History
The history of Royal Theatre Carré is closely associated with the family Carré. This French/German dynastie of higly skilled riders and circusartists gave its first shows in France and Germany in the late 18th century.
The family Carré performed in the Netherlands for the first time in September 1863. They did an horse-act on the annual fair of Amsterdam. Three years later Wilhelm Carré got temporarly permission to build a small wooden circus, where they could show their acts. In 1874 Carré got permission to build a bigger and a more beautiful circus building, with a 14 meters cross-cut arena, a heated vestibule and lovely anterooms. But even this was after five years to small and they moved for the last time to its final destination Binnen-Amstel 125.
The front of the building was concrete. They could leave it like this for only four months, because of the risk of fire. The building had to be broken down before the first of May. Oscar Carré, the patriarch of that time, raided the city council with petitions and procedures, so the building could stay at its place four years longer. In the autumn of 1886, Oscar Carré got permission to build a complete concrete building and in April 1887 they started with the ramming of 1450 wooden piles. On the 3rd of December they opened the circusbuilding with a Gala.
The theatre was 26 meters high, 34 meters long and 37 meters wide. The seatings were placed in the shape of a horse-shoe, so 2.000 people could visit a show in Carré. The whole building was light-up by gas lamps; its fairy like light shined in the twelve dressing-rooms, the three foyers, the restaurant, the halls, the two stables and in the ten chambers of the director Carré
The beautiful concrete circus-theatre along the riverside was a big hit from the beginning. Within two years Oscar Carré was able to pay off his bomd loans, which was needed for the construction of the building. Every evening there was a show in the theatre, which was solid as a rock. Big stars from all of Europe came to perform in the theatre. People from all over the Netherlands came to the theatre.
Variety show in Carré
The theatre was primarily meant for the circus of Oscar Carré, but they only performed from November till May. In the Spring and Summer the circus toured through Europe. So in 1893 Oscar rented the building to the King of the variety shows Frits van Haarlem. Exept for Frits van Haarlem (he performed there until 1915) there were also some small variety show companies, who performed in the theatre.
Slowly the theatre changed from circus to variety shows. In the nineties of the 19th century there was also operetta and stage plays, as forms of amusement. The Carré family performed less and less and there were even years that they did not perform at all.
After the jubilee of Oscar Carré in 1909 (he was director for 40 years) his health got worse. On the 12th of April ha performed for the last time in his beloved theatre, and went on tour through Europe. Oscar Carré died at the age of 65, on the 29th of June 1911, in Kopenhagen.
After Oscars death, Carré was the place to be for public amusement in every kind of form; vaudeville, opera, operetta and public stage play. In 1907 these forms were completed by the phenomenon revue. This was a real theatre spectacle from France, with a lot of dancing, singing talking and Carré was suitable for this kind of theatre. Henri ter Hall made the revue big untill the late thirties. A lot of famous stars came ot of this; Louis Davids, Henriette Köhler en Johan Buziau.
Theatre Carré
In the twenties the name of Oscar Carré disappeared from the front of the theatre; Circus Carré was the new name, although circus was almost disappeared. Step by step the élan of Carré disappeared. The theatre was unprofitable and the family Carré wanted to sell the theatre. In 1920 a theatre company bought Circus Carré and renamed it again to Theatre Carré. The new director was Max Gabriël, a composer and conductor. He rebuilded the stables into dressing-rooms and improved the acoustics of the theatre. After one year Gabriël left the theatre, because he could not make Carré profitable.
Mister Boekholt was the next director. He previously made the Scalatheatre profitable and wanted to do the same for Carré. According to Boekholt, Carré should be a variety theatre again. This idea failed as well. To get the public to the theatre they even showed movies, but without success.
The circus came back to Carré in 1924. The stables had to be back installed again for Circus Henny. He had an extensive menagerie of elephants, lions, bears, camels, hyena’s, leopards, jaguars, monkeys, snakes and horses of course. A total of 84 animals. Circus Henny stayed for three months and was sold out every evening. Despite these successes, Circus Henny left Carré with considerable debts and Carré went bankrupt.
