The Lyric Theatre was a
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...
in
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...
, United States.
The -story structure designed by Owen Saylor and Payson opened on December 18, 1926, as the Ararat Shrine Temple. It cost the
Shriners $1 million and had a seating capacity of 3,000. It was designed to imitate the
Temple of Vesta and was to be part of a complex that also consisted of the Deramus Building and the
American Hereford Building on other corners of the intersection at 10th and Central.
In 1939 Union Trust of St. Louis foreclosed on the $600,000 note on the building. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
it was sold to the
American Red Cross
The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...
as a
blood collection center.
It was used as a legitimate theatre called the Playhouse and later the Victoria.
Midland Broadcasting bought the building in 1947 for its
KMBC radio broadcasts (and later
KMBC-TV)
In 1957
Durwood Organization took it over and converted for
Todd-AO and later
Cinerama movies and named it the Capri Theatre.
[Lyric Theatre of Kansas City - Lyric Theatre History - Retrieved August 20, 2009]
KMBC continued to broadcast from beneath the stage.
In 1970 the
Lyric Opera of Kansas City signed a lease to perform at the theatre.
In 1974
Metromedia, then owners of KMBC-TV, took over management of the building although the live arts continued to be performed.
In 1982
The Hearst Corporation, KMBC-TV's new owners, acquired the building. In 1989 a piece of plaster fell from the building during a rehearsal of the
Kansas City Symphony. Hearst initially began repairs and eventually sold it to the Lyric Opera which continued the repairs.
In 2007 the Lyric Opera sold the theatre to DST Realty.
Kansas City approves incentives for Lyric Theatre
/ref> KMBC-TV left its long-time home to go to new quarters near Swope Park.
In 2011 the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Kansas City Symphony and the Kansas City Ballet moved their performances to the newly constructed Kauffman Performing Arts Center.
On November 19, 2018, the YMCA of Greater Kansas City broke ground on the renovation that would become what is now the Kirk Family YMCA.
References
{{reflist
External links
Ararat Shrine Temple history
Theatres in Kansas City, Missouri
Theatres completed in 1926
Cinemas and movie theaters in Missouri
Former cinemas in the United States
1926 establishments in Missouri