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THURSDAY 16 FEBRUARY:RSDAY 16 FEBRUARY:
THU
THURSDAY 16 FEBRUARY:THURSDAY 16 FEBRUARY: and goddesses and imitation greenery on the side walls and the
MELBOURNE CITY CENTRELBOURNE CITY CENTRE WALKABOUT (DAY 1)E WALKABOUT (DAY 1)
M proscenium. It was a shame that the lights in the ceiling didn’t twin-
MELBOURNE CITY CENTRMELBOURNE CITY CENTRE WALKABOUT (DAY 1)E WALKABOUT (DAY 1)
Our day began with a walk to Melbourne’s newest and most up-to- kle and the cloud machine no longer worked. On to the former bal-
RapelloRapello
date state of the art multiplex cinema, the Hoyts Melbourne Central Hoyts Melbourne Central cony area, which was called the RapelloRapello (originally 627 seats but
Hoyts Melbourne Central Hoyts Melbourne Central
11, which finally opened in September 2005, a year after a fire dur- now only 540) when it opened in 1963 until 1981 when it was re-
Forum 2Forum 2
ing construction destroyed the auditoria. We toured round the build- named Forum 2Forum 2. It is now used for the Melbourne Film Festival and
ing and saw the largest auditorium as well as the smallest, the private hires.
“Halfpipe” screen, seating only 42 on two or three person beanbags.
This is a very successful multiplex as it is situated above the busy
Melbourne Central Railway Station and on many tram and bus
routes; it is also close to the university.

Princess Theatrencess Theatre
Pri
Princess TheatrePrincess Theatre
Out in the sunshine again and our next stop was the PrincessPrincess Thea-Thea-
PrincessPrincess Thea-Thea-
tretre
tre
tre with its long ornate Victorian exterior with high domed mansard
style roofs with cast iron cresting, and a large mural of a coat of
arms and the name PRINCESS THEATRE on one of the side walls.
Seating 2,162 in stalls, mezzanine and circle, the theatre was used
Forum Theatrem Theatre Flinders Street
Foru
Forum TheatreForum Theatre
only briefly for film in the early 1930s and during World War II. Exten-
Our next stop was the very impressive Moorish-style façade of ForumForum sively refurbished in the late 1980s, it remains in live theatre use. It
ForumForum
1 & 2
1 & 21 & 2 StateState was here that Wilma entertained us with the story of how the theatre
1 & 2 Theatres. When opened in 1929 as the StateState Theatre with
3,371 seats on two levels, it was the largest theatre ever built in got its ghost, as we tucked into our sandwich lunch.
Regent TheatreRegent Theatre
Australia. Here we met Wilma, our guide for the rest of the day, in Refreshed, we were then off to the Regent TheatreRegent Theatre, which opened in
the small Florentine style foyer and headed into the auditorium. The 1929 and was the second largest cinema to be built in Australia,
former stalls area is used for concerts and cabarets and has had the with 3,287 seats. The façade has a classical Italian Renaissance
front seats removed. The Italian garden atmospheric style is based style architecture dominated by a huge arch in a classical Roman
on designs by John Eberson, complete with statues of naked gods triumphal style. Up the steps past an octagonal pay-box, which is

Regent TheatreTheatre auditorium
Forum Regent
RegentRegent TheatreTheatre
Forum Forum cc
Forum cc

Forum Theatreheatre upper foyer
Forum TheatreForum Theatre
Forum TheatreForum Theatre
ForumForum Forum Th Forum T
Forum Theatreeatre foyer
Forum dd
Forum dd
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