Walter Sickert painted there; Kipling could see it from his window; Ada Reeve reminesced about it and many great stars appeared there. Gatti's at Charing Cross was one of the most popular London music-halls.
Variously called 'The Hungerford', 'Gatti's in the Arches' and simply 'Gatti's', the theatre was originally a restaurant. Carlo Gatti launched it as a music-hall in 1867. It was built into a 250-foot arch underneath the South-Eastern railway station near Charing Cross. The old theatre, which was one of the most vulgar music-halls of the day, could hold 600 people when it was filled to capacity.
Ada Reeve and Katie Lawrence were just some of the many stars who appeared here in the late 1800'
s. They scandalised audiences by dressing up in men's outfits and singing risque songs.
I learned about Gatti's because I recently saw Sickert's painting, Katie Lawrence at Gatti's, in the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Ada Reeve Talks About Gatti's
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