Palace Theatre, London was musical director at the theatre from 1900 until 1920. The Marx Brothers appeared at the theatre in 1922, performing selections from their Broadway shows. In 1925, the musical comedy "No, No, Nanette" opened at the Palace Theatre, followed by other musicals, for which the theatre became known. "The Sound of Music" ran for 2,385 performances at the theatre, opening in 1961. "Jesus Christ Superstar" ran from 1972 to 1980, and "Les Misérables" played at the theatre for nineteen years, beginning in 1985. In 1983, Andrew Lloyd Webber purchased and by 1991 had refurbished the theatre. "Monty Python's Spamalot" played
Development of musical theatre draw in the audiences, leading to better profits and improved production values. The first play to achieve 500 consecutive performances was the London (non-musical) comedy "Our Boys", opening in 1875, which set an astonishing new record of 1,362 performances. This run was not equaled on the musical stage until World War I, but musical theatre soon broke the 500 performance mark in London, most notably by the series of more than a dozen long-running Gilbert and Sullivan family-friendly comic opera hits, including "H.M.S. Pinafore" in 1878 and "The Mikado" in 1885. These were sensations on both sides of the Atlantic