 | The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1634 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan. Due to the size of its auditorium, stage, and backstage facilities, it is a house favored for large musical productions. It was built by William Kissam Vanderbilt in 1896 to the be the American Horse Exchange. |
| In 1911 the Shuberts leased the building and Architect William Albert Swasey redesigned the building as a theatre. It is the fourth New York City venue to be christened the Winter Garden, it opened on March 10, 1911 with the early Jerome Kern musical La Belle Paree. It was completely remodeled in 1922 by Herbert J. Krapp. The large stage is wider than those in most Broadway houses, and the proscenium arch is relatively low. The building is situated uniquely on its lot, with the main entrance and marquee, located on Broadway, connected to the 1530-seat Seventh Avenue auditorium via a long hallway, and the rear wall of the stage abutting 50th Street. The theatre's longest tenant was Cats, which opened on October 7, 1982 and ran 7,485 performances spanning nearly nineteen years. The auditorium had been gutted to accommodate the show's junkyard setting, and after its closing architect Francesca Russo supervised its restoration, returning it to its 1920s appearance. In 2002, under an agreement between the Shubert Organization, which owns the theatre, and General Motors, it was renamed the Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre. At the beginning of 2007, the corporation's sponsorship ended and the venue returned to its original name. Notable productions since 1951 1951: Make a Wish | |
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