Venue: Lexington Opera House
Address: 401 W. Short Street, Lexington, KY 40507
Town: Lexington, US
Capacity: 1,000

The Lexington Opera House is a theatre located at 401 West Short Street in downtown Lexington, Kentucky. Built in 1886, the Opera House replaced the former theatre, located on the corner of Main and Broadway, after fire destroyed it in January 1886. The new Opera House was designed by the renowned architect Oscar Cobb and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its historical and architectural significance. It is currently owned and operated by the Lexington Center Corporation, and it hosts ballets, opera, children's productions, family shows, comedy, music and professional national Broadway tours. The Lexington Opera House is one of 14 theatres in the country built before 1900 with less than 1,000 seats that is still in operation as a live performance venue. The Lexington Opera House officially opened on July 19, 1887, with a concert by the Cincinnati Symphony, and in August hosted its first production of Our Angel by the Lizzie Evans Stock Company. Following the production, the Opera House quickly received widespread attention throughout the region. Over the years, the Opera House hosted a variety of notable performances with famous acts including Al Jolson, W.C. Fields, Will Rogers, Harry Houdini, Lillian Russell, Sarah Bernhardt and many more. Distinguished performances with elaborate details solidified the Opera House's popularity. In 1890, the production of Henley Regatta flooded the stage and the majority of the performance took place in rowboats; then, in 1893, the Country Circus featured 100 animals in a mile-long parade. For the production of Ben Hur, significant remodeling occurred to house an on-stage chariot race. The Kentucky Equal Rights Association (KERA) often used the Opera House for mass meetings, hosting famous international suffragists: Rev. Anna Howard Shaw spoke here on November 17, 1904; Grace Abbott of Hull House, Chicago spoke on Universal Suffrage Day, May 2, 1914; socialist and pacifist Vicountess Ethel Snowden, of Engla