Palace Theatre Manchester

The Palace Theatre of Varieties opened on Whit Monday 1891 and had cost its owners the then colossal sum of £40,500. The seating capacity at the time was 3,675 and ticket prices ranged from 6d in the balcony to 4/- in the stalls. All the great names from the Music Hall era appeared in the following two decades including Marie Lloyd, Harry Lauder, Little Tich, Lillie Langtry, Vesta Tilley and Charlie Chaplin.

In 1913, the interior of the theatre was renovated under the direction of architect Bertie Crew and re-opened after seven months with Harry Houdini - and a much reduced seating capacity of 2600! The Palace Theatre, always in tune to the taste of the audience, captured the heady atmosphere of the 1920’s and 1930’s with extravagant revues, full-length musicals and lavish pantomimes. The 1940’s brought the stars of radio whilst the 1950’s and 1960’s saw everything from ballet to be-bop, opera to rock ‘n’ roll, Hamlet to Look Back in Anger and The Dancing Years to Guys and Dolls.

In the late 1970’s the Palace Theatre underwent a major refurbishment, extending the stage and dressing room facilities to accommodate such high-profile companies as the Covent Garden Opera and the Kirov Ballet and restoring the auditorium and Front of House facilities to their Edwardian splendor.

The Theatre re-opened in 1981 with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar and has retained its position as the premier provincial touring venue with productions ranging from Nicholas Nickleby to Les Miserables; the Covent Garden Opera to Saturday Night Fever; Luciano Pavarotti to Victoria Wood and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast to King Lear.

Chronicling its great history, the Palace Theatre has an extensive programme archive, a 1,000 Hall of Fame named supplement, detailed prime source material from the 1890’s and a thirty-page history of the theatre.

The Ambassador Lounge includes a special range of bespoke packages for you, our attendees. It gives you the opportunity to make your special visit to Dirty Dancing even more memorable. Entry to our new Ambassador Lounge is part of some of these packages so we thought you might like to see just how luxurious they are.

The Ambassador Lounge bespoke packages are detailed below, they can be purchased from any ATG point-of-sale, click here for more details.

Red Label £15
Want to be a star for the night? Take advantage of this exclusive offer and become a member of The Ambassador Lounge for the evening. In our newly designed VIP lounge, you have guaranteed table service by our host who will be on hand to cater to your every need. The Red Label offers you exclusivity and comfort in the lap of luxury. Simply, the icing on the cake to any memorable theatre experience!

• Entry to the Ambassador Lounge
• A welcome drink
• Savoury nibbles
• Complimentary cloakroom

Purple Label £45
Do you deserve the full red carpet treatment? Pamper yourself with all the luxury and glamour of the Purple Label. You will be on the exclusive guest list and escorted to The Ambassador Lounge on arrival.

• Entry to the Ambassador Lounge
• Half a bottle of chilled premium Champagne
• A delicious box of chocolates
• A programme or theatre gift
• Savoury nibbles
• Complimentary cloakroom

Click here to book.

Venue Hire

The Palace Theatre has a magnificent auditorium with a traditional proscenium arch stage and seating capacity of 1,955, making it suitable for one-off hires, conference and events.

Conference

The Palace Theatre offer facilities for all types of events from children’s parties to all-inclusive theatre evenings for 20 or more.

For more information please email: staceybroadmeadow@theambassadors.com or call 0161 245 6603.

Join us in re-creating the No.1 Greatest Musical, Grease.

It's the original High-School musical, featuring all the unforgettable songs from the hit movie including You're The One That I Want, Grease is the Word, Summer Nights, Hopelessly Devoted To You, Sandy, Greased Lightnin' and many more.

Dust off your leather jackets and pull on your bobby-socks as we search to find 'bad boy' Danny and 'the girl next door' Sandy fall.

Get ready to throw your mittens around your kittens and hand-jive the night away with the show that'll make you want to stand up and shout, 'A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop A-wop-bam-boom!'

Auditions will be held at the Opera House on:

Ages 11-15 
09.00 - 12.30
16/03/2013

Ages 16-21
13.30 - 16.30
16/03/2013

The ages above are for the age you will be on 29 July 2013. So if you are 15 now, but by 29 July 2013 you will be 16, please come to the afternoon session

Principal Call Backs will be on a separate audition date - 19 May 2013 (please keep both audition dates free).

• Please arrive at the main foyer entrance, wearing comfortable clothes.
• Refreshments will not be provided.
• You do not need to prepare anything before the audition.
• Applicants do not need to be stage trained - this is an open audition for everyone to take part
• Parental supervision is not required - please bring a mobile phone (which must be silenced during the auditions) with you so you are able to contact someone to collect you after your audition has finished. Please note that only those people who are auditioning are allowed inside the auditorium
• Everyone will be notified by EMAIL as to whether or not they have been successful within four weeks after the audition date. If you would like to be notified by post, please ensure you put this on your audition form

Stage Experience will run from Monday 29 July - Saturday 10 August 2013.

All successful applicants must be available on all of these days (exact timings TBC).

Rehearsals and Shows will take place at the Palace Theatre. Auditions to be held at the Opera House.

Click here to download show information.

Click here to download the audition form.

If you have any questions please contact:

Stacey Broadmeadow on 0161 245 6603

Email: staceybroadmeadow@theambassadors.com

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Stage Experience is an exciting two week project which takes place in the summer. It gives all budding actors, singers and dancers the chance to experience what it is like to work on a professionally run production. The cast / crew have just two weeks to create the production - rehearsing everyday, building the set, sourcing the props and making the costumes! All stage experience applicants will work with a professional production team and get to perform on the famous Palace Theatre stage in front of an audience.