Legally Blonde Comes to London — Page 2

The Rank Organisation (who i worked for there) wanted to reopen the large Upper Circle again for the first time since the 1950s. This would have added aprox 400/500 extra seats to the Dominions already generous capacity.
They made many applications for planning permission to Camden Council. A survey was made of the building and it was then that they discovered the building was riddled with asbestos. It didnt take long for Rank to start thinking of closing the theatre completely. Camden Council jumped at the chance to pull it down and get prime location cash for it. This is when a major hurdle (thank god!) came up. If they were to knock the building down then an area of approx 200 yards around it would have to be sealed off for antything up to a year to allow the asbestos riddled rubble to settle. Now, take a second to picture the businesses that are within that 200 yard area of the Dominion. mmm! This is when the Theatre Preservation society stepped up its campaign to keep the theatre open and Camden eventually helped it get into a fit state to except big major live shows (Cliff Richard in 'Time' -Orville in Panto!). Rank did eventually sell up and the theatre was taken by the Nederlanders who tarted it up considerably and opened with 'Grand Hotel'. Anyone who knows Rank know that they would not have spent a penny on the building and it could very well have been a bingo hall today and eventually, probably fallen down. The last time the Upper Circle was used was for a 5 night season of concerts by Judy Garland in 1957.
The sealed off offices still contain a very large amount of achive material including programs, posters etc etc. When i was on a little unauthorised trek thru there one day i got hold off a ticket book (before computerised box offices) for a Sunday concert of Frank Sinatra (he obviosly didnt sell out!), which i still have!
In the 50s and 60s, The Dominion was home to 'The Sound Of Music', 'South Pacific' and 'Oklahama!' The 'Star Wars' movies got its European premier there too.
The asbestos problem still remains and sadly will prevent the Dominion seeing its Upper Circle ever open again. Unless....

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Updated On: 1/24/08 at 10:01 AM

Im only to happy to, ive never missed a chance to learn about the history of our theatres from whoever wanted to share it with me since i was a kid and im more than happy to contribute as here-but now i better get back to work! lol Seriously,anytime!

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Yea they do, i hadnt got up to that part in its history. Sorry!
Next time you stand outside the Dominion, look up and you will see 3 large ironwork grills. Behind these grills is where a gorgeous Victorian themed garden cafe once stood with seating for 200.

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Updated On: 1/24/08 at 11:17 AM

"The sealed off offices still contain a very large amount of achive material including programs, posters etc etc."

Maybe that's why the Dominion staff told me they only had a programme available from Time in the archive - everything else is sealed off.

To be more accurate It is co owned by both Nederlander and Live Nation.


I knew the Nederlanders had at least some ( and I thought all) play into the ownership of the theatre because if you go onto their website it says that it is one of thier theatres in Londond.

If you go to nederlander.com it says they own in London the following theatres. The Adelphi, The Aldwych and the Dominion.


If we were going to go back to my topic of the size of the stage. I think the Dominion would be a perfect choice. Beauty and the Beast played there as a carbon copy of what was seen on Broadway at the Palace theatre so therefor blonde could work there easilly.

I do like the show I do. But, I just don't think it has the appeal to be seen more then a couple of times and then loose all enjoyment of it. I saw it twice and I don't need to see it a third time.

Maybe my potential enjoyment of it got tainted by the MTV airing of the show.

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I love the show but speaking from a non fan point of view

This is the kind of show which could have a great run in London, these type of shows sell very well here.
Im sure they aren't expecting it to run for 10 years just long enough to make its money back and i don't think it will have a problem

All these Film come musical shows here have made their money back from Fame to Footloose, Saturday Night Fever to Dirty Dancing.And Legally Blonde is a lot better musical than the for mentioned

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To be more accurate It is co owned by both Nederlander and Live Nation.


I knew the Nederlanders had at least some ( and I thought all) play into the ownership of the theatre because if you go onto their website it says that it is one of thier theatres in Londond.

If you go to nederlander.com it says they own in London the following theatres. The Adelphi, The Aldwych and the Dominion.


If we were going to go back to my topic of the size of the stage. I think the Dominion would be a perfect choice. Beauty and the Beast played there as a carbon copy of what was seen on Broadway at the Palace theatre so therefor blonde could work there easilly.

I do like the show I do. But, I just don't think it has the appeal to be seen more then a couple of times and then loose all enjoyment of it. I saw it twice and I don't need to see it a third time.

Maybe my potential enjoyment of it got tainted by the MTV airing of the show.

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Oh, the Dominion is a sad story as WickedBoy has said. I knew Rank and they really didnt help that venue at all. It could be Londons prime venue if it was more well preserved. Shame. I hate to say it but sometimes I do wonder if it should just be pulled down. Ideally, they would be build a wonderful new theatre in its place, unlikely of course, so its a case of have this or nothing at all!

I can remember going to see Bernadette and thinking the theatre was in bad condition then!!

Wickedboy,

I used Beauty and the Beast and Blond for one reason. They are two shows that originated at the same theatre on Broadway. In a theatre producers love because they can really custom build their sets around the space there in a way that can't be done in any other theatre well.

And Beauty did the same version that was at the Palace at the Diminion.


But, I can't see this doing well in London at all. Sure, it is selling somewhat but look at what months it is selling in. The fall and new years time. A time which if your a broadway musical it doesn't take much to sell anyways.

And just like in London movies turned musicals get discounted pretty easilly sometimes as well.

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Was the 'Making of BATB' dvd widely available wickedboy?

ahh dam, must keep an eye out for the video on ebay!

It all depends on the running fees. Mary P couldn't survive discounting mid-week so it came off - Blood Bros can so it stays.

No, WickedBoy, Bernadette wasn't !! haha, bless. Oh, bring it back, just for a laugh :P

Songanddanceman,

You just contradicted yourself. You said that it is okay for a show to run even if they are discounted so long as they are running and the producers know how long they can go with them being at discount.

Yet, when the subject of Xanadu came up (another movie turned musical) You were saying that it shouldn't come to London because it can't manage to do decent business on Broadway even though it is playing in the smallest Broadway theatre.

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