Its first show was the comic opera Melita or the Parsee's Daughter,[2] composed by Henry Pontet, with a libretto by Juba Kennerley.

[3][1] It hosted, among other notable works, a revival of Les Cloches de Corneville and Ascot, by Percy Fendall, in 1883.

[5] The Blue Bells of Scotland, by Robert Williams Buchanan, premiered at the theatre in 1887, followed by James Mortimer's The Alderman and Fred Marsden's Bob, both in 1888.

[6] The Russian National Opera Company produced The Demon at the Novelty in 1888, and the theatre hosted the London premiere of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House in 1889.

From 1900 to 1907, W. S. Penley managed the theatre, producing and starring in A Little Ray of Sunshine by Mark Ambient and revivals of The Private Secretary and Charley's Aunt in 1900.