Fulton Theatre (Fulton Opera House)

What’s on in the 2026–27 season

The current-shows page, checked October 23, 2026, is the 2026/2027 season. It splits the year into a Mainstage Series, a Studio Series in the 4th Floor Tell Studio Theatre, and a Family Series that also plays on the main stage. This page does not reprint every curtain time. Use the show page for the night you want.

Mainstage Series, in the order the season page prints the ranges: Ragtime is listed as September 25–October 18. Annie is November 20–December 31. Peter Pan Goes Wrong is January 22–February 14. Come From Away is March 12–April 4. My Fair Lady is April 23–May 16. Phantom is June 11–July 11. The Annie calendar is labeled November 2026 and December 2026, and December 31 is listed at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The season page does not print a year on the later ranges. The homepage that day used the line “Tomorrow is only a day away” and called Annie the upcoming production. The Annie page says the musical won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin. It also lists a Community Preview on November 18, 2026 at 7:30 p.m., Pay-What-You-Want on November 19, 2026 at 7:30 p.m., and opening night on November 20, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.

Studio Series, general admission in the Tell Studio Theatre: Murder At Ackerton Manor is October 16–November 8. The homepage on October 23 said “Almost Sold Out.” The show page gives the approximate runtime as “Act 1 – 1hr, 15min intermission, Act 2 – 45min,” and says the seating diagram does not reflect the actual number of seats. Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big Lancaster Christmas Show is headed December 4–December 27. Its calendar is December 2026. The page calls it a Lancaster telling of A Christmas Carol, lists Pay-What-You-Want on December 3, 2026 at 7:30 p.m., and opening night on December 4, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. A Streetcar Named Desire is April 2–April 25. Gutenberg! is May 14–June 6.

Family Series on the main stage: ’Twas The Night Before Christmas is headed November 28–December 26. The calendar is November and December 2026, and December 26 is listed at 11:00 a.m. Book, music, and lyrics are by Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark. Pay-What-You-Want is November 28, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. Some dates on that calendar are listed at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., including December 5 and December 19. A Year With Frog and Toad is March 20–April 3. The Lightning Thief is May 1–May 15.

The homepage also listed A Fulton Holiday, a benefit concert. The page says it stars Nathaniel Hackmann and does not print a performance date, so this page does not add one. The season page says single tickets are on sale for 2026/2027 and that subscribers save up to 45 percent. That discount is the theatre’s line. The full list is on the 2026/2027 shows page.

History of the Fulton Opera House

The theatre’s own history page is the source for the building story below. It says the site was Lancaster’s pre-Revolutionary jail, and that on December 27, 1763 a vigilante gang known as the Paxtang Boys killed the Conestoga people who were being held there for protection. It says the exterior wall of the jail courtyard is still the back wall of the theatre.

In 1852 Christopher Hager, a Lancaster merchant, commissioned Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan to build a hall for meetings, lectures, concerts, and plays, on the jail’s foundation. The history page says Sloan later designed the Lancaster County Courthouse. The hall was named Fulton Hall for Robert Fulton, whom the page calls the county’s steam engine pioneer. It was later sold to Blasius Yecker, a harness worker, and Hilaire Zaepfel, a hotelkeeper. Yecker renovated it after the Civil War. Edward Forrest Durang remodeled the interior. The grand opening was October 2, 1873, a performance of Othello, and the building took the name Fulton Opera House. From 1903, Charles Yecker had C. Emlen Urban redesign the interior in a neo-classic style.

The same page says the house later became a movie theatre. For the 100th anniversary it was called “The Grand Old Lady of Prince Street.” In October 1957 it reopened as the Fulton Art Theatre. In 1962 concerned citizens formed the Fulton Opera House Foundation, with Nathaniel E. Hager, and bought the building as a not-for-profit. The page says that in 1983 the Actor’s Equity Association recognized the Fulton as a professional regional theatre. A restoration shut the building in January 1995. The page gives the cost as $9.5 million. It reopened October 14, 1995 with Stephen Sondheim’s Company.

