[4] Other notable events in its opening years included the London debut of famed cabaret artiste Josephine Baker, who performed her famous 'Bananas Dance'.
After the war, the architects T. and E. Braddock restored the building to theatrical use, becoming the "London Casino"[2] once again — where the 'King of Yiddish Music', Leo Fuld, was a major attraction.
[citation needed] The last production before Cinerama took over the building was Wish You Were Here, which included a full-size swimming pool on stage.
The Cinerama Corporation chose the Casino Theatre for the UK debut of the system, and in 1954 architects Frank Baessler and T. and E. Braddock drew up plans for the conversion.
Like all subsequent presentations, the film was shown on a roadshow theatrical basis, with reserved seats and an intermission, which was required to load the spools for the second half onto the single projectors in each box.
From 25 February 1958, the third Cinerama travelogue, Seven Wonders of the World played, running until 31 October 1959 before being replaced by South Seas Adventure from 3 November 1959 to 4 March 1961.
[6] The Casino was chosen for the world premiere of How the West Was Won, the second (and final) narrative film in the three-strip Cinerama process.
The single-strip system had made its debut in the UK at the Coliseum Cinerama at the end of 1963, and the first film in the process at the Casino was The Greatest Story Ever Told, which ran from 8 April to 28 July 1965.
The building was then converted back into a full-time theatre by RHWL Architects and given its original name, reopening with the world première of the musical Evita on 21 June 1978.
[4] Owned by the Delfont Mackintosh Group, and with a capacity of 1,716, it formerly hosted Mary Poppins until 12 January 2008, before the show toured the UK.