Detailed Information

The Dominion Theatre was built by the Moss Empires theatre chain and was designed by the brother architect team of William & Thomas R. Milburn. At the time the Milburn brothers were the favoured architects of Moss Empires and had previously designed the Empire Theatre in Edinburgh and the Empire Theatre in Southampton. All three theatre designs were clearly influenced by American movie palace theatre design. The Edinburgh and Southampton Empire Theatre designs are highly similar.

The huge 2,800-seat theatre was primarily intended for musical theatre, however a year after opening management was turned over to Associated British Cinemas (later ABC) and the theatre used primarily as a cinema. In February 1931 the Dominion hosted the UK premiere of Charlie Chaplin’s “City Lights” with Mr Chaplin attending in person.

In the 1950s live shows returned to the Dominion on an occasional basis, then in late 1981 the theatre returned to live entertainment being its primary use.

In 1992 the Nederlander Organization acquired the theatre, and the 1990s saw a string of big-name musicals play at the Dominion. The theatre is probably most associated with the 12-year run of “We Will Rock You”, from 2002 – originally slated to close in 2006 – and eventually ending in May 2014. The theatre is currently home to musical “The Devil Wears Prada”.

This is a stub entry and more information will be added soon.