The Adelphi Theatre is co-owned with the Nederlander Group. Throughout its fascinating 200-year history, the theatre’s gorgeous art deco interiors have hosted Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, Phantom-sequel Love Never Dies, the record-breaking One Man Two Guvnors, gloriously glam-drag Kinky Boots, and Sara Bareilles‘ hit Broadway musical Waitress. Currently, the Adelphi is home to the stage adaptation of the classic Hollywood film Back To The Future – winner of the 2022 Olivier Award for Best New Musical. The original theatre, the Sans Pareil (‘Without Compare’, for you non-French speakers) was launched by businessman John Scott in 1806, primarily so he could show off the talents of his daughter. Luckily, writer and pianist Jane Scott actually had the skills to show off and proved to be a massive success over the next 14 years. She not only wrote and appeared in more than 50 pieces ranging from farces, melodramas, comic operas and pantomimes, she also changed the face of British theatre forever by putting on works that appealed to all classes, instead of just catering to the privileged few. Jane finally retired in 1819 at which point her father sold the theatre for a very healthy profit. The next owners, Jones and Rodwell, changed the theatre’s name to The Adelphi and swiftly turned it into the place to be. They understood that nothing puts bums on seats like a spot of controversy. Their production of Pierce Egan’s Tom and Jerry; or Life in London (described as the Beggar’s Opera of its day) caused outrage and complaints from angry Methodists, who objected to its louche characters and bawdy exploits. Naturally, audiences queued round the block. The Adelphi has changed hands – and name – many times since Jones and Rodwell sold the theatre in 1825, but its reputation has endured. Terry and Frederick Yates found a smash-hit success with one of their first major productions, The Pilot, which broke Tom and Jerry’s record by playing a whopping 200 times. Its current co-owner, Andrew Lloyd Webber (you may have heard of him) bought the Adelphi in 1993 and gave it another major facelift ahead of the world premiere of his musical Sunset Boulevard, starring Patti Lupone. It was the first of several major successes of his at the theatre, with the legendary stage later seeing revivals of Evita (2006) and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (2007), as well as the world premiere of Love Never Dies in 2010. But Lloyd Webber’s musicals weren’t the only ones to chime with audiences. The Olivier Award-winning Chicago opened in November 1997 at the Adelphi and became the longest-running production in the theatre’s history – as well as the longest running American musical on the West End – finally transferring to the Cambridge Theatre in 2006. That’s quite an achievement, and surely no small thanks to a long list of celebrity castings including Brooke Shields, Alison Moyet and, of course, iconic TV superstar David Hasselhoff.