The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre should not be confused with the former Scala Theatre in London that was known as the Prince of Wales Royal Theatre or Prince of Wales's Theatre from 1865 until its demolition in 1903. History Phipps' theatre The first theatre on the site opened in January 1884 when C.J. Phipps built the Prince's Theatre for actor-manager Edgar Bruce. It was a traditional three-tier theatre, seating just over 1,000 people. The theatre was renamed the Prince of Wales Theatre in 1886 after the future Edward VII. Located between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, the theatre was favourably situated to attract theatregoers. The first production in the theatre was an 1884 revival of W. S. Gilbert's The Palace of Truth starring Herbert Beerbohm Tree, preceded by a one-act comedy, In Honour Bound. This was soon followed by a free adaptation of Ibsen's A Doll's House, called Breaking a Butterfly. In 1885, Lillie Langtry, reputedly the first "society" lady to become an actress, played in Princess George and The School for Scandal. The first hit production at the theatre was the record-breaking comic opera, Dorothy, starring Marie Tempest, which was so successful that its authors used the profits to build the Lyric Theatre, where it moved in 1888. The wordless mime play L'Enfant Prodigue premiered in 1891 which, together with A Pierrot's Life in 1897, brought respectability to mime troupes in Britain. On 23 December 1886, Henry Savile Clarke and Walter Slaughter’s musical Alice in Wonderland (the first major production of the Alice books) debuted at the theatre, with Phoebe Carlo in the title role. Lewis Carroll attended a performance seven days later. George Edwardes' musical play, In Town, often considered the first English musical comedy, was presented at the theatre in 1892 and was followed by Edwardes' even more successful A Gaiety Girl in 1893. In 1895, Basil Hood's Gentleman Joe, the Hansom Cabby began a long run starring the low comedian, Arthur Roberts, in the title role. The theatre then began to present straight plays with Maeterlinck's Pelléas et Mélisande (1898, with incidental music by Fauré) and Wills's adaptation of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities as The Only Way (1899,