# The Lyric Stage Company of Boston

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston is the oldest professional theatre company in Boston. Founded in 1974, the non-profit theatre is located in the YWCA building at 140 Clarendon Street. It produces six plays and musicals each season and is known for its Stephen Sondheim musical productions.

## History
### Location

Ron Ritchell and Polly Hogan founded the Lyric Stage Company of Boston in 1974, with performances staged in the Community Church on Boylston Street. In 1976, the Lyric Stage moved to a theatre at 56 Charles Street. The stage was small, less than 300 square feet, and it sat 103. In 1991, the Lyric Stage moved to its current location in the YWCA Building at 140 Clarendon Street. The theatre has a large stage, a band loft, and seats 234.

### Notable Productions

In its first season, the Lyric Stage produced Antigone and The Second Man.
Its first production at 54 Charles Street was The Importance of Being Earnest.
The first production at 140 Clarendon was Red Hot & Cole.
The Lyric Stage's production of Whoop-Dee-Doo! In the 1995-1996 season earned its first Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Designer.
The theatre's first large-scale musical production was Sunday in the Park with George in the 2001-2002 season.
The 2022 production of The Play That Goes Wrong is the highest grossing run in Lyric Stage history.

## Community involvement

In fulfilling its mission to support the Boston theatre scene, the Lyric Stage casts and hires local playwrights, actors, directors, designers, and musicians. Since its founding, the Lyric Stage has employed over 800 actors and 160 designers.

### Lyric For All

Lyric Stage presents live theatre that promotes inclusivity and connection in an effort to integrate live theater into the lives of all residents of Greater Boston. There are affordable options available making theatre truly for all.

### Lyric Back Stage

An education program that provides an introduction to the jobs and potential back stage career paths in the performing arts such as lighting, sound, props, and costuming.

### Lyric First Page

Lyric First Page was created in 2020 to provide playwriting opportunities and resources to Boston Public School students and interested students from the surrounding communities. The festival of readings features work that reflects students’ experiences ranging from everyday activities to dreams and even outer space. Lyric First Page’s mission is to provide an outlet for students and connect them with their own potential to be theater makers. A volunteer panel of theater professionals and teachers evaluate submissions on character, dialogue, plot, content, and impact. All playwrights receive feedback and may be included in a future reading series highlighting the talents of Boston-based students.

