Broadway History - The Lyceum Theatre

The Lyceum and The New Amsterdam are the oldest theaters on Broadway; The Lyceum, built in 1903, has the further distinction of being the oldest continually operating theater and the first to obtain landmark status. The architects Herts & Tallant created innovative cantilevered balconies that obviated the need for posts or other structural encumbrances. They were also interested in the auditorium’s lighting effects and installed bare bulbs throughout the interior plasterwork rather than a chandelier, which gives the interior a golden glow. The lobby is decorated with murals by James Wall Finn that celebrate Sarah Siddons and David Garrick, stars of eighteenth-century theater in the United Kingdom.

The theater was built by Daniel Frohman, a Broadway pioneer and one of the first impresarios to move a theater north to the Times Square area. He partnered with his brother Charles on many productions until Charles’s drowning on the Lusitania in 1915. Frohman maintained an apartment above the theater; a small door on the north wall of the dining room provided a view of the stage below. Today the apartment houses the Shubert archives.

[tylernguyen]

I saw the play that goes wrong here and be more chill!

[politemenace]

One of my favorite houses. I saw Be More Chill (meh) and The Christmas Carol (yay!) here. Lovely and intimate, particularly on the orchestra level, with ornate interior details and a certain intimacy that only a few other Broadway houses have.

[roybrewer]

What about other "Lyceum" theaters in the USA? Did they develop a chain of theaters? (Memphis in particular)

[hoagymapleton]

Although the lysine theater has a rich history I'm sure all I can think of is that's Liza Minnelli filmed Liza with a z.. so to me the lysine theater is sacred ground

[flannerymonaghan-morris]

Oh I actually saw Be More Chill here when I was 19 (it was…um…no offense to those BMC fans here, but it was…meh)…there weren’t that many people there and it was honestly hilarious, the dissonance between the high school threadbare set and the grandness of the theatre…