Situated on Quay Street, the Opera House Manchester is a part of the Ambassador Theatre Group, which has offices all over the world. Being part of a group that runs over 40 entertainment venues globally, the Opera House Manchester is one of two theatrical spots owned and run by the same parent company in the city – the other is the Palace Theatre, on Oxford Street. Staging many different productions in the course of the year, the Opera House's programme is focused on live music performances and musical theatre. Many musicals transfer to the theatre directly from the West End in London. When running at full capacity, the auditorium is able to hold 1,920 audience members and the staging area has a large orchestra pit that is capable of accommodating up to 80 live musicians.
The Opera House first opened 1912, when it was known simply as the New Theatre. It was renamed as the New Queen's Theatre a few years later, before being rebranded as the Opera House in 1920. Although the theatre was used as a bingo hall in the early 1980s, it came under new management after five years in that role and returned to its previous function of staging large-scale musicals. There have been some significant productions that have been staged at the Opera House over the years. One of the most famous was the European premiere of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story, in 1958. More recently, the theatre was chosen as the venue for the world premiere of Ghost the Musical, which ran for several months in 2011 before receiving a transfer to the West End.
As well as its long-running association with touring musical companies and staging new productions, the Opera House Manchester is a venue that is often booked to host one-off concerts, usually high-quality tribute acts that are firmly established on the UK's performance circuit. Acts such as ABBA Mania, One Night of Queen and the ELO Experience have all been booked to perform on the theatre's large stage, for example. In addition, the auditorium is used for gigs by touring live bands, such as The Waterboys. Fans of pop musicals are well catered for, but the Opera House is also a venue that is used for operatic music, staging productions of Rigoletto and La Traviata, for instance. At Christmas, there is a regular pantomime that is put on. Other family-friendly shows, such as David Walliams' Awful Auntie, are staged throughout the year.
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