Hippodrome Launches Evening Series Celebrating West End's Hidden Histories

_{USA. Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland and Jessie Buckley (l) as Rosalyn Wilder in the ©Roadside Attractions new movie: Judy (2019). (Image: Landmark Media/Alamy)}

The Hippodrome Casino in London has launched West End Memories, a new series featuring figures who shaped the capital's theatre and entertainment history.

The Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square launched a new occasional series last week dedicated to preserving the stories of the people who built London's West End entertainment scene, opening with an evening featuring actress Patricia Hodge and theatre producer Rosalyn Wilder. 

Rosalyn Wilder was Judy Garland's assistant for her comeback tour in Britain, before her untimely death from a drug overdose.

The event, titled West End Memories, was the first in what organisers describe as an ongoing series. It brought together two figures with deep roots in the capital's theatrical history for a night of conversation and recollection at the venue once central to London's post-war nightlife.

_{Rosalyn Wilder and Patricia Hodge enjoying the event. (Image: Hippodrome Casino)}

The Hippodrome, now operating as a casino and entertainment venue, was for many years home to the Talk of the Town, a supper club and variety venue that attracted international performers from the 1950s through to the 1980s. Wilder worked closely with the producer Robert Nesbitt during that era, placing her at the centre of productions venues including the London Palladium and the Royal Variety Performance.

A Career Across Six Decades

Hodge guided Wilder through a conversation that traced a career stretching from the height of the Talk of the Town to her involvement, decades later, in the 2019 biographical film Judy, which depicted the final months of Judy Garland's life.

The evening closed with a recording of Garland performing 'Over the Rainbow' during her 1968 residency at the Talk of the Town, one of her last public appearances before her death in June 1969.

'The recording had been made only a short distance from where the audience was sitting, but nearly sixty years ago,' Hodge observed.

The moment underlined one of the evening's quieter themes: the Hippodrome building itself as a repository of London entertainment history, with events that shaped the city's cultural life having taken place within its walls across several generations.

Supporting Access to Theatre

The event was held in support of Go Live Theatre, a charitable organisation that works to bring theatre access to children and young people who would not otherwise have the opportunity to attend.

The Hippodrome has indicated that West End Memories will continue as an occasional series, though no dates for future events have been confirmed.