1985 Judi
Richards is appointed General Manager of the New; her association
with the venue is a long one as her grandfather worked on its
construction!
1986 Welsh National Opera premieres
Verdi's Otello and performs
Wagner's Ring Cycle in its entirety for the
first time ever in Wales.
Cardiff City Council takes over direct control of the theatre
and announces major repairs.
1987/88 The theatre is closed for 12
months for refurbishment.
1988 Theatr Clwyd brings Alan
Ayckbourn's A Chorus of Disapproval to the
New.
The Peter Hall Company tours Orpheus
Descending with Vanessa Redgrave; the production
subsequently goes on to the West End and Broadway.
1989 The Welsh premiere
of Evita.
1990 Richard Harris in
Pirandello's Henri IV.
J B Priestley's Time and the Conways features
Joan Plowright, Julie Kate and Tamsin Olivier, and is directed by
Richard Olivier.
The National Theatre's Richard III stars Ian
McKellen (who had previously appeared here as Edward II and Richard
II in 1969 and as Hamlet in 1971).
1991 An Evening With Peter
Ustinov sells out for a whole week.
1993 This year's pantomime, Snow
White, marks a return to the stage for Marti Caine.
1994 Anthony Hopkins appears in Theatr
Clwyd's August, adapted from
Chekov's Uncle Vanya, which also features Leslie
Philips and Richard Burton's daughter Kate.
1995 Vanessa Redgrave returns to the New
in Shakepeare's Antony and Cleopatra.
1996 Welsh National Opera present their
50th anniversary season.
The New Theatre's 90th birthday production
is Marlene starring Siân Philips (Dietrich
herself had appeared here in 1973).
1997 Cardiff East by local
playwright Peter Gill is presented in a special visit from the
National Theatre - the only venue outside London to see the
performance.
Maggie Smith appears here in Edward Albee's A Delicate
Balance (she is also a returnee, having played Desdemona
to Laurence Olivier's Othello in the late 1960s).
1998 The first Youth Dance Summer School
enables young people throughout South Wales to work with
professionals for a week, culminating in their own production. This
is an Education Outreach project that is still running.
Robert Lindsay is Richard III in the RSC's touring
production.
1999 Susan Lewis becomes manager of the
New Theatre.
2000 Clwyd Theatr Cymru brings Welsh
writer Alexander Cordell's powerful trilogy to the New and all
three plays are performed in a single day.
The Welsh premiere of Yasmina Reza's Art with
Nigel Havers, Barry Foster and Roger Lloyd-Pack.
The first ever BBC Radio 2 Voice of Musical Theatre Competition
is staged here and won by Laura Michelle Kelly, who goes on to
appear in Mary Poppins in the West End.
2001 The National Theatre brings its
controversial production of Mother Clapp's Molly
House to the New.
2002 Whilst appearing here in La
Cage aux Folles, Julie Goodyear announces her impending return
to Coronation Street.
The theatre launches its own website.
The Play What I Wrote, with its original cast,
comes to Cardiff, prior to its Broadway transfer - the mystery
guest star here is Charles Dance.
The New Theatre takes part in the first ever Cardiff
International Festival of Musical Theatre.
2003 BBC Singer of the World branches out
into the New Theatre.
Wales Theatre Company stage their inaugural production
of Under Milk Wood at the New, starring Matthew
Rhys.
The theatre launches online sales.
2004 Wales' Millennium Centre opens to
complement existing artistic provision. Welsh National Opera makes
its final appearance before moving to the Millennium Centre.
It is almost 50 years to the day since the company first appeared
at the New Theatre.
Wales Theatre Company perform a Shakespeare trilogy in a single
day on the final day of their run.
The New Theatre continues to thrive, recording even higher
figures than previously
Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper, with Simon Callow as
Charles Dickens, film part of the Doctor
Who episode The Unquiet Dead at the
New Theatre (screened on television in spring 2005).
2005 Robert Bolt's A Man for All
Seasons starring Martin Shaw visits the New prior to the
West End.
Wales Theatre Company's production
of Hamlet is, on some nights, performed in
Welsh.
2006 A major refurbishment of the exterior
of the building prior to celebration of the New Theatre's 100th
birthday in December.
Cardiff premiere of CATS runs for 4 weeks in
the summer.
A record-breaking Jack & the
Beanstalk panto starring John Barrowman (Doctor
Who, Torchwood)
2007 Orbit Theatre's production
of High School Musical has people queuing round
the block for tickets
Dallas legend Linda Gray stars in Terms of
Endearment.
Warren Mitchell appears in the heartfelt comedy Visiting Mr
Green.
2008 Tommy Steele plays 2 weeks in the
title role in the spectacular musical Doctor
Dolittle
Rock legend Brian May of Queen makes a surprise cameo
in Hello, Dolly! on 21 June.
2009 The New Theatre hosts the Cardiff
auditions for Britain's Got Talent.
The original cast of Calendar Girls play for
a sold out week in March ahead of their triumphant West End
opening.
Robert Redford, grandson of the theatre's founder, pays a visit
to see Singin' in the Rain in March. He also
donates his family's archive of cuttings and playbills from 1906 -
1935 to the theatre.
The return of John Barrowman in the Robin
Hood pantomime results in a new box office record.
2010 In May the new National Theatre
Wales company perform the world premiere of the uncut version of
John Osborne's long lost first play, The Devil Inside
Him.
In October the theatre stages a special one night concert to
remember the late Olive Guppy, whose Olivettes appeared in over 30
pantomimes.
The musical Scrooge starring Tommy Steele becomes the New's
highest-grossing two week musical ever.
2011 Susan Lewis steps down as Theatre
Manager in January after 12 years in the post.
A campaign is launched to raise funds to replace the Upper
Circle seating
Tracie Bennett appears as Judy Garland between the West End and
Broadway runs of End of the Rainbow
2012 Hollywood star Stefanie Powers appears in
On Golden Pond
The theatre goes 'dark' for 14 weeks to install new
Upper Circle seats, a customer lift and repaint the auditorium
Shakespeare's Globe make their New Theatre debut with an
electrifying Henry V.
October sees a record-breaking week as 9 performances of The
Mousetrap completely sell out when the play visits as part of
its first ever UK tour
2013 Emi Wokoma gives a powerhouse
performance as Tina Turner in Soul Sister
Strictly… stars Flavia and Vincent make their New
Theatre debut
Felicity Kendall and Simon Callow team up for
Chin-Chin
2014 The Full Monty plays
ahead of its West End run
Warwick Davis brings his Reduced Height Theatre Company in a
production of See How They Run
Dawn French appears in her one-woman show Thirty Million
Minutes
2015 Showbiz legend Sir Bruce
Forsyth returns after a gap of over 50 years
Lorna Luft appears in The Songbook of Judy Garland, a
tribute show for her mother.
After the huge success of the 2014-15 pantomime
Cinderella, the New Theatre takes the unprecedented step
of bringing back 6 cast members for the 2015-16 show,
Aladdin. The returning stars are Linda Lusardi, Mike
Doyle, Gareth Thomas, Andy Jones, Sam Kane and Holly Bluett.
2016 Sirs Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are
joined by Owen Teale and Damien Molony in a pre-West End
run of Harold Pinter's No
Man's Land, which plays to huge
acclaim.
The Rocky Horror Show appears twice within the year due
to public demand.
David Hasselhoff stars as Captain Hook in the pantomime
Peter Pan.
