Winter Garden Theatre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre. It is located at 1634 Broadway between 50th and 51st Street in New York City.

Owned by the Shubert family, the theatre was built on the site of the second American Horse Exchange in 1910-11. Instead of demolishing the Exchange, the Shuberts hired architect William Albert Swasey to convert the building for use as a theatre. The venue was completely remodeled and renovated in 1922 by Herbert J. Krapp. The large stage is significantly wider than most Broadway theaters, and the proscenium arch is relatively low, leading some to call the theater an example of "live cinemascope." It is uniquely situated on its lot; the auditorium is on 7th avenue, the rear wall of the stage is on 50th street, and the main entrance and marquee is on Broadway, connected to the auditorium via a long hallway.

The Winter Garden opened on March 10, 1911 with an early Jerome Kern musical, La Belle Paree. It is probably best known as the home to one of Broadway's longest-running musicals, Cats, which opened on October 7, 1981 and closed after 7,485 performances on September 10, 2000.

The Winter Garden also housed the Ziegfeld Follies of 1934, 1936, 1943, and 1957, and has been home to some of Broadway's greatest musicals, including Jerry Herman's Mame, Jule Styne's Gypsy and Funny Girl, Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures and Follies, Leonard Bernstein's Wonderful Town and West Side Story, and Mary Rodgers's Once Upon a Mattress. Since 2001, it has been the home of the musical Mamma Mia!, based on songs by ABBA.

In 2002, it was renamed the "Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre" under an agreement between the Shubert Organization, which owns the theater, and General Motors.

At least three other Broadway theatres at other locations had previously borne the name Winter Garden Theatre:

1. Tripler Hall at 624 Broadway was built in 1850 and immediately renamed Jenny Lind Hall. It became Metropolitan Hall in 1851, Laura Keene's Variety House in 1854, Burton's New Theatre in 1856, and the Winter Garden Theatre in 1859. Edwin Booth appeared there in several Shakespeare plays, and was manager of the theatre from 1863 to 1867, when fire raced through the Winter Garden, resulting in its demolition.
2. The Olympia Theatre: Roof Garden at 1514-16 Broadway near 44th Street opened in November, 1895 and was renamed the Winter Garden Theatre that same year. It was rechristened the Cherry Blossom Grove in 1900, the New York Roof in 1905, and as the Jardin de Paris hosted the Ziegfeld Follies of 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, and 1911. It was demolished in 1935.
3. The New York Winter Garden Theatre housed the revival of Florodora in 1902.

[edit] External links

• Broadway Theatre Guide
• Official website
• "At this Theatre" on Playbill.com
• info on NYTheatre.com
• Winter Garden Theatre at the Internet Broadway Database

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