ENGLAND - Jolly Good Show

The Brits found ice theatre to be their cup of tea in the 1930s. Great American ice star Evelyn Chandler was imported to Bournemouth in 1935 for the title role in “Rita The Spy,” an original skating musical that had to be the first Who-Done-It on ice. Producer Claude Langdon’s 1936 blockbuster “Marina” at Brighton Sports Stadium, with complex story line and outstanding international skating stars, is a milestone in English theatrical history. 1937 brought London “Rhapsody On Ice” on stage at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden with 14 year old Maria Belita (soon to shorten her name by fifty percent) and The Stoll Picture Theatre added a live ice ballet, “The Merry Doll,” to its regular showing of films. That same year in Blackpool the Ice Drome was built specifically for staging ice shows – and a new production has historically been created in it every year since, breaking all world records for longevity.

Tom Arnold had great success after transforming the Stoll into London’s only ice theatre in the mid 1940s and also began producing his string of ice shows at the Brighton Sports Stadium. The 1950s and 60s saw the great stars Belita, Gloria Nord, and Jacqueline du Bief fabulously presented in huge productions such as ‘White Horse Inn,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and Peter Pan” on the vast ice stages of London's Empress Hall, and Wembley Arena.

In the 1950s “Holiday On Ice” slid over from its European tour and enjoyed such success it has returned with a new edition each year.  Blackpool’s popular shows were titled “Ice Parade” in the 1960’s and 70’s, then “Showtime On Ice,” and “Hot Ice” after 1984. Another perennial favorite was Bournemouth's "Ice Follies” which ran every year from the 1960s through the 80s.

England’s own Olympic Gold medalist John Curry presented his “Theatre of Skating I” to his countrymen in ‘76  and returned with version II in ’77, Robin Cousins brought  his “Electric Ice” London in 1983, and Torvill & Dean began in 1984 to bring their various globe-trotting professional companies home to the UK. The last was “Ice Adventures” at the end of the 1990s.

The Russian Ice Stars and The Russian All Stars both made England their home and toured the U.K. in the 1990s with such productions as “Barnum On Ice, “Sleeping Beauty On Ice,” and “Beauty and the Beast On Ice.” Wild Rose Productions entered the scene in 2000 with “Phantom of the Opera On Ice.