The London Palladium (/pəˈleɪdiˌʊm/) is a 2,286-seat Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety shows. The theatre has also hosted the Royal Variety Performance a record 41 times, most recently in 2017. Val Parnell took over as Managing Director after George Black's death in 1945. He adopted a controversial, but very successful, policy of presenting high-priced, big-name American acts at the top of the bill. Among many, the list included Carmen Miranda, Judy Garland, Sophie Tucker, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, the Andrews Sisters with Vic Schoen and his orchestra, Bob Hope, Liza Minnelli, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Frankie Laine and Johnnie Ray, freezing out many British stars of the day, who were relegated to second-billing. From 1955–67 the theatre was the setting for the top-rated ITV variety show Sunday Night at the London Palladium hosted first by Tommy Trinder, followed by Bruce Forsyth, Norman Vaughan, and Jimmy Tarbuck. The programme was broadcast live every week by ATV, which was owned by the famous theatrical impresario Lew Grade. Production was by Val Parnell. Six programmes aired as special episodes in the United States between May and August 1966 on NBC.[7] Val Parnell became associated with a property development company and began to sell Moss Empires' theatres for redevelopment. When it became known in 1966 that this fate awaited the London Palladium, The Victoria Palace and even the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Prince Littler organised a take-over to save the theatres and Val Parnell retired to live in France. The new Managing Director of Stoll-Moss was Louis Benjamin, who took on the role while continuing as MD of Pye Records within the ATV Group. Beatlemania started at the Palladium 13 October 1963. By 1965, the Wine Society was operating out of a cellar under the Palladium. Additionally, it was also using one at Joiner Street under London Bridge Station and one at St James's Bond in Rotherhithe (which flooded at high tide).[8] In 1968, Sammy Davis, Jr. starred in Golden Boy, the first book musical to be produced in the venue.[9] A Johnny Cash album was recorded there in 1968, but Columbia Records never released it. Bootlegs of the performance are in circulation. In 1970, the Palladium attempted to get Elvis Presley to perform 14 shows over a period of seven days. When Presley's manager, Tom Parker heard that the theatre was offering Presley 28,000 dollars, he reportedly said "That's fine for me, now how much can you get for Elvis?" Had Presley performed, it would have been his first overseas performance. Presley never performed outside of North America due to Parker's lack of a passport. 1991: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Steven Pimlott's reworking of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical, starring Jason Donovan and Linzi Hateley 1994: Oliver! – Cameron Mackintosh's revival directed by Sam Mendes. Originally starring Jonathan Pryce, Sally Dexter and Miles Anderson. 1998: Saturday Night Fever directed and choreographed by Arlene Phillips, starring Adam Garcia and Ben Richards 2000: The King and I directed by Christopher Renshaw. A transfer of the acclaimed 1996 Broadway revival, this version starred Elaine Paige and Jason Scott Lee 2002: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang directed by Adrian Noble and choreographed by Gillian Lynne. The original cast included Michael Ball, Emma Williams, Anton Rodgers, Nichola McAuliffe, Brian Blessed and Richard O'Brien. 2005: Scrooge – The Musical, by Leslie Bricusse, starring Tommy Steele 2006: The Sound of Music directed by Jeremy Sams, starring BBC How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? winner Connie Fisher, Alexander Hanson, Lesley Garrett 2009: Sister Act the Musical, opened May 200...