Lyceum Theatre, Historic theater in Midtown Manhattan, United States
The Lyceum Theatre is a theater building on West 45th Street in Manhattan with a limestone facade supported by six Corinthian columns. The auditorium rises through three levels and provides seating for around 920 visitors.
Daniel Frohman opened the venue in 1903 as part of his vision to establish a permanent theater in Manhattan. Since then, the stage has continuously hosted performances, outlasting every other Broadway theater in uninterrupted operation.
The theater's name comes from the Lyceum on Fourth Avenue, which Daniel Frohman ran from 1885 until it closed in 1902; the new house opened as the New Lyceum. The frieze above the three arched windows carries six stone faces signifying comedy and tragedy. The colonnade and marquee were meant to draw a "more cultured audience" than rival theaters.
The main entrance is on West 45th Street under the iron-and-glass marquee; the stage door is a separate entrance at 152 West 46th Street, in the ten-story wing that also holds the dressing rooms. The 922 seats are split across three levels: 398 in the orchestra, 287 in the mezzanine and 210 in the balcony, with stairs serving the upper tiers. The lobby has a groin-vaulted ceiling and murals above the entrances.
The apartment Daniel Frohman kept was above the lobby, not the stage; in 1986 it became the headquarters of the Shubert Archives. The theater's roof once carried four large urns that burned gas at night to draw crowds to a side street north of the other theaters.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,660 contributors worldwide.
