From Variety to Verismo

Emerge from Leicester Square Tube Station in the centre of London, and you will see rising above you at one of the four corners of the crossroads a substantial building, on top of which stands an enormous iron statue depicting a Roman charioteer, sword aloft, drawn by two horses. This is the London Hippodrome, now a supercasino, which opened in 1900 as a variety palace.

The Greek words ‘híppos’ and ‘drómos’ come together to indicate a racecourse – a form of entertainment that might have been beyond the practicalities of ambitious original impresario (later Sir) Edward Moss’s nevertheless multifariously employed establishment. Though only just, because spectacular entertainment – circus included – was certainly performed in an arena that could also accommodate a genre known as aqua-drama.

“The London Hippodrome’s last animal production, , featured no fewer than 70 polar bears”