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Lucille Lortel Theatre

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Coordinates: 40°44′00″N 74°00′21″W / 40.73333°N 74.00583°W / 40.73333; -74.00583
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Lucille Lortel Theatre
Theatre de Lys
(2013)
Map
Address121 Christopher Street
Manhattan, New York
United States
Coordinates40°44′00″N 74°00′21″W / 40.73333°N 74.00583°W / 40.73333; -74.00583
Public transitChristopher Street–Stonewall, West Fourth Street–Washington Square
OwnerLucille Lortel Foundation
Typeproscenium
Capacity299
OpenedJune 9, 1953
Website
www.lortel.org/Theatre/History

The Lucille Lortel Theatre is an off-Broadway playhouse at 121 Christopher Street in Manhattan's West Village. It was built in 1926 as a 590-seat movie theater called the New Hudson, later known as Hudson Playhouse. The interior design is largely unchanged, though as of 2024 it has 295 seats.

In the early 1950s, the site was converted to an off-Broadway theater as Theatre de Lys, opening on June 9, 1953, with a production of Maya, a play by Simon Gantillon starring Kay Medford, Vivian Matalon, and Susan Strasberg.[1] It closed after seven performances. Much more successful was The Threepenny Opera which opened March 10, 1954, with a cast that included Bea Arthur, John Astin, Lotte Lenya, Leon Lishner, Scott Merrill, Gerald Price, Charlotte Rae and Jo Sullivan.[2] Because of an incoming booking, it was forced to close after 96 performances. Re-opening September 20, 1955, with largely the same cast, The Threepenny Opera this time played until December 17, 1961, a then record-setting run for a musical in New York City.[3]

In 1955, financier Louis Schweitzer acquired the building as an anniversary present for his wife, actress-producer Lucille Lortel. In 1981, the year of her 81st birthday, the theatre was renamed in her honor. After Lortel's death in April 1999, she left the theatre to the Lucille Lortel Foundation.[4][5]

Timeline of productions

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References

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  1. ^ Maya, ​Lucille Lortel Theatre​ at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
  2. ^ The Threepenny Opera (1954), ​Lucille Lortel Theatre​ at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
  3. ^ The Threepenny Opera (1955), ​Lucille Lortel Theatre​ at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
  4. ^ Nemy, Enid (April 6, 1999). "Lucille Lortel, Patron Who Made Innovative Off Broadway a Star, Is Dead at 98". The New York Times.
  5. ^ Silverman, Fran (February 5, 2006). "Preserving a Theater Legacy in Westport". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Shaw, Helen (April 22, 2006). "Review: The School for Scandal". Time Out. New York.
  7. ^ "Aubrey Plaza to Make Stage Debut in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea Off-Broadway". Playbill. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
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