thumb|upright=1.2|alt=old drawing of exterior of neo-classical building|Façade of the theatre, 1836
The St James's Theatre was in King Street, St James's, London. It opened in 1835 and was demolished in 1957. The theatre was conceived by and built for a popular singer, John Braham; it lost money and after three seasons he retired. A succession of managements over the next forty years also failed to make it a commercial success, and St James's acquired a reputation as an unlucky theatre. It was not until 1879–1888, under the management of the actors John Hare and Madge and W. H. Kendal that the theatre began to prosper.
The Hare-Kendal management was succeeded, after brief and disastrous attempts by other lessees, by that of the actor-manager George Alexander, who was in charge from 1891 until his death in 1918. Under Alexander the house gained a reputation for programming that was adventurous without going too far for the tastes of London society. Among the plays he presented were Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), and A.W.Pinero's The Second Mrs Tanqueray (1893).
After Alexander's death the theatre came under the control of a succession of managements. Among the long-running productions were The Last of Mrs Cheyney (1925), Interference (1927), The Late Christopher Bean (1933) and Ladies in Retirement (1939). In January 1950 Laurence Olivier and his wife Vivien Leigh took over the management of the theatre. Their successes included Venus Observed (1950) and for the 1951 Festival of Britain season Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra.
In 1954 Terence Rattigan's Separate Tables began a run of 726 performances, the longest in the history of the St James's. During the run it emerged that a property developer had acquired the freehold of the theatre and obtained the requisite legal authority to knock it down and replace it with an office block. Despite widespread protests the theatre closed in July 1957 and was demolished in December of that year.
History
Background and construction
In 1878 Old and New London commented that the St James's Theatre owed its existence "to one of those unaccountable infatuations which stake the earnings of a lifetime upon a hazardous speculation". John Braham, a veteran operatic star, planned a theatre in the fashionable St James's area, on a site in King Street, bounded by Crown Passage to the west, Angel Court to the east and buildings in Pall Mall to the south. A hotel called Nerot's had stood there since the 17th century but was by now abandoned and decaying. To generate income, the façade would incorporate one or two shops. Building and opening the theatre were not straightforward. The Theatres Trust comments that Braham quarrelled regularly with his architect, Samuel Beazley, and other professional advisers and contractors. He also faced difficulties in obtaining the necessary licence to open a theatre; the management of the nearby Theatre Royal, Haymarket opposed it, as did other interested parties. The licence was issued by the Lord Chamberlain on the instructions of William IV, but Braham continued to encounter opposition from rivals.
Early years: 1835–1857
The theatre opened on 14 December 1835 with a triple bill consisting of two farces by Gilbert à Beckett and an opera, Agnes Sorel, with music by his wife, Mary Anne à Beckett. In April 1836 the first of many visiting French companies played at the theatre, a tradition that endured intermittently throughout the 122-year existence of the St James's. His programmes included the presentation of performing lions, monkeys, dogs and goats. In November 1839 Alfred Bunn, whom the theatre critic and historian J. C. Trewin called a former "autocrat of Drury Lane and Covent Garden", took over the house, and changed its name to "The Prince's Theatre" in honour of the Prince Consort. Among Bunn's early offerings was a season of German opera, beginning with Der Freischütz. Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort came to two performances during the season, but otherwise Bunn's tenure was undistinguished and unprofitable. In between French offerings, Mitchell occasionally sub-let the theatre. In 1846, an amateur performance of Ben Jonson's Every Man in his Humour included Dickens playing Captain Bobadil. Mitchell had a fondness for international entertainments, and presented German conjurors, Tyrolean singers, dramatic readings by Fanny Kemble, P. T. Barnum's infant prodigies – Kate and Ellen Bateman, aged eight and six – in scenes from Shakespeare, and, most popular of all, the Ethiopian Serenaders who enthused London about the American-style minstrel shows, a form of entertainment that remained popular for decades.
After Mitchell left, the actress Laura Seymour (1820–1879) ran the theatre for a season in association with Charles Reade, from October 1854 to March 1855. Under Seymour's management the interior was remodelled, replacing the first tier of boxes with the now more fashionable dress circle. Among the few notable aspects of her tenure was the London debut of the comic actor J. L. Toole. The house was once again dark for most of 1856, but in 1857 the theatre returned to royal and public favour when Jacques Offenbach brought his opéra bouffe company from Paris, with a repertoire of nine of his works. This was followed by the Christy Minstrels who played to good houses for two weeks in August 1857 before moving to other venues.