On the 8th of June 1924 the building was publically autioned. The buyers, Benjamin and Content, payed Fl. 439.000,- and founded the NV Exploitation corporation Carré. The new owners thought that the theatre was unprofitable for all those years because the theatre was uninviting. That’s why they renovated the theatre again; the hall was covered with marble, they installed a new foyer and cloakrooms. They changed the bright colors, in the theatre itself, into pastel shades. Furthermore they installed a new stage, with a special construction so that it would be possible to change the stage into a circus within 24 hours.
Profitable again
Despite the big changes and the (successfull new acts) Carré stayed unprofitable. In the beginning of 1928 there was a burden of debt of FL. 800.000,-. Alex Wunning, ‘Palace of Public diligence’ came to the rescue. He could prevent a bankruptcy. He found new shareholders and a board of directors, who named Alex Wunning director of Carré. Thanks to Alex Wunning Carré could start over again and it had more continuity; every evening there was a show and there was more operetta in Carré. In 1931 for the first time in 30 years, it was possible to pay out to the share holders.
The business success continued and in 1935 over 66% of the people of Amsterdam who went to the theatre in that year, had visited Carré. The theatre had a company who stayed in the theatre, with great successes, like Meyer Hamel Revue (with Sylvain Poons, Louis Davids, Fien de la Mar en Lou Bandy).
International stars came to Carré as well in the thirties. For example the famous clown Grock and from the ‘Casino the Paris’ Josephine Baker. Furthermore there were performances from the Mills Brothers, the Comedian Marmonists and the orchestra of Jack Hylton. Alex Wunning made sure that there still were variety shows in Carré. The public could come to see a show in Carré for 15 cents up to FL. 1,75.
The Second World War
‘Although there is no peace, do come to Carreé to enjoy a lovely evening’. This was a slogan on an advertising poster in the early days of the German occupation. Despite the restrictions, the show went on in the theatre. Wunnik succeeded to offer a wide range of circus, variety shows and revue.
De need for leisure and escaping from the reality occurred in the dark years of the German occupation. From 1942 and 1943 the business was booming. The people could not listen to the radio anymore (leisure medium), because it was a way for propaganda. Just like newspapers and magazines. In the cinemas there were only German movies. This was a big contrast for the theatres; the Dutch people could do a stage act and the audience was allowed to laugh.
The board had a lot of difficulties to choose what the role of Carré was in the nazi-propaganda. Wunnik had to tolerate the meetings in Carré from ‘Winterhulp’. And just like other Dutch companies, Carré had to fire all Jewish employees. A few Jewish employees were already into hiding or taken away by the Germans.
In the beginning of 1944 there were a lot of problems for Carré; electricity was put on rations and there were very few coals. Furthermore, the Nazis invaded Carré regularly, looking for hiding Jews or men who tried to escape the duty of ‘Arbeitseinsatz’. Because of these raids the public stayed away from Carré and closed its doors in September 1944.
Public is more critical
Slowly, after the war, the amusement came back to Carré. But the audience was much more critical than before the war. They complained about the quality of the shows and the entrance fees were to high. Alex Wunning looked for new forms of amusement. And he brought the ice-revue to the theatre. In the first tv-broadcast in 1952, this ice-revue was an item on tv.
In the second half of the forties and fifties Carré was still a circustheatre. During the winter there were performances of Circus Strassburger. On the 9th of February 1952 there was a special performance by Circus Strassburger, in honour of the 75th anniversary of director Alex Wunnink. One and a half years he passed away.
His successor, his son Karel Wunnink, was already chosen. He continued the schedule; during the winter Circus Strassburger and during the summer the ‘Snip & Snap Revue’ of René Sleeswijk. The big stars of this revue were Willy Walden and Piet Muyselaar. Karel Wunnik also took on French and Spanish ballet and even dansers from communistic countries. These dansers were very successful for Carré and sales went through the roof. In the late fifties the Dutch ballet performed in Carré many times, but it was less succesfull then de dansers of Folies Bergères and the Lido from Paris.
In the late fifties it was the era of the musicals. This new phenomenon was first shown in Carré, with the musical Porgy & Bess. Two years later followed up by de world première Free and Easy. Two weeks after that on the 2nd of January 1960, the auditions for the first Dutch musical production started for My Fair Lady. Thanks to this production Carré was sold out for five months in 1962!
