Jersey Opera House
Opera House on Gloucester Street.
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| Address | Parish of St. Helier |
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| Coordinates | 49°11′12″N 2°06′46″W / 49.186605°N 2.112857°W |
| Owner | States of Jersey |
| Operator | Jersey Opera House Limited |
| Type | Opera house |
| Capacity | 625 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 9 July 1900 |
| Reopened | 9 July 2000 |
| Website | |
| Jersey Opera House | |
The Jersey Opera House is a working theatre and opera house in La Vingtaine de la Ville, Saint Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands. The theatre building is administered by the States of Jersey but is managed by Jersey Opera House Limited. The current theatre director is Jasmine Hendry.
The current building is a 1922 reconstruction (by Jesty & Baker) of the 1900 original building by Adolphus Curry (1848-1910), with additional extension facilities provided since. The façade has been described as "imposing and slightly Frenchified".
Its chandelier has 10,200 pieces and is carefully cleaned about every five years.
Jersey's previous main theatre, the Theatre Royal in Royal Crescent, Saint Helier, burnt down on 31 July 1863. It took two years for a new theatre to be built: Henry Cornwall opened the Royal Amphitheatre in Gloucester Street on 17 April 1865. This theatre was sold to Wybert Rousby in 1869, and became known as the Theatre Royal, and later as the Theatre Royal and Opera House.
The Theatre Royal and Opera House was described in the Royal Almanac for 1890: "Its outside appearance has nothing specially attractive, but the interior is effectively decorated and decidedly comfortable (...) Open at frequent intervals throughout the year for the production of London and Parisian successes in comedy, drama, farce; also grand and comic opera rendered by specially organized companies." In the 1880s and 1890s prices were as follows: stalls seating for 2 shillings; dress circle seating for 3 shillings; pit seating for 1 shilling; gallery seating for 6 pence.
The theatre hosted a number of notable events. On 29 October 1885 the unveiling of the Don Monument in The Parade was the occasion for a gala performance. In April 1891 Lillie Langtry made her first appearance in a Jersey theatre at the Theatre Royal, followed by her attendance in September 1898 of a performance of R. C. Carton's "Lord and Lady Algy". A stage play of "The Battle of Jersey" was presented on 8 March 1899, with Wybert Rousby himself as Major Peirson, concluding with a tableau reenactment of Copley's "The Death of Major Peirson" on stage. The Theatre Royal hosted circus performances for which the seats were moved from the auditorium onto the stage to permit the circus acts to perform in the body of the theatre.
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