Jersey Opera House

The Jersey Opera House is a working theatre and opera house, staging drama, musicals and concerts,  at 3 Gloucester Street, in La Vingtaine de la Ville.  It is an ornate theatre with horseshoe-balconies.  Altogether it has a full and lively history.  There was a theatre in Royal Crescent, but it was burnt down in 1863.  Henry Cornwall then built this theatre in Gloucester Street in 1865 and presently it became the Theatre Royal.  It was destroyed by fire in 1899.  On the ruins, a new theatre was built in 1900 and opened by Lillie Langtry.  The history of fires continued.  In 1921 it was partly burnt down.  The building was reconstructed in 1922.  A cinema opened in the opera house in 1931.  During the German occupation, there were alternating plays and films.  It reverted to staging only plays in 1959.  It closed in 1997 for a major restoration project, reopening in 2000.

Fun Fact

• It has a chandelier with 10,200 pieces, which is cleaned every five years.