THE New Hippodrome and Palace Theatre of Varieties opened in Darlington on Monday, September 2, 1907. Top of the bill on opening night, watched by 4,000 paying punters, was Miss Marie Loftus, “the greatest of all London comediennes, engaged at tremendous cost, performing selections from her extensive repertoire”, with loads of supporting acts on the programme beneath her.

On Tuesday, May 31, 2016, the theatre – now Darlington Civic – closes for a £11.7m 16-month restoration. Top of the bill on closing night will be Mari Wilson, the greatest of all beehived singers from Neasden, with national treasure Christopher Biggins compering all the supporting acts on the programme beneath her.

On opening night, the act at the bottom of the bill was Mademoiselle Lumiere’s New Electrical Fairy Grotto. It was said to be the “most charming and beautiful act on earth”, which is a hell of a claim, but The Northern Echo’s theatre reviewer didn’t dissent. He said she performed serpentine dances while “exquisitely beautiful pictures of flowers, birds and butterflies were thrown onto the fold of her ample skirt”.

On closing night, the act at the bottom of the bill will be me.

The closing night gala is described as a “glittering, unforgettable evening of live music, comedy, magic, dance and entertainment”, so quite where I fit in is difficult to say. I shall, though, be presenting a short life story of the theatre’s founder, Signor Rino Pepi, who put together the opening night programme 109 years ago.

Above Mdmlle Lumiere, he had Vandinoff “who paints beautiful pictures in a remarkably short time”. Mr Vandinoff’s canvas appears to have spun on the stage while he dabbed colour onto it so that when the spinning stopped, a picture magically appeared.

“The centrepiece – a floral design – was artistically executed while the circular canvas was whirled rounded smartly,” said the Echo.

Vandinoff – “the lightning painter in oils” – had a remarkably long career: he spent the next decade touring north America, and by 1917 had reached New Zealand, where his canvas was billed at spinning at the astonishing rate of 30mph.

Above Vandinoff at the Hippodrome on opening was Morny Cash, “the Lancashire Lad”, who was one of the first northern accents to break onto the London stage. Then came the Three Phydoras, a musical novelty act, and Mezetti & Mora, “daring triple bar experts”, who would have rotated and gyrated above the heads of the audience.

But Marie Loftus was the undisputed top of the bill – during the 1890s, she had been able to command £100 per week, a staggering figure, in London. She also had a staggering figure herself, as she was known as a “famously buxom pantomime principal boy”, so she has a connection with Christopher Biggins whose career as a famously buxom panto dame began at the Civic in the 1970s.

Of her performance on opening night, the Echo said: “She had a long stay on stage, and a successful one. Singers Past and Present was the title of a screamingly funny burlesque that brought the house down.”

By coincidence, on closing night the modern Mari is to perform selections from her current stage show, Ready Steady Girls, which features songs from singers past like Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, Sandi Shaw and Cilla Black.

Others on the bill on closing night will be comedy magician Matt Edwards, Darlington Operatic Society, The Vocal Soul Community Choir, ArtsSpark, singer Beth Stobbart and, at the bottom, me, “the most charming and beautiful act on earth” – or am I getting confused with the bottom act on the opening night?

Tickets for Live at the Hippodrome are £18 and £21, from the box office on 01325-486555, or at darlingtoncivic.co.uk. All proceeds to the restoration fund.