The theatre was built in 1996–97 on the site of the former Apollo and Lyric Theatres. The Lyric was built in 1903 and hosted Shakespeare plays and such notable new shows as Cole Porter's "Fifty Million Frenchmen", until it was converted to a movie theatre in 1934. The Apollo, constructed in 1920 by the Selwyn Brothers to a design by Eugene De Rosa, housed the Gershwin musicals "Strike Up the Band" and "George White's Scandals", among other works, but was briefly a burlesque venue in the mid-1930s before turning to a film exhibition in the late 1930s. A brief return to use as a legitimate theatre in the late 1970s proved unsuccessful, and the venue ended its existence as a nightclub.