Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. "The crowd and the tumult at the doors of the Theatre last Wednesday [raised the question] why the Box and Pit passages, which were the same last year, are now separated. The answer is because at the Opera, the Boxes and the Pit are for the same price and company; at the Playhouse they are different in both respects. Repeated notices were sent by Kemble both to those on foot and in carriages that the house was full; and the doors were actually closed before the house was really filled in the hope of dispersing the crowd--but they were a second time forced open" (Morning Chronicle, 7 Jan.). Receipts: #582 8s. 6d. (552.15.6; 26.14.0; 2.19.0, being the largest amount received at this theatre during its occupancy by the dl company)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mme Banti. A Grand Serious Opera (1st time in this Country [1st performed at Paris, 1779]); the Music by Gluck. Accompanied With Chorusses under the Direction of Kelly. With entirely new Scenes designed by Marinari, and executed under his direction, Dresses and Decorations. Tickets to be had of Mme Banti, No. 7, Hay Market. The Company are respectfully entreated not to come upon the Stage this Night, as the Iphigenia is accompanied with a degree of Spectacle on which the effect of the Performance chiefly depends; besides, the Machinery used in this Opera will make it dangerous for the Company to be upon the Stage during the time of the representation. "We never saw a House more splendid, more crowded, nor more gratified...In spite of the request not to crowd upon the stage, it was quite thronged; and it was impossible to move the complicated and superb scenery with effect. We lament that no means can be devised to save the stage from this perpetual intrusion" (Morning Chronicle, 8 Apr.). "Banti had a crowded house for her benefit, and is said to have netted 1500 guineas" (Monthly Magazine, May 1796 p. 321)