Bradford's Alhambra celebrates its 110th anniversary

The cast included Yeadon-born comic Sydney Howard and the Benedetti Brothers acrobats, and the show ran for a week.

When the curtain rose on opening night, it was a dream come true for a wool clerk turned theatre impresario called Francis Laidler,

A doctor’s son from the North East, Laidler had moved to Bradford a decade or so earlier. After working as a clerk he went to Hammonds Brewery and became a manager. While working at Hammonds, Laidler met Walter J Piper, who was leasing the Prince’s Theatre in Bradford. When Piper died six months later, Laidler took on the theatre and set about bringing London touring productions to Bradford. A sharp businessman, he had the vision of building a new theatre in the city.

That vision became reality when the Alhambra opened on March 18, 1914. The new theatre brought a touch of luxury to Bradford’s entertainment scene, with upholstered tip-up seating. Backstage, performers had hot and cold running water and gas and electric light in the dressing-rooms. Capacity in the auditorium was nearly 1,800, later reduced to 1,650.

It was the hey day of variety, and the Alhambra delivered twice-nightly shows. Shortly after the First World War, renowned variety producers Moss Empires Ltd approached Laidler about working together - and they went on to be the Alhambra’s booking agent for more than 40 years, drawing just about every big-name variety star to the Bradford theatre.

Francis Laidler had a vision of bringing a touch of luxury to Bradford theatre-goers (Image: Bradford Theatres)

From the 1920s to the 1960s the Alhambra drew stars such as Laurel and Hardy, George Formby, Morecambe and Wise, Peter Sellers and Frankie Howerd.

In 1986 the theatre underwent a major refurbishment and welcomed big shows including Jesus Christ Superstar and The Muppet Show to the newly refurbished stage.

The annual Alhambra pantomime has long been a major attraction at the theatre and today it stages Yorkshire’s biggest panto. Known as the ‘King of Panto’, Francis Laidler delivered pantomimes for half a century in his theatres in Bradford, Keighley, Leeds and London. The 1958/59 Alhambra panto Jack And The Beanstalk, starring Ken Dodd, was the theatre’s longest-running panto. “It went on until March, we were throwing Easter eggs out at the audience,” recalled Doddy in a T&A interview.

Laidler started junior dance troupe the Sunbeams for a 1917 panto, Robin Hood, at the Prince’s Theatre in Little Horton. In 1930, the Sunbeams came to the Alhambra, when Laidler switched his pantos to the venue. With matching bobbed haircuts, the Sunbeams were a hit with audiences and the tradition remains today, with the Sunbeams returning to the 2023/24 Alhambra panto, Cinderella, for the first time since the pandemic.

Reunions of former Sunbeams have been held over the years at Bradford’s Great Victoria Hotel, where Francis Laidler once lived.

In the 1960s, Bradford Council took ownership of the Alhambra, and panto prospered into the 1980s with stars including Les Dawson, Cannon and Ball, Little and Large, Charlie Drake and Barbara Windsor.

Cannon and Ball in 1980 Alhambra panto Jack and the Beanstalk

Laidler’s last Alhambra panto was Red Riding Hood. A few days after it opened, on January 6, 1955, the visionary impresario died - the day before his 88th birthday. His widow, Gwladys Stanley Laidler, announced that the show must go on.

And so it did. Over the decades the Alhambra has staged some of the world’s biggest and best-loved productions. It is one of the North’s premier musical houses, staging shows by leading musical theatre producers including Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh, and is nationally renowned for its large stage and first-class facilities.

The Duke of Edinburgh attending a show at the Alhambra in 1969

In 2022 a blue plaque was installed at the Alhambra, commemorating it as one of the ‘Great Buildings of Bradford’. Sponsored by Bradford BID, the plaque was gifted to the theatre by Bradford Civic Society.

Billy Pearce with the Alhambra blue plaque (Image: Newsquest)

In recent years the Alhambra has welcomed hit shows such as Les Miserables, Miss Saigon. The Lion King, Wicked, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, One Man, Two Guvners and the National Theatre production of War Horse.

The theatre has staged numerous premiers, including Swan Lake by the English National Ballet, watched by Princess Margaret in 1977. In 1930, prima ballerina Anna Pavlova performed The Dying Swan on the Alhambra stage.

In 2014 the Alhambra celebrated its centenary with a show that paid tribute to its variety roots. A Night Of Variety - Celebrating 100 Years Of The Alhambra was billed as “an homage to the Alhambra Theatre’s early days of variety and subsequent long history of entertainment”. The audience was treated to a red carpet entrance, greeted by dancing girls in feather headdresses and headliners Michael Ball and Alhambra panto stalwart Billy Pearce delighted a packed house over three hours.

Stars including Lesley Joseph and The Krankies recalled their long association with the Alhambra and tributes to past productions at the theatre included a scene from Edward Scissorhands by dancers from Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures company - which returns to the Alhambra next month with the acclaimed show.

Michael Ball sang songs from musicals such as Phantom of the Opera and Hairspray, and a group of former Sunbeams past joined Billy Pearce for a high-kicking routine to a big band dance number.

The Sunbeams reunited in 2014 (Image: Newsquest)

“If Francis Laidler was here tonight he’d be very proud,” Billy told the audience that night. Indeed he would.