The history page dates a later expansion to August 20, 2021: a 131,000-square-foot campus with expanded lobbies, rehearsal and performance spaces, and guest amenities, which it says welcomes over 170,000 guests a year. The homepage calls the Fulton a nationally-regarded professional regional theatre and “a nationally-registered historic landmark with newly-expanded, modern facilities,” and “America’s Oldest Continuously-Operating Theatre.”

Landmark dates, checked the same day, are not all the same number. The theatre’s Secrets of the Theatre page says the Fulton Opera House is one of only eight theatres in the United States recognized as a National Historic Landmark, and that it was recognized in 1969. An archived National Park Service landmark summary gives the designation as January 29, 1964, calls the building an early Victorian structure built in 1852, says it was named for Robert Fulton, co-inventor of the steamboat and a native of the county, and says it remains the oldest continuously operating theatre in the country. National Register of Historic Places record 69000156 lists the Fulton Opera House at 12–14 North Prince Street, with a publication date of August 11, 1969, significant years 1852, 1873, and 1930, and architects recorded as Samuel Sloane and John and Gottlieb Sener. The 1969 date on the theatre’s page matches that Register publication date. The 1964 date is the one on the archived landmark summary.

Tickets and the box office

No seat price, in dollars, was printed on the Annie, ’Twas, Scrooge, or Murder At Ackerton Manor pages on October 23, 2026. See thefulton.org for the current price. The box office page says prices vary by the day of the performance and the seat, and can change with demand. It says the price includes all fees and surcharges totaling $15 per ticket: $4 for the Historic Preservation Fund and $11 as an administrative charge. It also says performers, productions, dates, and pricing are subject to change.

Discounts on that page, same check: patrons 60 and over get $2 off, by phone or in person at the box office, not described as an online discount. Youth pricing has to be bought by calling (717) 397-7425. It applies to Mainstage shows, excluding premium seating, and the discount is $2 to $23 off the regular price depending on the seat. Children 17 and under are eligible. Student Rush is $10 at the box office window, starting one hour before curtain, for full-time students with a school ID and for children 17 and under. Groups of 15 or more go through Group Sales at groups@thefulton.org or (717) 397-7425.

The ACCESS card rate on the accessibility page is $5 per person. One card admits the cardholder and up to four other people to a Mainstage show after opening night. You pay that rate yourself. It is not charged to the ACCESS or EBT card. Present the card and a photo ID at the box office, or call (717) 397-7425 and mention the ACCESS discount. It is not valid on online orders or on tickets you already bought.

Pay-What-You-Want, on the box office page, is the first Thursday of each Mainstage and Groff Studio production, and the opening morning of Family Series productions. Tickets go on sale at 4:00 p.m. for that evening’s 7:30 p.m. show. They are first come, first served, they cannot be reserved ahead or by phone, and the limit is four tickets per person. The box office is at 12 North Prince Street. Phone (717) 397-7425, Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday are listed as limited. If the phones are busy, the page says you can leave a voicemail and they aim to return it within 24 hours, or email boxoffice@thefulton.org. During a production the window stays open two hours before most performances and one hour before a 9:00 a.m. performance. Administration is (717) 394-7133. The mailing line on the site is PO Box 1865, Lancaster, PA 17603-1865.

Parking and getting there

The address for the theatre is 12 North Prince Street, Lancaster, PA 17603. The plan-your-visit page does not describe a Fulton-owned garage, and it does not name a downtown garage. It sorts parking into three kinds. Lots are privately owned surface parking, “rates generally around $4/hr.” Garages “are owned and operated primarily by the Lancaster Parking Authority, who provide detailed pricing.” Street parking is “946 metered parking spaces” in the city, with a two-hour limit from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday. This page does not add a garage name or a garage price the theatre did not print.

