Her Majesty's Theatre is a
West End theatre situated on
Haymarket in the
City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by
Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager
Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre. In the early decades of the 20th century, Tree produced spectacular productions of
Shakespeare and other classical works, and the theatre hosted premières by major playwrights such as
George Bernard Shaw,
J. M. Synge,
Noël Coward and
J. B. Priestley. Since World War I, the wide stage has made the theatre suitable for large-scale musical productions, and the theatre has specialised in hosting
musicals. The theatre has been home to record-setting musical theatre runs, notably the World War I sensation
Chu Chin Chow and the current production,
Andrew Lloyd Webber's
The Phantom of the Opera, which has played continuously at Her Majesty's since 1986.