Winter Garden Theatre facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Winter Garden Theatre

Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre
Address	1634 Broadway Manhattan, New York City United States
Coordinates	40°45′42″N 73°59′01″W / 40.76167°N 73.98361°W / 40.76167; -73.98361
Owner	Shubert Organization
Type	Broadway
Capacity	1,600
Production	Back to the Future: The Musical
Construction
Opened	March 10, 1911
Rebuilt	1922–1923
Years active	1911–1928, 1933–1945, 1948–present
Architect	William Albert Swasey (original theater) Herbert J. Krapp (rebuild)
New York City Landmark
Designated	January 5, 1988
Reference no.	1387
Designated entity	Lobby and auditorium interior

The Winter Garden Theatre is a famous Broadway theatre located at 1634 Broadway in New York City. It first opened in 1911. The theater was originally designed by William Albert Swasey. Later, in 1922, it was completely rebuilt by Herbert J. Krapp.

This theater is known for its large stage and many seats, making it perfect for big musical shows. It has 1,600 seats and is run by The Shubert Organization. The inside of the theater is so special that it's officially a New York City landmark.

The Winter Garden Theatre was built from an older building called the American Horse Exchange. This building was used to buy and sell horses! The theater's outside used to have big arches, but now it has a brick wall with a huge sign. Inside, the theater has fancy decorations. It has one balcony above the main floor. The stage and its opening were made smaller during Krapp's renovation.

The theater was first run by brothers Lee and Jacob J. Shubert. In its early days, it often showed popular musical shows called revues. These included The Passing Show and Greenwich Village Follies. For a few years, from 1928 to 1933, it was a Warner Bros. movie theater. It was also a United Artists cinema from 1945 to 1948. Other than these times, it has mostly been a live theater. From 1982 to 2013, it hosted only two very famous musicals: Cats and Mamma Mia!. The theater was updated in 2000. It was even called the Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre for a few years.

Where is the Winter Garden Theatre?

The Winter Garden Theatre is at 1634 Broadway. It is very close to Times Square in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan. The theater takes up a large part of the city block. This block is bordered by Broadway, 50th Street, Seventh Avenue, and 51st Street.

You can find an entrance to the New York City Subway's 50th Street station right near the theater's Broadway entrance.

The Old Horse Exchange

In the late 1800s, the area now known as Times Square was called Longacre Square. It was a busy place for horses and carriages. The Winter Garden Theatre stands where the American Horse Exchange used to be. This building was built by William Kissam Vanderbilt.

The Horse Exchange was a large building where horses were sold. It had two or three stories. It surrounded a big covered area for horse auctions. The building burned down in 1896. After the fire, a new building was built. It reused some of the old walls. This new building had brick walls and arched windows.

How the Theater Was Designed

The Winter Garden Theatre was created from the rebuilt American Horse Exchange. In 1911, the Shubert family rented the building. Architect William Albert Swasey turned it into a theater. Then, in 1922, Herbert J. Krapp completely redesigned it. The Shubert Organization still runs the theater today.

Outside the Theater

The Winter Garden Theatre's original facade as seen in 1913

The main entrance to the theater is on Broadway. There were also ten exits on Seventh Avenue. The first design of the Broadway side was simple, with gray stone. It used much of the old Horse Exchange building. It had five large arches and columns.

Today, the outside of the theater has huge billboards. These billboards are used to advertise the shows playing at the Winter Garden. They have been there since at least the 1930s.

The Seventh Avenue side was plain at first. But it was decorated in the 1922 renovation. This was because Seventh Avenue became more important. The theater has many exits to the streets around it. This was unusual for theaters of its size.

The theater's entrance on Broadway is quite small. This allowed the Shubert family to put shops along the rest of the Broadway side. The corner of Broadway and 50th Street was rented out as a restaurant. Over the years, it became a nightclub with different names.

Inside the Lobbies

Right inside the Broadway entrance is the ticket office. It leads to a rectangular inner lobby. This lobby is about 20 feet by 50 feet. The walls have fancy decorations with plants and columns. The doors leading to the auditorium are made of bronze and glass. The lobby ceiling also has decorative patterns.

There used to be a smoking room next to the inner lobby. It had a men's restroom attached. There was also a bar and a service room.

The Main Seating Area

View from the stage toward the seating areas

The main seating area, called the auditorium, has several parts. It has a main floor (orchestra level), two levels of special boxes, one balcony, and the stage. The auditorium is wider than it is deep. It has detailed plaster decorations.

The Shubert Organization says the theater has 1,600 seats. Other sources give slightly different numbers. There are many seats on the main floor and the balcony. There are also a few seats in the boxes and some standing-only spots. When it first opened, the theater had 1,200 seats on the main floor and 400 on the balcony. It also had 150 box seats.

The original decorations were designed to look like an English garden. The theater's name, Winter Garden, also came from this idea.

Seating Layout

The main floor (orchestra) slopes down towards the stage. At the back of the main floor is a walkway. This walkway goes around the sides of the auditorium. Columns separate this walkway from the seats. The ceiling of this walkway has decorative bands and patterns.

