also starring Harvey). Charles Hawtrey starred in the successful A Message from Mars (1901). In 1900–01, Marie Tempest played the title roles in the play English Nell (based on Simon Dale's novel about Nell Gwynn), Peg Woffington, a dramatisation of Charles Reade's novel, as well as Becky Sharp in a dramatisation of Thackeray's Vanity Fair. The theatre played more musical comedies beginning in 1903, including the Frank Curzon and Isabel Jay hits Miss Hook of Holland (1907, its matinee version, Little Miss Hook of Holland was performed by children for children), King of Cadonia (1908), and The Balkan Princess (1910), and later the World War I hits, Broadway Jones (1914), Carminetta (1917), and Yes, Uncle! (1917). The theatre then hosted plays such as Avery Hopwood's farce Fair and Warmer (1918) and Ivor Novello's The Rat (1924, Novello's first play, in which he also starred), and revues including A to Z (1921), Co-Optimists (1923), and Charlot's Revue (1924). They starred Gertrude Lawrence, Jack Buchanan, Beatrice Lillie, Stanley Holloway, and Jessie Matthews. Ms Matthews also starred, along with Richard Hearne, in "Wild Rose", featuring the memorable Jerome Kern song "Look for the Silver Lining". These were followed by The Blue Train (1927), Alibi (1928, directed by Gerald du Maurier with Charles Laughton as Hercule Poirot), By Candlelight (1928), and Journey's End (1929). In 1930, Edith Evans became the manager at the theatre, presenting and starring in Delilah, which was not a success. Beginning in 1932, the theatre presented a series of risqué "Folies"-style revues, including Voila! Les Dames (1935) and its last production, Encore les Dames (1937). These shows were so successful that they funded the rapid rebuilding of the theatre in 1937. Cromie's theatre After 50 years, the theatre's 800 seats were deemed insufficient for productions of the day, and it was demolished. On 17 June 1937, Gracie Fields sang to the workmen as she laid the foundation stone of the new Art Deco-decorated theatre, designed by Robert Cromie, and the theatre opened on 27 October that year. The new theatre's seating capacity was about 1,100, and it had a larger stage and improved facilities for both the artists and the public, including a large, stylish stalls bar (the bar itself was 14 metres long), complete with dance floor. The first productions at the new theatre were Les Folies de Paris et Londres, starring George Robey, followed by Folies De Can-Can