Live entertainment company Trafalgar Entertainment (TE), co-founded in 2017 by British impresario Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire, has won the tender to operate Sydney’s Theatre Royal, signing a 55-year sublease from the New South Wales Government.

It is planned that the Theatre Royal, which has been closed since 2016, will reopen in August 2021 as part of the redeveloped MLC Centre owned by Dexus. The venue will provide the cornerstone for TE’s Asia-Pacific operation.

An artist’s impression of the redeveloped Theatre Royal, MLC Centre (viewed from King Street)

Trafalgar outbid a number of other theatre producers and owners, with expressions of interest from Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Stephen and Angela Found’s Foundation Theatres (which operates Sydney’s Lyric Theatre and Capitol Theatre), and Michael Cassel, the producer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in Melbourne.

Trafalgar Entertainment has produced stage shows in Australia. It recently co-produced the National Theatre’s War Horse in Sydney, while previous productions include Guys and Dolls, West Side Story and The Rocky Horror Show among others.

The Theatre Royal is Sydney’s oldest theatre. It has been on the same site since 1875, though the current building was constructed in 1976. The...