The balcony also slopes down. The front part of the balcony has curves, like the boxes. At the back of the balcony is another walkway. This walkway used to be a large foyer. Columns separate this walkway from the balcony seats. The front railing of the balcony has molded decorations. The underside of the balcony also has decorative bands and air vents.

Box view

On each side of the stage, there are walls with special boxes. There are three boxes on each side, on two levels. These boxes curve outwards. Their fronts have similar decorations to the balcony railing. Tall columns with fancy tops stand next to the boxes. The current boxes were added during the 1923 renovation. The original design had only one level of boxes.

Stage and Ceiling

The opening to the stage, called the proscenium arch, is about 24 feet high and 44 feet wide. It has a wide, decorated band with patterns and figures. This arch was made smaller in the 1922 renovation. An inner arch and drapes were added to make it look smaller than its original size, which was about 30 feet high and 50 feet wide.

Above the proscenium, the ceiling curves. It has a panel that shows dancing and music-playing figures in a forest. This panel is called "The Shepherd's Dream."

The stage itself is about 40 feet deep. When the theater first opened, the stage had a curved front and a long runway. This runway was added in 1912 to bring performers closer to the audience. The runway was removed in the 1922 renovation, and more seats were put in its place. There is also a pit in front of the stage for the orchestra.

The modern ceiling has curved sections between decorative ribs. These sections are divided into panels. The center of the ceiling has a dome-like panel. It is surrounded by decorations. At each corner of the dome, there are medallions showing mythical creatures playing music. In the theater's original design, the ceiling had exposed beams from the old Horse Exchange. The ceiling was painted blue to make it feel like an outdoor space. The original ceiling also had poor sound quality. During the 1922 renovation, the ceiling was lowered to improve sound.

History of the Winter Garden Theatre

Times Square became a major center for theater shows between 1900 and the Great Depression. Many theaters were built around Broadway during this time. The current Winter Garden Theatre was developed by the Shubert brothers. They were from Syracuse, New York. After one brother, Sam S. Shubert, died in 1905, his brothers Lee and Jacob J. Shubert greatly expanded their theater business. By 1925, they controlled a huge part of the theater world in the U.S.

How the Theater Started

Turning a Horse Exchange into a Theater

Winter Garden Theatre, 1916

Jacob Shubert wanted to create his own theater. In 1910, he saw the Horse Exchange building. Even though it was far from the main theater area, he liked the sloped balcony above the horse-auction ring. Since horses were being replaced by cars, the owner, Vanderbilt, agreed to lease the site to the Shuberts for 40 years.

Plans for the Winter Garden began in 1909. It was first meant to be a music hall. In May 1910, the Shubert brothers announced plans for a theater called Lew Fields' Winter Garden. It would cost $500,000. William Albert Swasey was the architect. The theater was planned for operas, ballets, dances, and other big performances.

Jacob Shubert changed many of the plans. He also had disagreements with Lew Fields, who eventually left the project. By the end of 1910, the Shubert brothers fully owned the Winter Garden. Jacob wanted the new theater to show musical revues. He wanted to compete with the famous Ziegfeld Follies. The Winter Garden was to be the main place for the Shuberts' own shows.

Early Years (1910s and 1920s)

The Winter Garden opened on March 20, 1911. The first show was a musical called La Belle Paree. This show also marked the Broadway debut of the famous singer and actor Al Jolson. Critics said the Winter Garden was "New York's latest plaything."

After La Belle Paree, other shows like Revue of Revues and Vera Violetta played. Al Jolson often performed at the Winter Garden. Jacob Shubert soon realized that Jolson was a big reason for the theater's success.

Lee Shubert saw a new idea in Europe: a runway extending from the stage into the audience. He copied this idea. In 1912, The Whirl of Society was the first show to use the Winter Garden's runway. Al Jolson performed on it, along with many dancers. This runway was sometimes called the "bridge of thighs." Jolson's shows were very popular.

The Shuberts also needed to fill the theater when Jolson was on tour. Jacob Shubert started his own revue series called The Passing Show. The first one opened in July 1912. This series ran every year until 1924. Famous performers like Marilyn Miller and Fred and Adele Astaire appeared in it.

Changes and Different Uses

1920s Renovations

Greenwich Village Follies (1923)

In November 1922, the Winter Garden closed for a big renovation. The goal was to make the theater better for revues. Herbert Krapp made the stage opening smaller and lowered the ceiling. One hundred seats were added where the runway used to be. Fifty new boxes were also added. Workers worked day and night to finish the renovation. The theater's colors were changed to gold and white. Smoking, which was allowed before, was banned after this renovation.

The theater reopened on January 24, 1923, with a show called The Dancing Girl. This was followed by that year's The Passing Show. The theater also hosted the Greenwich Village Follies and Artists and Models revues. Al Jolson made his last live appearance at the Winter Garden in 1925 in the musical Big Boy.

In 1928, Warner Bros. took over the Winter Garden Theatre. They used it as a movie theater for five years. The first movie shown was The Singing Fool, starring Al Jolson.

