Lyric Theatre

213 W. 42nd Street,
New York, NY 10036

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Showing 26 - 50 of 114 comments

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on March 8, 2014 at 7:01 pm

I get the criticism, however. The theater swallowed up a lot of the comedy in Mel Brooks' musical version of “Young Frankenstein.” Admittedly, the show and production did have a few intrinsic problems of their own that had nothing to do with the house, but I felt that the size of the theater (as opposed to the smaller Richard Rodgers, where the more successful – and funnier – “The Producers” ran), caused the performances to reach even bigger and broader than is Brooks' usual style to sell the jokes up in the rafters, which squashed the life out of the humor. The set pieces looked wonderful on that big stage, however.

robboehm
robboehm on March 8, 2014 at 10:12 am

Ragtime did very well early on. I didn’t have a problem with the acoustics (does that really matter in a day when everything is overmiked?) and didn’t really find it cavernous, just unappealing.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on March 8, 2014 at 9:46 am

I can’t seem to link the Times article so here is its excerpted text, the parts dealing with the theater itself:

Broadway’s next mega-budget show, the Australian musical “King Kong,” will no longer open as planned at the Foxwoods Theater next winter, which will instead become home to a revival of the musical comedy “On the Town,” the producers of both shows said in separate statements on Thursday. At the same time, the theater’s new leaseholders announced they were renaming the 1,900-seat house – one of Broadway’s biggest – to the Lyric.

The new landlords of the Lyric, the London-based Ambassador Theater Group, could have waited for “King Kong,” but the theater has been empty since January after the closing of “Spider-Man.” No theater owner wants to have an empty house for a year or more, especially after paying roughly $60 million to take over the lease, as Ambassador Theater Group did. A spokesman for the company said that its co-chief executive and point person for the Lyric, Howard Panter, was not available for an interview and that the organization had no comment.

The “On the Town” producers plan to put all 1,900 of the Lyric’s seats on sale, according to a spokesman for the show. “Spider-Man,” which struggled to fill seats late in its three-year run, ended up closing off some rows and shrinking the capacity of the theater to 1,600 seats.

The Lyric has been renamed following the end of a sponsorship deal last year between the Foxwoods casino and the theater’s previous landlord, Live Nation. The theater has a reputation for feeling cavernous and having acoustic challenges and has been home to a string of unprofitable shows including “Spider-Man,” “The Pirate Queen” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” The theater opened in 1998 after combining two spaces – the Lyric, a Broadway theater-turned-movie house, and the Apollo Theater. The new space was named the Ford Center for the Performing Arts; the name was later changed to the Hilton, and then the Foxwoods.

42ndStreetMemories
42ndStreetMemories on March 8, 2014 at 5:41 am

Thanks, saps. I know its not the same but brought a smile to face. Been there many times including I’ll Take Sweden.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on March 8, 2014 at 2:37 am

I am happy to report that this theater has new owners and since the contract with Foxwoods is over, they are re-naming this house —wait for it — the Lyric.

(Article is in the New York Times 3/7/14.)

I would have preferred it being called the Lyric Apollo, but the Lyric is the best name this theater has had in years!

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on June 16, 2013 at 1:04 am

It was also showing on Loews showcase all over town.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on June 15, 2013 at 11:20 pm

As late as 1965 the Lyric was still “premiering” motion pictures albeit smutty ones:

Per NY Times 8/12/65: BOB HOPE, get some soap and scrub out that blue humor! “I’ll Take Sweden,” which United Artists opened yesterday at the midtown Lyric Theater, is altogether unworthy of a beloved sunshine man who has cheered millions. The picture is an altogether asinine little romp, laboriously eking out a winding trail of sexual innuendoes, with some pasted-on backgrounds of Sweden and much mad racing in and out of bedrooms. And it couldn’t be duller or more obvious.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on May 13, 2013 at 11:47 am

The Lyric went back and forth with movies and plays from 1915 to 1925. In the early twenties it spent more time as a cinema than as a playhouse.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on May 13, 2013 at 11:03 am

So the Lyric wasn’t strictly a playhouse until 1934?

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on May 13, 2013 at 10:57 am

A silent movie with Douglas Fairbanks.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on May 13, 2013 at 10:42 am

Was the 1922 Robin Hood a movie or a play?

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on May 12, 2013 at 8:15 pm

Yes, the new “The Great Gatsby” shows Robin Hood sign on a Broadway or Times Square theater in 1922 and in another thread Al Alvarez replied to my question that it had its local original run here at the Lyric.

Roister
Roister on November 17, 2012 at 3:21 pm

Looking to contact anybody who may have worked at the Lyric – usher, box office, concession stand, anything – back in the 1970s or 80s… putting together an oral history… thank thanks!

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on February 6, 2012 at 4:58 pm

The movie playing in that image posted on January 28 is MONEY FROM HOME with Martin and Lewis. Originally released in 3-D, it opened flat in New York, first at the Paramount and then at Loew’s theaters throughout the five boroughs.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on February 5, 2012 at 10:53 pm

Wow, robboehm, it says right on the ad “Lyric 42nd Street between 7th and 8th” and the telephone number 730-0323. I called that number so many times over the years, it’s like a flashback seeing it again! (And rob, now may be a good time to use the “remove” option on your 4:48pm post!)

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on February 5, 2012 at 9:04 pm

Rob. Check the top of the ad. While the 42nd Street Lyric is not listed among the neighborhood houses showing the flick at the bottom of the ad, there is an announcement at the top of the ad for a live appearance by Smokey Robinson at this Lyric Theatre.

robboehm
robboehm on February 5, 2012 at 7:48 pm

Well, the Lyric shown in this ad is in New Jersey. But all these are problematic. In this one they show the Hempstead being in Queens and a Rialto in Riverhead. There never was a Rialto in Riverhead. There was the Capitol which became the Riverhead and the Suffolk. And, while I’m throwing names around, there used to be a Lyric in Oyster Bay which subsequently became the Oyster Bay.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on February 5, 2012 at 6:43 pm

I actually went right for the photo there, too. Original link was just for the thumbnail image.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on February 5, 2012 at 6:42 pm

Here it is.

You put the “here it is” in square brackets [ ] and put the link itself in parentheses immediately following the close bracket (with no space).

robboehm
robboehm on January 2, 2012 at 9:40 pm

And, unfortunately, they took most of their links with them.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on January 2, 2012 at 9:35 pm

LostMemory and Warren G. Harris both stopped posting in 2009. Where’d they go? They added so much to this site.

42ndStreetMemories
42ndStreetMemories on May 10, 2011 at 4:48 pm

Great picture, Soren. As were the other Times Square photos on his website. I’m already trying to figure out what was playing at the Lyric. Looked like Dean Martin in a still.

sorenl2
sorenl2 on January 29, 2011 at 1:49 am

My grandfather took this picture of a woman working in the ticket booth of the Lyric in 1954.
View link

William
William on August 9, 2010 at 6:09 pm

The former Ford Center for the Performing Arts / Hilton Theatre will be renamed soon “The Foxwoods Theatre. Foxwoods Resorts Casino has won the naming rights to the theatre.