## Past productions

| Season | Show 1 | Show 2 | Show 3 | Show 4 | Show 5 | Show 6 | Show 7 | Show 8 | Show 9 |
| 1974–1975 | Antigone | The Second Man | | | | | | | |
| 1975–1976 | Oedipus Rex | Ghosts | | | | | | | |
| 1976–1977 | The Importance of Being Earnest | The Glass Menagerie | A Child's Christmas in Wales | The Lady's Not for Burning | The Homecoming | The Master Builder | | | |
| 1977–1978 | Mrs. Warren's Profession | A Child's Christmas in Wales | Hedda Gabler | The Little Foxes | | | | | |
| 1978–1979 | The Autumn Garden | A Child's Christmas in Wales | A Moon for the Misbegotten | Playboy of the Western World | Old Times | The Philanderer | Relatively Speaking | | |
| 1979–1980 | Much Ado about Nothing | The Show-Off | A Child's Christmas in Wales | A Touch of Poet | You Never Can Tell | Antigone | | | |
| 1980–1981 | Hedda Gabler | The Glass Menagerie | A Child's Christmas in Wales | Juno and the Paycock | Arms and the Man | The Price | The Norman Conquests | | |
| 1981–1982 | All My Sons | The Norman Conquests | A Child's Christmas in Wales | The Master Builder | The Little Foxes | Misalliance | The Plough and the Stars | | |
| 1982–1983 | Twain's Folly | Private Lives | A Child's Christmas in Wales | The Diary of Anne Frank | A Moon for the Misbegotten | Streamers | Mrs. Warren's Profession | You Can't Take It with You | The True Irving Rifkin |
| 1983–1984 | Goodly Creatures Loot | A Child's Christmas in Wales | Blithe Spirit | Awake and Sing | Taking Steps | You Never Can Tell | | | |
| 1984–1985 | Handy Dandy | Another Part of the Forest | A Child's Christmas in Wales | A View from the Bridge | French Without Tears | Playboy of the Western World | | | |
| 1985–1986 | Widowers’ Houses | Juno and the Paycock | A Child's Christmas in Wales | Painting Churches | Harvey | Absurd Person Singular | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | | |
| 1986–1987 | And a Nightingale Sang | The Norman Conquests | A Child's Christmas in Wales | The Hasty Heart | A Streetcar Named Desire | Candida | Quartermaine's Terms | | |
| 1987–1988 | The Price | Hay Fever | How the Other Half Loves | A Child's Christmas in Wales | The Bishop's Bonfire | What the Butler Saw | The Common Pursuit | | |
| 1988–1989 | What the Butler Saw | The Big Knife | A Child's Christmas in Wales | Arms and the Man | Present Laughter | The Caretaker | Not About Heroes | | |
| 1989–1990 | Bedroom Farce | The Autumn Garden | A Child's Christmas in Wales | The Vortex | Otherwise Engaged | A Shayna Maidel | | | |
| 1990–1991 | Misalliance | Woman in Mind | A Child's Christmas in Wales | The Diary of Anne Frank | Butley | Drinking in America | A Thurber Reunion | Fallen Angels | |
| 1991–1992 | Red Hot and Cole | A Christmas Carol | Ghosts | You Never Can Tell | "Master Harold"...and the Boys | Our Country's Good | The Man Who Came to Dinner | | |
| 1992–1993 | The Liar | Widowers’ Houses | A Child's Christmas in Wales | American Buffalo | The Mystery of Irma Vep | Rodgers & Hart: A Celebration | The Price | Tales of Sholem Aleichman | |
| 1993–1994 | From Boston to Portland: The Fred Allen Story | The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me | A Child's Christmas in Wales | The Substance of Fire | A Woman of No Importance | My Astonishing Self | Pump Boys and Dinettes | | |
| 1994–1995 | The Philanderer | Good Evening | A Child's Christmas in Wales | An Ideal Husband | Mrs. Warren's Profession | Time of My Life | | | |
| 1995–1996 | Whoop-Dee-Doo! | Hay Fever | Lady Windermere's Fan | A Child's Christmas in Wales | Oedipus Rex | Not About Heroes | | | |
| 1996–1997 | Entertaining Mr. Sloane | Candida | A Child's Christmas in Wales | Blithe Spirit | Speed-the-Plow | How the Other Half Loves | Juno and the Paycock | | |
| 1997–1998 | Antigone | Pygmalion | A Child's Christmas in Wales | Laughter on the 23rd Floor | Present Laughter | The Heiress | Lost in Yonkers | | |
| 1998–1999 | What the Butler Saw | Assassins | A Christmas Carol & The Night Before Christmas | The Miser | The Baltimore Waltz | Never the Sinner: The Leopold and Loeb Story | When Pigs Fly | | |
| 1999–2000 | Morning's at Seven | The Old Settler | She Loves Me | The Comedy of Errors | Communicating Doors | The Judas Kiss | The World Goes ‘Round | | |
