Lyceum Theatre
149 West 45th Street | also 152 West 46th Street | Times Square | built 1903
Open on the map13 entries
The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1903
The new Lyceum gets the city's first cantilevered balcony and ice-cooled air
Herts & Tallant gave the auditorium of the new Lyceum the city's first cantilevered balcony, so audiences no longer had to look around support columns to see the stage. Air was passed over blocks of ice in summer or steam coils in winter to cool or warm the house. Behind the auditorium stood a seven-story annex holding scene-painting studios, fourteen dressing rooms and costume and carpentry shops.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1903
Daniel Frohman gives himself a private door above the Lyceum stage
Above the theater, Daniel Frohman built himself an apartment with a small door looking down on the stage. According to the Shubert Organization, legend says he signaled his wife, the actress Margaret Illington, with a white handkerchief when he thought she was overacting. The apartment is now home to the Shubert Archive.
Source: shubert.nyc
- 1903
Frohman drops stock-company repertory for long runs at the new Lyceum
Daniel Frohman had set up a resident company, the Lyceum Stock Company, in 1886 at his earlier Lyceum on Fourth Avenue between 23rd and 24th Streets, and he hoped to carry the idea over to the new house on 45th Street. Theatrical fashion had shifted, however, toward long-running productions rather than repertory, and the new Lyceum's booking policy followed that trend.
“…theatrical fashion had changed to a preference for long-running productions instead of repertory, and the new Lyceum's policy conformed to this trend…”
- 1903
J. M. Barrie's The Admirable Crichton is the first new play to premiere at the Lyceum
After the opening production, The Proud Prince with E. H. Sothern, the Lyceum presented the first new play to have its premiere there: J. M. Barrie's The Admirable Crichton, with William Gillette. The Landmarks Preservation Commission later listed Billie Burke, Ethel Barrymore, Ina Claire and Leslie Howard among the many stars who appeared on the stage.
“The first new play to have its premiere at the Lyceum was J. M. Barrie's 'The Admirable Crichton' with William Gillette.”
- 1903
Daniel and Charles Frohman open the new Lyceum Theatre
After losing their original Fourteenth Street Lyceum to redevelopment, producers Daniel and Charles Frohman build a new theater with William Harris, designed by Herts & Tallant in Beaux-Arts style with a cantilevered balcony believed to be the city's first. The house opens with The Proud Prince and later becomes the oldest continuously operating Broadway theater.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1912
Sarah Bernhardt's film Queen Elizabeth premieres at the Lyceum and launches Famous Players
The French silent film Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth, with Sarah Bernhardt as Elizabeth I, was brought to New York by Adolph Zukor and premiered at the Lyceum Theatre. Its United States release on July 12, 1912 was the first from Zukor's Famous Players Film Company, which later became Famous Players-Lasky and then Paramount Pictures. Its success persuaded other American companies that feature films could make money.
“Zukor also brought it to New York City, where it premiered at the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1914
Florenz Ziegfeld marries Billie Burke between performances
Impresario Florenz Ziegfeld and actress Billie Burke marry at the Lyceum in the gap between a matinee and an evening show. The hurried ceremony becomes one of Broadway's better-known backstage weddings.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1940
Kaufman, Hart and Max Gordon buy the Lyceum and let Frohman keep his apartment
In May 1940 the Bowery Savings Bank, which had taken the Lyceum at a foreclosure auction the previous December, announced a $250,000 sale to a syndicate of George S. Kaufman, Max Gordon and Moss Hart. Under the deal Daniel Frohman could keep living in the apartment above the auditorium for $1 a year, but he died that December, less than a year later.
“Frohman was to be allowed to live in the apartment above the theater for $1 per year, though Frohman died in December 1940…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1945
Born Yesterday opens for a 1,642-performance run
Judy Holliday stars in Born Yesterday at the Lyceum, a run that reaches 1,642 performances and becomes the longest in the theater's history. The hit comes a few years before the Shubert Organization purchases the venue in 1949.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1965
The APA and Phoenix take over the Lyceum for a season of classical revivals
In March 1965 the Shuberts leased the Lyceum to the partnership of the Association of Producing Artists and the Phoenix Theatre for $100,000 a year, a fee the lessees thought nominal. Their first production, a revival of You Can't Take It with You, opened in November 1965. Revivals during the partnership included The Cherry Orchard, The Misanthrope and Hamlet. The partnership dissolved in early 1969 because it lacked funding.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1973
Seven witnesses back landmark status for the Lyceum while its owner objects
The Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on designating the Lyceum Theatre on July 24, 1973. Seven witnesses spoke in favor, and the owner's representative opposed, while the commission said it had received many letters supporting designation. The commission had already held an earlier hearing on the theater in 1966. The report on the designation is dated November 26, 1974.
“Seven witnesses spoke in favor of designation. The representative of the owner spoke in opposition to designation.”
- 1974
The Lyceum becomes the first Broadway theater landmarked by the city
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the Lyceum's facade a New York City landmark, the first Broadway theater to receive the honor. The commission extends protection to the lobby and auditorium interior in 1987.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2025
Oh, Mary! becomes the first show to gross over $1 million in a week at the Lyceum
The play Oh, Mary!, which transferred to the Lyceum from off-Broadway in July 2024, broke the theater's box-office records several times. For the week ending June 13, 2025 it grossed $1,354,840.50, the first time any production at the Lyceum had taken in more than $1 million in a single week. It also held the house record for an eight-performance week.
“…it is the first production at the theater to gross more than one million dollars in a single week.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Lyceum Theatre (Broadway)Wikipedia
- The Lyceum Theatre -- 149 West 45th StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
Nearby
- Bertelsmann Building1540 Broadway | 13 entries
- I. Miller Building1552 Broadway | 3 entries
- Hudson Theatre139 West 44th Street | 13 entries
- Public School 67 (High School of the Performing Arts)120 West 46th Street | 13 entries
- Church of St. Mary the Virgin145 West 46th Street | 9 entries
- Millennium Times Square133 West 44th Street | 10 entries