The stage door entrance is through 152 West 46th Street, a 10-story wing designed by Herts & Tallant, which also houses the dressing rooms and some backstage facilities.

[16] Three large archways lead into the lobby;[17][18] their doors are made of painted wood and contain arched panels of glass.

[28][27] The color scheme of the interior was compared in contemporary media to autumn foliage, with a range of hues from "deep yellow to warm red and brown".

The inside edges of the staircases have bronze balustrades with cast-iron and wrought-iron decorations, as well as newel posts containing nude figures.

[28] The rear (south) end of the orchestra contains a shallow promenade, which has wood-paneled walls, arched "L" motifs, and cartouches.

[42] Unusually for theaters of the time, the balconies are cantilevered from the structural framework, which obviated the need for columns that blocked audience views.

[21][30] Daniel Frohman's "penthouse", comprising his office and apartment, was on the south side of the theater building, facing 45th Street.

[51][52] Initially, it contained four million items from the Shuberts' history between 1900 and World War II, including 2,000 costume designs, 8,000 blueprints, and 12,000 manuscripts.

[31] The 46th Street annex housed the scene-painting studio, a carpenter shop, a costume department, and storage spaces,[13][17][27] along with dressing rooms.

[60] Daniel Frohman had operated an earlier Lyceum Theatre on Fourth Avenue, near Madison Square, which had been built in 1885 by Steele MacKaye.

[6][7] Frohman chose the site specifically because it was on a less crowded side street while also being close to the then-under-construction New York City Subway.

[70] The theater was supposed to open in September 1903[14] but encountered so many delays that the inaugural play, The Proud Prince, could only be scheduled at the Lyceum for two weeks.

[85] Actresses such as Ethel Barrymore, Billie Burke, Ina Claire, and Lenore Ulric also performed at the Lyceum in its early years.

[92][93] The Lyceum also hosted the U.S. premiere of the French silent film The Loves of Queen Elizabeth, featuring Sarah Bernhardt, in 1912.

[95][96] Charles Frohman died in May 1915 during the sinking of the RMS Lusitania,[97] and his company, which had an ownership stake in the Lyceum, was subsequently acquired by Paramount Pictures.

[106][107][108] The same year, the theater hosted The Easiest Way with Frances Starr,[109][110] as well as The Grand Duke with Lionel Atwill and Lina Abarbanell.

[109][111] The Lyceum's stage and decorations were restored in 1922,[112] prior to the opening of Shore Leave, which featured Starr and James Rennie.

[113][114] The Lyceum also hosted revivals of classical plays, including The Merchant of Venice (1922), The School for Scandal (1923), and Antony and Cleopatra (1924).

[115] During 1925, the theater hosted The Grand Duchess and the Waiter, with Elsie Ferguson and Basil Rathbone,[116][117] and the romantic comedy Naughty Cinderella, with Irène Bordoni.

[137] Long-running productions during the late 1930s included Pre-Honeymoon (1936) with Jessie Royce Landis;[138][139] St. Helena (1936) with Maurice Evans;[140][141] and Having Wonderful Time (1937) with John Garfield and Katherine Locke.

[181] In March 1965,[185] the Shuberts leased the theater to the partnership of APA and Phoenix for $100,000 a year, which the lessees considered a nominal fee.

[189] During the APA-Phoenix era, the Lyceum hosted classical revivals such as War and Peace, The Show-Off, The Cherry Orchard, The Cocktail Party, The Misanthrope, and Hamlet.

[20] According to Schoenfeld, the Shuberts had to pay $350,000 to replace the marquee due to the commission's demands, though the highest bid was only about $150,000 and the theater was often unoccupied.

[216] After the Lyceum's facade was successfully designated as a landmark, the LPC started considering a similar protection for the interior in 1982,[217] with discussions continuing over the next several years.

[224] The National Actors Theatre, led by Tony Randall, announced in 1992 that it would relocate from the Belasco to the Lyceum, despite the smaller size of the latter.

The National Actors Theatre went on to host Timon of Athens, The Government Inspector, and The Flowering Peach in 1994; Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and The School for Scandal in 1995; and The Gin Game and The Sunshine Boys in 1997.

[230] German firm Bertelsmann used the air rights to increase the height of the adjacent skyscraper at 1540 Broadway,[231] paying $600,000 a year.

[235] After the National Actors Theatre stopped producing at the Lyceum, the theater hosted Rose in 2000, a solo play with Olympia Dukakis.

[227] As part of a settlement with the United States Department of Justice in 2003, the Shuberts agreed to improve disabled access at their 16 landmarked Broadway theaters, including the Lyceum.

These included Looped, The Scottsboro Boys, Venus in Fur, The Nance, The Realistic Joneses, Disgraced, The Visit, A View from the Bridge, Fully Committed, Oh, Hello, The Play That Goes Wrong, Be More Chill, and A Christmas Carol.