| 2000–2001 | Side Man | A…My Name Will Always Be Alice | Inspecting Carol | The Complete History of America (Abridged) | No Way to Treat a Lady | Over the River and Through the Woods | The Curse of the Bambino | | |
| 2001–2002 | Sunday in the Park with George | Lobby Hero | Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical | The Miracle Worker | The Lisbon Traviata | Glengarry Glen Ross | Lend Me a Tenor | | |
| 2002–2003 | Dirty Blonde | The Gig | Epic Proportions | Beyond Belief | It's All True | 2 Lives | Side Show | | |
| 2003–2004 | When Pigs Fly | Book of Days | Meshuggah-Nuns! | Private Lives | The Spitfire Grill | The Mercy Seat | Noises Off | | |
| 2004–2005 | A Little Night Music | Ears on a Beatle | Fully Committed | The Glass Menagerie | Red Herring | Living Out | Shakespeare in Hollywood | | |
| 2005–2006 | Urinetown: The Musical | A Number | Crowns | The Underpants | The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? | Talley's Folly | Kong's Night Out | | |
| 2006–2007 | 1776 | Nine Parts of Desire | See What I Wanna See | Souvenir | Miss Witherspoon | Arms and The Man | | | |
| 2007–2008 | Man of La Mancha | Dying City | This Wonderful Life | Adrift in Macao | The Scene | Three Tall Women | The Importance of Being Earnest | | |
| 2008–2009 | Follies | November | The Mystery of Irma Vep | The Year of Magical Thinking | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | Speech and Debate | Grey Gardens | | |
| 2009–2010 | Kiss Me, Kate | Dead Man's Cell Phone | Shipwrecked! An Entertainment | Groundswell | Legacy of Light | Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill | Blithe Spirit | | |
| 2010–2011 | The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee | The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby | The Understudy | My Name Is Asher Lev | Broke-ology | Animal Crackers | | | |
| 2011–2012 | Big River | Or, | Ain't Misbehavin’ | Superior Donuts | Time Stands Still | The Temperamentals | Avenue Q | | |
| 2012–2013 | The Mikado | The Chosen | Chinglish | 33 Variations | Stones in His Pockets | By the Way, Meet Vera Stark | On the Town | | |
| 2013–2014 | One Man, Two Guvnors | Water by the Spoonful | Becky's New Car | Working | Death of a Salesman | Rich Girl | Into the Woods | | |
| 2014–2015 | Sweeney Todd | Dear Elizabeth | The Tale of the Allergist's Wife | Red Hot Patriot | Intimate Apparel | City of Angels | Light Up the Sky | | |
| 2015–2016 | My Fair Lady | Saturday Night/Sunday Morning | Buyer & Cellar | Sondheim on Sondheim | Fast Company | Mr. Burns, a post-electric play | Peter and the Starcatcher | | |
| 2016–2017 | Company | Warrior Class | Murder for Two | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Stage Kiss | Barbecue | Camelot | | |
| 2017–2018 | Gypsy | Souvenir | Hold These Truths | Road Show | Virginia Woolf's Orlando | Anna Christie | The Wiz | | |
| 2018–2019 | Kiss of the Spider Woman | The Roommate | Breath & Imagination | The Wolves | The Little Foxes | Twelfth Night | Pacific Overtures | | |
| 2019–2020 | Little Shop of Horrors | The Thanksgiving Play | Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express | The Cake | The Treasurer | No production due to the Covid-19 pandemic | No production due to the Covid-19 pandemic | | |
| 2020-2021 | No production due to the Covid-19 pandemic | No production due to the Covid-19 pandemic | No production due to the Covid-19 pandemic | No production due to the Covid-19 pandemic | No production due to the Covid-19 pandemic | No production due to the Covid-19 pandemic | | | |
| 2021-2022 | Be Here Now | The Last 5 Years | Mr. Parent | The Book of Will | A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder | The Light | | | |
| 2022-2023 | Fabulation or, The Re-Education of Undine | The Play That Goes Wrong | Preludes | The Great Leap | Sister Act | Rooted | | | |
| 2023-2024 | Assassins | Ken Ludwig's The Game's Afoot: Holmes for the Holidays | Trouble in Mind | Thirst | The Drowsy Chaperone | Yellow Face | | | |
| 2024-2025 | Urinetown | Noises Off | Crumbs From The Table of Joy | ART | The Great Reveal | Hello Dolly! | | | |
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