One Man Show
On the 6th of December 1963 Carré revealed something completely new. Toon Hermans performed a One Man Show . One man alone for a big audience. In history, it had never happened that a variety show artist dared to do this. After the show Toon Hermans said: “The very first evening that I was on that stage, I knew that this was the biggest evening of my life.” The press was very enthusiastic, and the One Man Show was a big hit. A lot of famous Dutch One Man Shows were born like Herman van Veen, Paul van Vliet, Freek de Jonge and Youp van ‘t Hek.
In 1968 Carré almost stopped to exist. The development company EMS had previously bought Carré (in those times unprofitable) and they wanted to tear down Carré. They wanted to build an hotel on that spot. Due to actions against the tearing down, the city council intervened. The development plan had been changed by the city council, therefore it was impossible to build an hotel. In 1972 the city council arranged a lease contract for 10 years with EMS. Two years later Carré got a monumental status to protect the culture inheritance.
After Karel Wunnik passed away in May 1974, Guus Oster (actor) the new director of Carré. In those times it was very difficult to bring large productions to Carré. It was very difficult to get the theatre sold out. To cover the emptiness, the ceilings were lowered and the lodges were covered. Instead of 2.000 seats, there were only 600 seats. This was soon undone by Oster, after the musicalhit ‘En nu naar bed’ by the Dutch writer Annie M.G. Schmidt. Ten years later André van Duin came to Carré. First as an artist in the Snip & Snap Revue and after that as an absolute star in his own revue, produced by Joop van den Ende. Carré with its 2.000 seats was to small for this revue.
A real theatre from Amsterdam
On the 1st of January 1977 Carré became a real theatre from Amsterdam. The city council bought the theatre for almost 6 million guilders from EMS. Oster brought back the circus into Carré, with great enthusiasm. Bob van de Linden was the next director and took on something new; the own production of the musical ‘Cats’. Van de Linden collected one and a half million and created a productionteam. In November 1986, there were 300 candidates to do auditions for a role in this musical, 37 were hired. Since the premiere at the 18th of July 1987, Carré was sold out for months.
Carré brought de Dutch showbiz on international level, with the production of Cats. And new Dutch stars were born, like Stanley Burleson, Pia Douwes and Ruth Jacott. In 1987 Carré celebrated its 100 year anniversary, with special performances by André van Duin.
Royal Theatre
In honnour of the 100 year old anniversary, Carré received the unique permission to use the title ‘Royal’ . Instead of theatre Carré was named Royal Theatre Carré. The management changed as well; there was a better marketing policy and they strived for a better balance between the different forms of amusement; musical, cabaret, stage plays, international performances and spectacle. In October 1997 Hein J. Jens became the new director of Carré, and he would make an effort to make a better balance.
In 1991 the decision was made to renovate a big part of Carré. A huge renovation, which costed 20 million guilders. In 1993 the renovation was ready and Carré was changed from a circus with a small theatre accommodation, to a large theatre with circus accommodation. There now was a new and complete stage housing, modern dressing-rooms, office-space and a big basement with stables and storerooms. The stage was renovated as well. The preservation of the own, historical atmosphere was the most important issue during this renovation.
The last decade of the 20th century characterized Carré, mostly with the revival of the musicals like My fair aldy, West Side Story, Anatevka, Annie and Oliver. But also new productions like Joe and Evita were succesfull. Another revival was the ballet, like the Russian balletdansers from Kyrov and “Ballet for Life” from Maurice Béjart.
The last decade was also characterized by One Man Shows, like Youp van ’t Hek, Freek de Jonge, Herman van Veen and Herman Finkers. They followed the footsteps of Toon Hermans. Furthermore, all the big international stars from the music business and showbiz came to Carré like James Taylor, Buenovista Social Club, Stomp, Dave Brubeck, Laura Pausini, Noa, Bette Midler, Oletta Adams, Udo Jürgens, Dulce Pontes, Paolo Conte, Jewel, Georges Moustaki, Van Morisson, Dionne Warwick, Mercedes Sosa, Julien Clerc, Randy Newman, Lou Reed and many others.
The last few years Carré has achieved a wide range of shows and a new goal was achieved; the theatre is opened 365 days a year (without the usual summer break).
