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Above: The cast of Mother Goose at Wiltons, including Roy Hudd (centre)Left: The Grand Opera House in BelfastBelow: Vintage poster from the Pickard’s Papers collection at the Britannia Panopticonemerge. After WW2, however, many venues were either demolished or ‘modernised’ with no thought for their often majestic architecture. Thankfully, some remain as glorious reminders of this unique part of British culture. Leeds City Varieties is a Grade II-listed beauty that began life in 1865 as Thornton’s New Music Hall and Fashionable Lounge, attached to the 18th-century White Swan Inn. Its fl orid scarlet auditorium still presents music hall revivals every spring and autumn, while for three decades – until 1983 – it hosted the BBC’s colourfully nostalgic TV entertainment series The Good Old Days. Bradford’s Grade II-listed Alhambra is a 1913 beacon of late Edwardian music hall style, whose large domed turret and giant paired Corinthian columns remain an iconic city landmark. Nottingham's Malt Cross is a former 1877 music hall whose muted earthy-toned woody interior boasts a fi ne vaulted glass ceiling – and even basement caves! One of music hall’s greatest stars worked his magic off-stage. During the late Victorian and Edwardian era, architect Frank Matcham designed over 100 theatres across Britain – each showcasing a personal style combining diverse architectural forms with theatrical fl air. The ravishing details included ornately painted ceilings and brilliant decorative plasterwork. A trio of Edwardian London venues still refl ect Matcham's genius – the Moorish-infl uenced Hackney Empire plus the London Palladium and London Coliseum – while he also created Blackpool's famous Tower Ballroom. But it is perhaps Belfast's Grand Opera House that takes star billing in Matcham's portfolio. Built in 1895, the building hosted music hall stars like Gracie Fields and Harry Lauder in an auditorium the Theatres Trust calls “probably the best surviving example of the oriental style applied to theatre architecture”. Eastern inspirations include elephant head carvings on gallery arches plus turban-domed canopies on the boxes. Lustrous painted ceiling panels provide the aura of a theatrical Sistine Chapel. The brick and stone exterior, meanwhile, is an eye-catching mash-up of Baroque, Flemish and Oriental styles, complete with minarets. Back in London, within a loud hail of the old East End docks, Wilton’s retains much of its 1850s pub music hall glory hidden behind an understated facade. It has recently completed a long restoration and campaign for Listed status initially led by late Poet Laureate John Betjeman. Its interior may no longer be lit by 500 gas burners whose fi ery brilliance Oscar Wilde described as “fl aming like a monstrous dahlia” – their effect magnifi ed by thousands of mirrors – but fragments of the old gas pipes still poke from walls left with the unfakeable patina of rough usage. On one of Wilton’s weekly tours, historian Carole Zeidman explains how the hall’s soaring church-like proportions allowed trapeze acts to perform right above the crowd, while the Master of Ceremonies led communal singing and exhorted the audience to drink more – while also keeping order if things got out of hand, which they often did. An enraged performer once beat a drunken heckler to death here – and only received two weeks in prison for doing so. Today, pale blue and salmon pink walls ring a wonderfully careworn interior – crumbling walls, ramshackle staircases – whose 19th-century detailing includes twisting barley sugar metal columns and exotic Greek-inspired murals. “The most important surviving early music hall” is the Theatres Trust’s description of a building worthy of toasting in its gorgeous bar. Glasgow folk might quibble, however, since they also claim the world’s oldest surviving music hall. Opened in 1857, the Britannia Panopticon boasts a pleasing Italianate facade, housing a cosy auditorium with a single U-shaped balcony, pale wood panels and scarlet walls. It was here that a teenage Stan Laurel made his stage debut in 1906, polishing up his bowler-hatted deadpan comedy beneath curving ochre rafters in front of a raucous Glasgow audience before heading off to Hollywood stardom. But while Laurel is now a fond memory, the music hall that gave him his break is still proving hardy. ■Images: Wilton’s exterior © James Perry, Mother Goose © Matt Crossick; courtesy of Britannia Panopticon; Shutterstock.UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTSBritannia Panopticon, Glasgow: Joe Black – Meet Me at the El Dorado, November 24 & 25, www.britannia-panopticon.orgCity Varieties, Leeds: Sleeping Beauty, November 26–January 8, www.cityvarieties.co.ukWiltonÕs, London: Mother Goose, December 2–31, www.wiltons.org.ukThe Alhambra, Bradford: Peter Pan, December 17–January 29, www.bradford-theatres.co.ukHackney Empire, London: Orphée aux Enfers, February 3–6, www.hackneyempire.co.ukGrand Opera House, Belfast: Buddy, the Buddy Holly Story, February 14–18, www.goh.co.uk28 NADFAS REVIEW / WINTER 2016 www.nadfas.org.ukMUSIC HALLS