The Shubert Theatre, located at 265 Tremont Street in Boston’s Theatre District, opened on January 24, 1910. Originally planned as The Lyric Theatre by developer Charles H. Bond, the project stalled after his sudden death. The New York-based Shubert Organization purchased the unfinished site in 1908 and completed the venue, commissioning Boston architect Thomas M. James to design it. The result was a 1,600-seat theater featuring Florentine doors, marble columns, French Renaissance-style ornamentation, and a chandelier modeled after those in the Petit Trianon at Versailles. The opening production—Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew—featured Julia Marlowe and E.H. Sothern, two of the era’s most celebrated actors.

In the decades that followed, the Shubert became a key venue for pre-Broadway tryouts. Productions like South Pacific, The King and I, Camelot, and Mame all played the Shubert before heading to New York. The theater’s scale and acoustics made it ideal for dramatic works and musicals alike. Over the years, its stage hosted major performers including Sarah Bernhardt, Al Jolson, W.C. Fields, John Barrymore, Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, Mary Martin, and Sir Laurence Olivier. A 1925 widening of Tremont Street shortened the lobby and removed the original façade, but the intimate interior remained largely intact.

In 1996, the Wang Center for the Performing Arts signed a 40-year lease to operate the Shubert Theatre and immediately launched a $3 million renovation. The upgrades included improved accessibility, a new stage, an expanded orchestra pit, and updated mechanical systems. The restored venue reopened that October with the Boston premiere of Rent. Later that year, the Wang Center awarded a $1 million grant to Boston Lyric Opera, making the Shubert BLO’s performance home for the next 18 years. The theater also hosted events from World Music, the Flamenco Festival, Handel and Haydn Society, and Celebrity Series of Boston, featuring companies like Pilobolus, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and Mark Morris Dance Group.

The Shubert Theatre has continued to attract national tours, including Les Misérables, Cats, Dreamgirls, Carousel, Jersey Boys, and Death of a Salesman with Brian Dennehy. It also served as a platform for local artists through the Boch Center’s City Spotlights program and other community initiatives. In 2016, the Boch family took over naming rights for the Wang and Shubert Theatres. Today, the Shubert remains a key part of the Boch Center’s mission to provide accessible, high-quality performing arts and arts education in New England, while preserving one of Boston’s most historic and versatile theaters