The Lyric was a prominent theatre built in 1903 in Manhattan, New York City in the 42nd Street Theatre District. It had two entrances, one at 213 West 42nd Street and another at 214-26 West 43rd Street and was one of the few New York houses that had two formal entrances[1]. In 1934, it was converted to a cinema. In 1996, its shell was demolished and the space was combined with another theatre to build the present Hilton Theatre. Both the 42nd and 43rd Street facades were architecturally preserved, and today they can be recognized as the front and back of the Hilton Theatre.
Contents |
History
The theatre was originally built by developer Eugene C. Potter as a home for composer Reginald DeKoven's American School of Opera. However, the school went bankrupt before construction was finished, and Potter leased the theatre and its offices to the Shubert brothers. It was designed by architect Victor Hugo Koehler, and opened on October 12, 1903.[1]
Design
The theatre originally had approximately 1,350 seats and two balconies. It had eighteen box seats, nine on each side of the auditorium. These were considered far too many for a commercial theatre of its size, and six, the top row of each side, were removed soon after the Lyric opened.
Notable shows
The Lyric Theatre hosted many notable shows in the early decades of the 20th century. Many plays by William Shakespeare were produced, sometimes multiple times, the most popular being The Merchant of Venice, which was first produced in 1904 and revived three times in 1907. Both Hamlet and Othello were produced three times between 1907 and 1914. Other Shakespearean classics included The Taming of the Shrew, The Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Macbeth and Julius Caesar[2].
Sarah Bernhardt appeared at the Lyric in 1906. In 1918, Sigmund Romberg's popular operetta Maytime was produced. In 1925, the Marx Brothers appeared in one of their earliest Broadway shows, The Cocoanuts, which in 1929 would be adapted into an early sound and their first released film.
Florenz Ziegfeld produced at least three shows, including Rio Rita in 1927 and The Three Musketeers in 1928.
Cole Porter's musical Fifty Million Frenchmen opened in 1929.
External links
- Lyric Theatre at Internet Broadway Database, with historic photographs
- Lyric Theatre at the New 42nd Street
References
- ^ a b Morrison, William (1999) (trade paperback). Broadway Theatres: History and Architecture. Dover Books on Architecture. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. pp. 36–37. ISBN 0-486-40244-4.
- ^ Lyric Theatre at Internet Broadway Database
 |
This article about a specific theater is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
