Lyceum Theatre

Lyceum Theatre (New York). Although a number of Manhattan playhouses have been called the Lyceum, two are of great historical importance, and both at some time were associated with Daniel Frohman. The earliest was built on Fourth Avenue between 23rd and 24th Streets in 1885 by Steele MacKaye, who had recently been forced out of his Madison Square Theatre. The new theatre incorporated many of the innovations of the older auditorium and was the first erected with electrical lighting throughout the building (supervised by MacKaye's friend Thomas Edison). However, once again MacKaye quickly lost the theatre, and within a year Frohman was in charge. Under his aegis the theatre saw the premieres of many of the best David Belasco–H. C. de Mille collaborations as well as The Prisoner of Zenda and the New York premiere of Trelawny of the Wells. Unfortunately, the theatre district was moving north, and although one paper observed in 1899, “A dozen or more years have passed but no playhouse of later construction has come up to the Lyceum in excellence and beauty,” the building was demolished in 1902. A year later Frohman opened his new Lyceum, still standing, on 45th Street, just east of Broadway. Herts and Tallant designed the gray limestone structure, which boasts Roman columns on the facade and a marble staircase in the lobby. The auditorium, which seats 920 spectators, saw a long series of hits, which did not save it from the threat of demolition in 1939. Luckily it was spared and continued on its prosperous career. The house is owned by the Shuberts and the former offices and apartment of Frohman, which sit above the auditorium, are now the home of the Shubert Archives. The Lyceum vies with the New Amsterdam as the oldest operating theatre in New York, the two opening a month apart in 1903.