The circuit was established by English
music hall baritone and comedian
Harry Rickards in 1893, following the success of his "New Tivoli Minstrel and Grand Specialty Company" who performed at the old Opera House in Sydney in 1892. By 1909 Rickards had 532 people on the payroll. The Circuit was taken over after Rickards' death in 1911 by a succession of managements, the first being
Hugh D. Mclntosh, who in 1912 purchased the circuit for £100,000. After success with large-scale stage productions such as
Chu Chin Chow he sold the Tivoli circuit to
George Musgrove in 1921. It was subsequently acquired by
J. C. Williamson Tivoli Vaudeville Pty Ltd in 1924, then by
Mike Connors and
Queenie Paul (in the
Great Depression years), Musgrove Theatres, again in 1934 under Frank Neil and Wallace Parnell and, from 1944, David N. Martin, managing director of Tivoli Circuit of Australia. From 1937 to 1943,
Fred Parsons (after whom the
Fred Parsons Award was named) worked as scriptwriter and
stage director Tivoli Circuit, under Frank Neil. The circuit acquired the former "Grand Opera House" at Sydney, which in 1932 was renamed the
New Tivoli Theatre. The Tivoli was the major outlet for
variety theatre and vaudeville in Australia for over 70 years. The circuit grew to include
Melbourne,
New Tivoli Theatre, Adelaide (built in 1913, now Her Majesty's Theatre and the only original Tivoli theatre still standing), Brisbane and Perth in their tours by the turn of the century, promoting both local and international musical, variety and comedy acts. It featured a broad spectrum of vaudeville acts including dancers,
acrobats, comedians and
ventriloquists, and the Tivoli was famous for its scantily-clad
chorus girls, who were colloquially known as "Tivoli tappers". == Legacy ==