Encore!

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of its former self, Mumbai’s Royal Opera House, with a little help from conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah, is spreading its wings once again.

- Leena Desai

It was once called the ‘theatre-de-luxe of the East’, a shining jewel in ‘Bombay the Beautiful’—the urbs prima of India. On 21 October, nearly a century to the day it first opened, and more than two decades after it closed its gracious doors, the Royal Opera House, restored by conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah, reverberated once again with the sound of music. As London-based soprano Patricia Rozario took the stage, she knew well the historic import of the moment. This was no mere performance; she was creating, and recreating, history.

BEHIND THE MASKS

When it opened on 16 October 1916, the Royal Opera House became famous as an entertainment venue handsome enough to rival any in England or Europe. And the two men who made this possible—who raised the finances (the princely sum of around ₹7,50,000 at the time) to build it, and dictated its design—were Jehangir Framji Karaka, a Parsi businessman and philanthropist, and Maurice Bandmann, an American entertainer. For a city that had, thus far, no world-class theatres, the Opera House—with its baroque architecture, specialized acoustics and stylish interiors— was a monumental addition to the city’s built heritage.