Hippodrome / Coventry Theatre / Apollo show archive

n attempt to list all the shows ever performed at our Hippodromes, beginning with the temporary circus buildings, which from 1884 were specially erected on Pool Meadow for each visit - then, in 1903, to the first permanent, but short-lived, 'Tin' Hippodrome on the Priory Street side of Pool Meadow facing the old Swimming Baths. The popularity of these shows created the demand for a theatre worthy of our city, and so in 1906 began the construction in Hales Street, next to Swanswell Gate, of what we now regard as the Old Hippodrome.
Again, the success of this theatre meant that barely three decades later a greater capacity was required, and so we come to our lovely art-deco New Hippodrome in Hales Street, once known as the Showplace of the Midlands. Opening on the 1st November 1937, it was renamed Coventry Theatre in 1955, then from 1979 became The Apollo, giving its final performance in June 1985. After a short spell as a bingo hall it was eventually realised that such a building could not be put to any practical use, so, sadly, it was demolished in 2002. If anyone still has any tickets or programmes and would like to see them used to illustrate a show, please contact me.

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1958	Coventry Theatre, Hales Street
Date(s)	Show	Notes	Images
Sun 5th Jan 1958	Johnny Dankworth and his Orchestra	One night only.
Sun 12th Jan 1958	Sid Phillips Band Show	One night only.
Sun 19th Jan 1958	Ted Heath and his Music	One night only.
Sun 26th Jan 1958	Humphrey Lyttleton and his Band	One night only.
Sun 2nd Feb 1958	Vic Lewis and his Orchestra	One night only.
Sun 9th Feb 1958	Dave Brubeck Quartet	One night only.
Sun 16th Feb 1958	Ken Mackintosh and his Orchestra	One night only.
Sun 23rd Feb 1958	Ronnie Aldrich and the Squadronaires	One night only.
Sun 2nd Mar 1958	Eric Delaney and his Band	One night only.
Sun 9th Mar 1958	Eddie Calvert, Robert Earl and The Kordites	One night only.
Sun 16th Mar 1958	Mick Mulligan and his Band	With Terry Lightfoot and his Jazzmen, and Bobby Mickleburgh and the Bobcats. One night only.
Sun 23rd Mar 1958	Stars of Six-Five Special	Including Mike & Bernie Winters. One night only.
Mon 31st Mar until Sat 5th Apr 1958	Peter Pan	Starring Margaret Lockwood.
Mon 7th Apr until Sat 12th Apr 1958	Lonnie Donegan	With his Skiffle Group, Stan Bennett, and Star Bill.
Mon 14th Apr until Sat 19th Apr 1958	Royal Ballet	(Formerly the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet) performing a different ballet each night.
Mon 21st Apr until Sat 26th Apr 1958	Sailor Beware	Starring Tessie O'Shea.
Mon 28th Apr until Sat 3rd May 1958	Festival of Music	Featuring the London Symphony Orchestra performing Beethoven.
Mon 5th May until Sat 10th May 1958	You, Too, Can Have A Body	Starring Bill Maynard and Bill Kerr.
Mon 12th May until Sat 17th May 1958	Dickie Valentine	Variety, with Jimmy James, Roy Castle, Les Brazilianos, and others.
Mon 19th May until Sat 24th May 1958	Beside The Seaside	Starring George Formby.
Mon 26th May until Sat 31st May 1958	Winifred Atwell	Variety, with Terry Scott, and others.
Mon 2nd Jun until Sat 7th Jun 1958	Sadler's Wells Opera Company	Different Opera each night.
Mon 9th Jun until Sat 14th Jun 1958	The Desert Song	Starring John Hanson and Clifford Mollison.
Mon 16th Jun until Sat 21st Jun 1958	Tommy Steele	With The Ken-Tones, Joe Church, The Skylons, Dennis Spicer, and others.
Mon 23rd Jun until Sat 28th Jun 1958	Living For Pleasure	Musical, starring Dora Bryan, Daniel Massey, George Rose and Janie Marden.
Mon 30th Jun until Sat 5th Jul 1958	Dry Rot	Farce, starring Basil Lord.
Sun 6th Jul 1958	The Juilliard Symphony Orchestra of New York	First visit to Europe.
Mon 7th Jul until Sat 12th Jul 1958	The Bride and the Bachelor	With Cicely Courtneidge, Robertson Hare and Naunton Wayne.
Mon 14th Jul until Sat 19th Jul 1958	Eddie Calvert	The Man with the Golden Trumpet, with Robert Earl, David Berglas, and others.
Mon 21st Jul until Sat 26th Jul 1958	Moscow State Variety Theatre	Variety show.
Mon 28th Jul until Sat 2nd Aug 1958	Diana Dors	With Big Star Company.
Mon 4th Aug until Sat 9th Aug 1958	Variety Show	With Beryl Reid, Earle & Vaughan, Bernard Miles, and others.
Mon 11th Aug until Sat 16th Aug 1958	The Entertainer	With John Slater and Bobby Howes.
Mon 18th Aug until Sat 23rd Aug 1958	Free As Air	Musical, from the Savoy Theatre.
Mon 25th Aug until Sat 6th Sep 1958	No Time For Sergeants	Comedy Smash Hit from Her Majesty's Theatre.
Mon 8th Sep until Sat 13th Sep 1958	D'Oyly Carte Opera Company	A different Opera each night.
Mon 15th Sep until Sat 20th Sep 1958	The Beverley Sisters	With Arthur Worsley, Ossie Noble, Johnny Stewart, and many others.
Mon 22nd Sep until Sat 27th Sep 1958	Lilac Time	Schubert's Opera, with Walter Midgley, Sylvia Metaxas, and others.
Mon 29th Sep until Sat 4th Oct 1958	Chrysanthemum	Musical, with Pat Kirkwood and Hubert Gregg.
Mon 6th Oct until Sat 11th Oct 1958	Grab Me A Gondola	With Roberta Huby.
Mon 13th Oct until Sat 18th Oct 1958	London's Festival Ballet	With Beryl Grey.
Mon 20th Oct until Sat 25th Oct 1958	Michael Holiday	Variety, with David Conway, The Cycling Kirks, The Strong Brothers, and many others.
Mon 27th Oct until Sat 6th Dec 1958	21st Birthday Show	Variety, with David Whitfield, the 3 Kaye Sisters, Jimmy Wheeler, Grace O'Connor, and many others.
Mon 8th Dec until Sat 13th Dec 1958	Wild Violets	Musical Comedy, with the Coventry Operatic Dramatic Society and cast of 80. (Theatre closed next week for Pantomime rehearsals.)
Mon 22nd Dec 1958 until Sat 28th Mar 1959	Robin Hood	Starring Jewel and Warriss, Derek Roy, and Star-Studded cast of 70.

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1884 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985

Also of interest might be A short history of Coventry's Theatres and Cinemas, by Bill Birch.