 1917/18 he was very young. I think he knew of Roy Rene. I have some photos of them but not a lot of info .
    Has anyone have any info ?
    Regards Val

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    • Hello, Is this woman still alive? Wondering if she knew my Great Grandparents who performed

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    • Hi Val my name is Cathy Wright and I have a six page story your father wrote about his childhood and performing with his siblings as the Four Ivels. If you don’t have this I am happy to email it to you.

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  • I am an English local historian and am one of the editors of a website run by the Hadleigh & Thundersley Community Archive http://www.hadleighhistory.org.uk
    I have discovered that an actor and music hall artist, was living in Thundersley, Essex, UK, in 1939. I have been tracking down his life using some of the standard genealogical sites and discovered he was born in October 1878 in Victoria, possibly somewhere called Goor.
    He seems to have spent a good part of his life in England but travelled abroad from time to time including a visit to Sydney in 1927 where he and his siblings performed at the Tivoli Theatre.
    Is there any body out there who has has information about him, his family and especially his act in the music hall, please. So far no performances discovered anywhere else.

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  • Apologies for the previous comment on 5th January. I made the ridiculous mistake of not naming the music hall artist I was interested in. It was Archie Daunton Shaw who, I have since discovered, led a troupe of trick cyclists called the Archie Daunton Troupe. Any information or links welcome.

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  • I performed with The Flying DePauls at the Melbourne Tivoli with The Nat Jackly show May 1961 & then at the Sydney in July 1961, would you have any photos of the DePauls act. Thank you.

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  • I am searching for some of the names of the wonderful Tivoli dancers. We have a friend whose Mum is still alive and her name Is Doris Westbrook (married name). Doris is now in her 90.s and being cared for by with her lovely daughter Roslyn. Doris,s husband Bob (Robert) died recently. He was a survivor from one of the British boats that was torpedoed in the second world war. He came to Australia and met Doris at a “party” with other Tivoli dancers. Doris has moments now of memory loss but has good recollection of her Tivoli days. I would like to try to find some early material about the girls and maybe a little about the group Dorris was dancing with. Some photos that I have found on your site don,t always have their names. Some of the material is amazing of the times when the Tivoli was in full swing. My son was one of the Aus Ballet performers in Graeme Murphys terrific show for remembrances. We took Dorris to see it. Fantastical

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  • My mother used to take me to the Melbourne ” Tiv ” to see the pantomimes starring Jenny Howard.
    Later on I became a St John’s Ambulance Brigade member and regularly was on duty at the Tivoli as first aid officer, as all live theatres had in the 1950s.
    As a result I saw many shows several times and enjoyed them every time.
    I met many stars including Winifred Atwell, Shirley Bassey and the girls from the Rudas acrobatic group
    Oh for those days again.

    John

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  • My parents took me to the Sydney Tivoli when I was a child due to not finding someone to mind me that particular evening. It would have been towards the late 1950’s. It was a night I would never forget. There was a comedian from England who was so funny, my father laughed so much he ended up with a stitch and in agony. A lady in the most beautiful gown floated onto the stage singing. The wonderful dance sequences. One of the skits was a lady wrapped in a towel, who supposedly came out of the shower to answer the phone. The latter part of the conversation was her exclamation “drop everything?” so naturally that was the towel she was holding up, then the lights dimmed and she ran off the stage. Of course there was the carousel with all bare breasted women as well. That is all I can remember except laughing so much at the comedian even though I didn’t understand any of the innuendo but laughter is contagious. I doubt I was nine years old at the time and to this day wondered how I was allowed in the Tivoli with my parents at such a young age. It was a night I will never forget.

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  • I started as a violinist with the Tivoli Theatre orchestra, Sydney, In ‘Zip Goes a Million’ in April 1954, until ‘FunFiesta’ in July 1958, when I left to join the Tommy Tycho orchestra at Cannel 7. What wonderful years they were!
    There is a photo of the finale of the show, ‘The Good Old Days’ on this site and I am the violinist sitting behind the other two. This was, strictly speaking, not a Tivoli show, which was on tour in New Zealand at the time, but was put on by entrepreneur, Harry Wren. What a pity it has all gone.

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  • If anyone had any information my grandmother performed at the Tivolli sometime in the 1930s her name Melba Stone she performed with a musician named George Beck Drew
    Thanks

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  • My Aunty Betty recently passed away and she was a dancer in the Tivoli Theatre in Sydney and Melbourne I think around 1945-46. Her name was Bettina Nelson but think her stage name was just Bettina. I have a lot of programmes and such that she collected over the years. She was in a lot of different productions and I note one was Laffiesta with Peggy McGuire and the Six Flying de Paul’s. I know she also travelled to New Zealand with the dance troupe. I believe she was also in the Australian Folies Bergere revue. Although not one of the bare breasted ladies. I wonder if anyone wants some of the programs that may relate to their relatives? I am at a loss what to do with the programme’s etc but hope to keep them somehow for historical purposes if possible.

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  • hello My father Frank Otto Fogarassy once performed at the tivoli theater back in about 1958-1959. in Brisbane. He was a member of an acrobatic act called The Three Franks. also at that time he recalls an other act called the Two Earls. Also he thinks it had something to do with Horry Dargie.
    i am looking for any information,or programs or anything about them.

    Reply

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