Lyric Theatre

Address: Shaftesbury Ave , London , W1

Tube: Piccadilly Circus

Architect: C. J. Phipps

Opened: 1888

Capacity: 967

The Lyric was owned by producer Henry Leslie who had made his fortune from the profits from Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open his new venue on December 17, 1888. It is now the oldest theatre on that street, but when it was built, the Shaftesbury Theatre had already opened. Technically the London Pavilion, which opened in 1885, was the first theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, because the majority of the façade was on the street, and at the time it also had side entrances on Shaftesbury Avenue but the foyer was on Piccadilly Circus.

The Lyric is still on a famous block in the theatre world, it includes the Apollo Theatre and the Windmill Theatre, but the Lyric has the largest façade. The Lyric's stage door and dressing rooms are on Great Windmill Street, next to the Windmill's Theatres main entrance. The Lyric is now one of four imposing Theatres in a row on Shaftesbury Avenue comprising the Apollo, Gielgud, and Queens Theatres.

The theatre still uses an electric pump to operate its iron curtain.

Past productions at the Lyric Theatre: