An anchor of the Mount Vernon neighborhood and arguably the most historic performing arts venue in Baltimore, The Lyric has hosted internationally renowned stars for more than a century.
The stage has been in continuous use since it was built to exacting acoustic specifications in 1894, a time before sound amplification. Jonathan Schwartz has served as executive director of The Lyric Foundation since 2018, and he spoke to Baltimore Fishbowl about the past and the future of the venue as it celebrates its 130th anniversary.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Baltimore Fishbowl: This year is the 130th anniversary of The Lyric. Was it founded as an opera house?
Jonathan Schwartz: The Lyric was founded in 1894 as the Music Hall, and it opened with the Boston Pops on October 31, 1894, and it has had a great and storied run. It is the longest continuously operating arts venue in Baltimore. It has never taken a pause. Some great venues in Baltimore have been refurbished and redone, but The Lyric has been in continuous operation for 130 years. It has seen all the changes in culture. Back in the day, obviously it was operas and symphony and ballet. We were the home of the BSO until they built the Meyerhoff across the street. One of the first live televised cooking shows was filmed on the stage, and they used to do dances and debutante balls on the floor of The Lyric. They used to have boxing here. There have been all sorts of uses of the building throughout its history.
BFB: When you say “the building,” you are talking about the current location?
JS: The Lyric has never moved the theater. The lobby has been added on, but the actual theater itself, where you sit and the stage—where the stage is—that has been in continuous operations since 1894. On the exterior, you can still see in places the historic brick, particularly on Maryland Avenue, and the green metal roof that’s up there is the original building.
BFB: So is there a wall of photos of the most famous performers who have been there?
JS: We have some documents, but not as much as, unfortunately, as we’d like. It would have been great to have had an official photographer taking pictures. But everyone has played here. Aretha Franklin. The only Pink Floyd performance ever in Baltimore was on our stage. Steve Martin and Martin Short have been on our stage. All the greats have come through this venue.
BFB: This gets me thinking about one of the pillars the Greater Baltimore Committee has identified for the “Bold Moves Baltimore” campaign, and that’s arts and culture. There are a lot of venues that may be competition, like “Broadway Across America” at the Hippodrome or musical acts at the CFG Bank Arena. What is the lane of the Lyric for programming, and how do you get butts in seats?
JS: The Lyric has a unique lane in that we do not have a resident company. We are the only 52-week-a-year performing house in Baltimore where touring programming that wants to be in a 2,500 seat theater can come. Whether you’re in comedy, whether you’re in children’s programming, whether you’re a rock group, whether you’re R&B, popular music, dance, whatever it is, and you’re doing national tours, we are a go-to place. So you might be a group that might have performed in Richmond the night before, might play Baltimore the next night, and then go play Redding, Pennsylvania. We are the venue for national touring companies to look at because we don’t have a Broadway series or a symphony orchestra that’s resident. We don’t put on original plays like Center Stage does. When people ask about competition, I say that our biggest competitor is not any venue in Baltimore. It’s the person sitting in an office in Los Angeles who thinks, “Well, we played D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Boston. We’ve played the East Coast.” And they’re missing out on the Richmonds; the Baltimores; the Wilmington, Delawares; the North Jerseys; Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island. There’s so many independent markets. Anyone who lives in Baltimore knows how difficult it would be to get to a 7:00 show on a Friday night in Washington, D.C. or Philadelphia. People who live in other places and are booking may not appreciate that, but we certainly do.
BFB: Does that mean that most of the shows are one-night performances?
JS: The majority of our shows are one night-only touring. They’re on national tours. We do have some like, for example, we have Kevin Hart, [who performed in March] doing Friday and Saturday night. We have Nikki Glaser, who’s coming in April, who’s doing three shows. So there are artists who will do more than one performance. But typically they’re not here for more than one or two nights. That is our bread and butter.
BFB: How many nights a year do you need to book to be successful or meet your goals?
JS: More is always better, but not necessarily. We want more profitable shows. You could book more shows, but if they’re going to sell 200 or 500 tickets, they shouldn’t be here. So volume isn’t strictly the answer, because it’s profitability, both for ourselves and the promoters, who are taking the most risk on a show. It’s important for all of us to be having successful shows, because the more successful shows they put in, the more they want to come back to your venue, at your marketplace. You can book 120 shows that all lose money, and that doesn’t do anyone any good. It doesn’t help the artist. It doesn’t help the promoter. It doesn’t help the venue.
BFB: You mentioned Kevin Hart and Nikki Glaser, and it feels like the big-name stand-up comedians are recognizing that the Lyric is a good spot for them. Is that a space you like to be in?
