Royal Ballet and Opera

The Royal Opera House stands on the site of a theatre first opened in seventeen thirty-two by an actor-manager named John Rich. Rich found fame as a performer of pantomime, appearing on stage under the name Lun. He funded the original building using the profits from a single, runaway theatrical success called The Beggars Opera. That first theatre was primarily a home for spoken drama, but its legacy as a musical powerhouse began almost immediately when it started hosting the operas and oratorios of George Frideric Handel.