On show night the same page says the lobbies, full bar, gift shop, and concessions open one hour before the performance. The house opens 30 minutes before. Latecomers are seated at the house manager’s discretion. The mobility page adds five spaces in front of the theatre for drop-off and pick-up, and says vehicles may not park in those spaces during the performance. It points drivers to local lots and street parking for the length of the show.

A walking route measured October 23, 2026, on the OpenStreetMap foot router (routing.openstreetmap.de), started at the theatre pin for 12 North Prince Street. Lancaster Central Market, at 23 North Market Street, was 0.15 miles and about 3 minutes. The meeting point for the Historic Lancaster Walking Tour, the Lancaster Marriott lobby at 25 South Queen Street, was 0.21 miles and about 5 minutes. The operator does not publish the Fulton as a tour stop. Lancaster Science Factory, at 454 New Holland Avenue, was 1.14 miles and about 25 minutes, so it is a separate walk, not a stop between acts. American Music Theatre on Lincoln Highway East and Sight & Sound Theatre in Ronks are the other large theatres on this site. This page does not give a driving time for either one.

Seating chart

The official chart is the Fulton Theatre house map. The page title is “Fulton Theatre House Map and Seating Chart.” It says you can view seat sections and stair locations, and see the view from select seats in the main theatre. It does not state how many seats the house holds. This page does not invent a number.

Accessible seats, from the mobility page rather than from a count on the map, are in the Rear Parquet Boxes, Orchestra Right, and Orchestra Left Box B. Ask for a wheelchair location when you buy if you will stay in the chair. The box office will try to put one companion in an adjacent seat. Studio Series shows, including Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big Lancaster Christmas Show and Murder At Ackerton Manor, are general admission in the 4th Floor Tell Studio Theatre. Both of those pages say the printed seating layout does not reflect the actual number of seats.

Accessibility

The accessibility page says the Fulton is committed to access “regardless of ability or financial need,” and tells you to call (717) 397-7425 or email access@thefulton.org if you need something the menus do not list. Separate pages cover blind and visually impaired patrons (audio description), deaf and hard of hearing patrons (open captions, assistive listening, and ASL), Spanish speakers, a sensory-friendly program for Family Series shows, and patrons with mobility challenges.

The mobility page says you may remain in a wheelchair or transfer to a house seat. Request a wheelchair-accessible location when you buy. Those locations are the Rear Parquet Boxes, Orchestra Right, and Orchestra Left Box B. One companion is seated adjacent when the box office can do it, and other guests in the party are seated as close as possible. Accessible restrooms are on all levels. An elevator is just off the hallway to the lower orchestra. Five spaces in front of the building are for drop-off and pick-up only. They are not parking spaces during the show.

Audience Services is in the Tower Lobby on the first floor. At no charge you can borrow an assistive-listening receiver, an audio-description receiver at the performances that offer it, and fidgets. Service animals, including guide dogs, are allowed. If reading the script ahead of time helps, the theatre library loans scripts Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The ACCESS card price is in the tickets section above: $5 per person, Mainstage after opening night, in person or by phone.

Where to eat nearby

These are walking routes, measured October 23, 2026, on the OpenStreetMap foot router from 12 North Prince Street to the address on each listing. They are not driving times, and they are not a promise that the kitchen is open when the curtain comes down.

Lancaster Central Market is the close stop: 23 North Market Street, 0.15 miles and about 3 minutes. It is a market house, not a restaurant reservation. The market’s own page has the hours. LUCA, at 436 West James Street, was 0.78 miles and about 15 minutes. The Horse Inn, at 540 East Fulton Street, was 1.05 miles and about 23 minutes. Both are downtown listings already on this site. No other Lancaster restaurant on this site sits closer to Prince Street.

If the plan is a show at another house, American Music Theatre and Sight & Sound Theatre are not downtown walks from the Fulton. The Historic Lancaster Walking Tour leaves from the Marriott lobby at 25 South Queen Street, 0.21 miles and about 5 minutes from the theatre, and its published 2026 season runs through October 31. The Science Factory walk, 1.14 miles, is in the parking section above.