JS: It developed in part because of the pandemic. So many comedians pivoted to podcasting or to Netflix specials and YouTube specials, and that was a pie that really grew. There are now more comedians who can tour and and perform at a 2,500-seat house, rather than at a 500-seat house or 1,000-seat house. Comedy in general is having a moment and that has benefited us with more performers who are capable of performing at the Lyric. And you’re seeing a couple of comedians who’ve performed here in the past, like Sebastian Maniscalco and Nate Bargatze, who have done multiple sold-out shows here and they now perform at CFG Bank Arena because they can do a 14,000-seat show. The economics of comedy and the popularity of comedy has risen and that is reflected in our calendar.
BFB: I think that’s fascinating. Let’s switch to the venue and the upgrades that you’ve made recently. What should we know about that?
JS: We’ve made some great improvements. We spent a half-million dollars on a sound system to make sure that you are getting great sound at every seat, and and it’s really made a difference in our in our venue. We’re non-profit, so we don’t have shareholders that we have to answer to. The funds that we raise really can only go to three places: investment in our building, investment in our people, and investment in our education programming. We continually try to make the venue the best it can be. Whether it’s big things like the sound system, or smaller things. We just put a brand-new big popcorn machine in the lobby, so the lobby smells like popcorn at all times, which is great. We’re constantly looking to make sure our patrons have as good an experience as possible when they come through the venue, so that they come back again.
BFB: Did you need to do a capital campaign for the sound system upgrade?
JS: That was paid for through bond money from the state. It’s a difficult process to go through. But we definitely also reinvest our own capital into the building. We do both. One of the challenges of being a nonprofit and being in an arts organization is maintaining a historic building. There’s always expenses. Whether it’s corporate support or state support, we’re we’re always looking for ways to do that.
BFB: What would you say is the economic impact of the Lyric? What’s the workforce and the union jobs?
JS: I would say that we have a significant economic impact, particularly in this Mount Vernon area. On a show night, we employ union members. We’re a Union House, IATSE [International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees] Local 19. … Depending on the show, it could be as few as four or five, or it could be several dozen people, depending on how much is needed. And then we obviously are employing people who work in the front of house, whether it’s security or ushers. We have a third-party catering company that employs people on a part-time basis. …We can see the light rail station from here. People from out of town will take light rail or Amtrak if it’s a big enough artist. We are just a five-minute walk from Penn Station.
BFB: You changed your ticket sale process recently and transitioned away from Ticketmaster?
JS: So we went from Ticketmaster, which is the world’s largest ticketing platform, to eTix, which is the second-largest ticketing platform. For the venue and for consumers, we had an opportunity to have an impact on fees and on and their experience. We felt that we were doing something that will positively impact everyone who touches the venue. We’ve been very pleased with the transition.
BFB: So fees are lower under eTix than Ticketmaster, is that where you’re saying?
JS: It’s a little bit like comparing apples to oranges, how they structure things. But yes, one of our goals is to obviously make our tickets as affordable for our patrons as possible. And we believe that the eTix model allows us the opportunity to have more control over that.
BFB: Let’s talk about the education programs—one of your pillars.
JS: I always tell people we do three things: We put on world-class entertainment on a world-class stage; we maintain a historic building; and we provide educational programming to people in Baltimore City, Baltimore County and beyond. And a real focus is the voice and agency of students. There are plenty of places where you go and you learn [theater arts], you memorize the words of someone else, or you perform something that was written by someone else who has different life experiences. Our work with students tends to be about their life experiences, talking about what they see on a daily basis, and being encouraged to express what they’re seeing in a positive way by writing it or performing it or improving it. They’re being heard and they’re being valued, in a positive and constructive way. We work in a number of Title I schools in Baltimore City, and so we have an education staff that does great work. Our education program that was created by our education director, Denise Gantt and also Ebony Evans, who’s our education specialist.
BFB: Does this happen inside your facility, or at schools or somewhere else?
JS: We have a Lyric theater program that comes and meets here, and is going to be doing their culminating performance on May 13. But we also have educators who go to schools and do programming either during the school day or after school, with students, usually in 10-week blocks. Transportation is always an issue for students, so if we can come to them and have a positive impact where they are, that is a great way to do things.
BFB: We need to talk about you! You were in the political world before you took this position. How was that as a transition?
JS: I’ve always loved theater and performing arts. I had parents who took me to things and I was very fortunate as a young person to be able to to see a lot of theater as a young person. You always want to know where someone went to high school, right? I have an interesting answer—the American School in London. I lived in walking distance to the West End in in London. I got to see the National Theater and the Royal Shakespeare Company. I was really exposed as a middle school and high school student to great theater. Even as a child, my parents had taken me to community theater. But being in London was a tremendous exposure to that. But in terms of the professional part, as you mentioned, I spent seven years prior to this job as the chief of staff to Councilwoman Vicki Almond in Baltimore County. At an event representing her, the vice chairman of the Lyric board approached me and said ‘You should apply to be the executive director.’ It was not something I was looking for. He had to convince me to do it. I went through the process, and here we are. I like to say it was an accidental journey, as opposed to something that was planned out.