1930s and 1940s

View from the west, overlooking the Winter Garden Theatre at bottom center

Warner Bros. stopped using the theater in 1933. The first live play after that was Hold Your Horses. Then, the theater hosted the Ziegfeld Follies in 1934 and 1936. These shows featured stars like Fanny Brice and Bob Hope. Other popular shows included Life Begins at 8:40 and At Home Abroad.

In 1936, The Show Is On was a popular revue. This was followed by Hooray for What!, an anti-war musical. In 1938, the hit show Hellzapoppin opened. It ran for a very long time, until 1941. Another hit, Sons o' Fun, played for over a year. The Ziegfeld Follies returned in 1943. This version ran longer than any before it. Other shows included Cole Porter's Mexican Hayride and Laffing Room Only.

After a show called Marinka in 1945, the Winter Garden became a movie theater again for three years. United Artists used it to show films. By 1947, United Artists had trouble finding movies to show. In November 1948, As the Girls Go was the first live show after the theater returned to stage productions.

A Theater for Musicals

1950s to 1970s

In 1950, Michael Todd's ... Show played at the Winter Garden. This was followed by the musical Top Banana in 1951. In 1953, Wonderful Town was a big hit. A revival of Peter Pan played in 1954. In 1956, a classic play called Tamburlaine The Great was staged. The last Ziegfeld Follies at the Winter Garden was in 1957.

Later in 1957, the famous musical West Side Story premiered at the Winter Garden. It had music by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. Sondheim was making his Broadway debut as a lyricist. Other shows in the late 1950s included Juno and Saratoga.

West Side Story returned briefly in 1960. Then, The Unsinkable Molly Brown ran for 732 performances. In the mid-1960s, the Winter Garden hosted two huge hits. Funny Girl, starring Barbra Streisand, opened in 1964 and ran for two years. It was followed by Mame, with Angela Lansbury, which ran for three years.

Lobby interior

The 1970s started with Stephen Sondheim's musical Follies in 1971. A revival of Much Ado About Nothing played in 1972. Famous singers like Neil Diamond and Liza Minnelli also performed concerts here. A revival of the musical Gypsy was staged in 1974. The Winter Garden also hosted the 29th Tony Awards in 1975. Another Sondheim musical, Pacific Overtures, played in 1976. This was followed by concerts from Natalie Cole and a run of Fiddler on the Roof. The musical Beatlemania opened in 1977 and ran for two years.

1980s and 1990s

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Winter Garden hosted smaller shows and live performances. These included Zoot Suit and Gilda Radner's Live From New York. In 1980, the musical 42nd Street premiered. This was followed by Camelot in 1981 and a revival of Othello in 1982. The Shuberts renovated the Winter Garden as part of a plan to restore their Broadway theaters.

The musical Cats was set to open at the Winter Garden in October 1982. The theater closed for a big renovation inside and out. The inside was changed to look like a junkyard for the show. The interior was painted black. Cats opened on October 7, 1982. It became a huge success, winning many Tony Awards. Cats became the longest-running Broadway show in history in 1997. It ran for almost eighteen years, with 7,485 performances.

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) began looking at protecting the Winter Garden in 1982. In 1988, the LPC made the interior of the theater an official city landmark. This was part of a larger effort to protect Broadway theaters. The theater owners tried to fight these landmark designations in court. But the designations were upheld in 1992.

2000s to Today

Seen while Mamma Mia! was in production

In 2000, the Shubert Organization and General Motors (GM) talked about a sponsorship deal. The Winter Garden could be renamed for Cadillac, a GM brand. Cats closed on September 10, 2000. After Cats closed, the theater was restored to its 1920s look. This $10 million project brought back many of the original architectural features. The stage, which was taken apart for Cats, was also rebuilt.

The musical Mamma Mia! opened at the Winter Garden in October 2001. In May 2002, the theater was renamed the Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre because of the GM sponsorship. In 2003, the Shuberts agreed to make their theaters, including the Winter Garden, more accessible for people with disabilities. In 2007, GM's sponsorship ended, and the theater went back to its original name. Mamma Mia! also had a very long run. It moved to another theater in 2013 to make way for Rocky the Musical.

Rocky opened in 2014. This was followed by Wolf Hall Parts One & Two in 2015. Then, School of Rock had a long run, closing in early 2019 after over 1,300 performances.

The 2022 Broadway revival of The Music Man playing at the theatre

Beetlejuice opened in April 2019. But in December, the Shuberts announced that Beetlejuice would move. This was to make room for a new production of The Music Man. In March 2020, the theater closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Beetlejuice ended its run early because of this closure. It later moved to another theater in 2022.

During the closure, a stagehand died after falling in November 2020. The theater also hosted the 74th Tony Awards in September 2021. The Winter Garden reopened on December 20, 2021, with previews of The Music Man. It officially opened in February 2022 and ran until January 2023. Back to the Future: The Musical opened at the theater in August 2023.

Famous Shows at the Winter Garden Theatre

Here are some of the notable shows that have played at the Winter Garden Theatre. Shows with many versions are listed by the year of their first performance. This list only includes Broadway shows, not movies.

See also

In Spanish: Winter Garden Theatre para niños

• List of buildings and structures on Broadway in Manhattan
• List of Broadway theaters
• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets