At This Theatre: The Lyric
At the turn of the 20th century, 42nd Street between 8th and Broadway was thriving, lined with new theaters - both legitimate and movie houses. In 1903, a new one opened, The Lyric, where Broadway shows ran until it closed in 1934. Next door, in 1910, the movie palace, The Bryant opened, and when it was purchased and remodeled into a legit house in 1920 as The Apollo. Like its neighbor, this one closed in the early 1930s. Unlike its neighbor, it again became a Broadway house - The New Apollo - in 1979, home to three acclaimed shows: On Golden Pond, Bent and The Fifth of July. By the mid-1980s, though, it became a rock concert venue and was renamed The Academy Theatre.
In the mid-1990s both theaters were in sad disrepair, and a developer (Google that!) purchased them both, and parts of both were demolished, and what remained was redesigned as one mammoth theater, and in 1998 opened as The Ford Center for the Performing Arts with the beloved classic musical Ragtime. With the opening of the British import spectacle, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, in 2005, it was renamed The Hilton Theatre. It sat dark from 2009 - 2011, and was renamed The Foxwoods with the 2010 announcement of another spectacle, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. That storied production closed in 2014, and later that year came On the Town, and with it, another name: The Lyric Theatre. Everything old is new again! One of the coolest things about this "new" theater is that it is the only house that has ticketed entrances on two streets. These entrances incorporate the "fronts" of the two theaters that were combined - The Apollo on 42nd Street, and The Lyric on 43rd. How's that for history?
As a theater fan and Playbill collector, one of my prized accomplishments - like many of you - is having seen multiple productions at each of the Broadway houses. I'm just as thrilled that I have seen at least one production at this venue for each of its names since returning to legit use in 1998. That, of course, is the subject of today's article.
NUMBER OF SHOWS WE SAW THERE: 5
Ragtime, The Pirate Queen, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, On the Town, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Ragtime (January 18, 1998 - January 16, 2000): I realize how fortunate I am to have seen the original cast of this beloved musical. The cast reads like a who's who of 21st century Broadway, and they were exceptional. I adore the score and played it non-stop for years. But when I saw it, I was completely underwhelmed. The score was perfection, the production not so much. Over the years, my opinion of the experience has softened, and I am looking forward to the upcoming revival.
The Pirate Queen (April 5 - June 17, 2007): Considering that the team behind Les Miserables was responsible for this, expectations were high. Well, it was epic - enormous sets, tons of special effects (including cannon fire and birthing sound effects), and a veritable pageant of costumes. But the show was boring, decidedly unromantic, and unintentionally laugh-out-loud funny. (I still giggle thinking of the squishy sound effect that echoed throughout the theater as Stephanie J. Block, mid sword fight, comes downstage, squats and has a baby...then resumes her sword fight.)
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (June 14, 2011 - January 4. 2014): This show had as many changes as the theater has had names. Whole books have been written about this saga of a production. Re-writes, re-casts, and a gazillion staging changes would have been enough in any other year, bur all of that was eclipsed by national headlines about set malfunctions, a superhero that got stuck mid-air over the audience, and several serious, literally death-defying accidents. Still, we managed to see it three times encompassing the major "versions" of the show. Was it a great musical? No. But it was a thrill ride of a production!
On the Town (October 16, 2014 - September 6, 2015): I've been in love with this classic score and the iconic dances ever since I saw the On the Town Suite in Jerome Robbins' Broadway. Boy, was I disappointed in this version. Despite a cast full of accomplished dancers, the choreography felt like a cheap knock-off, and the heavy use of digital scenery was at odds with the World War II era of the show. Not even some of my favorite performers of all time could save this for me.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (April 22, 2018 - still running): The gender politics of J.K. Rowling aside, this play remains one of my favorite theater-going experiences ever. The sheer spectacle of the whole thing was jaw-dropping, the adventure exciting and the characters endearing. In what seems to be a recurring theme for shows at this theater, Cursed Child has undergone several changes. It opened as a two-part seven hour event, then later was pared down to one nearly four hour production, and is yet again shrunk down to a bit shorter run time. We saw both the two-part version and the one evening version, and really loved both. But I have to admit the one part version was more compelling - all the thrills were still in it, but the subtle changes made to the relationship between the two young heroes made it decidedly queer in a way that was thoughtful, loving and a teachable moment for young audience members.
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