Winter Garden Theatre

Best Seats In The House

• Seats: 1600

Parking for Winter Garden Theatre

The closest parking garages for Winter Garden Theatre are located at:

Redball Parking LLC

225 West 49th Street
New York, NY 10019

212-262-5450

Quik Park Garage Triple Eight Garage

1633 Broadway
New York, NY 10019

212-333-4988

The closest parking is not always the best as it often takes longer to park and retrieve your vehicle as fellow theatre goers have the same idea. A better choice of parking may be the second choice or further away by a couple of Avenues.

Additional Notes

The entrance to the Winter Garden Theatre is street level. Restrooms are up one flight of stairs and there is a handicap restroom available.

Landlord: Shubert Organization

Official Ticketer: Telecharge

Elevator: No

Escalator: No

Disabled Access Notes:

Despite a lack of escalators and elevators, there are no steps when entering the theatre nor within the Orchestra section itself. This allows all seating on the lower level to be fully accessible. There is also a designated wheelchair seating section. However, there are no accommodations for the higher levels in this theatre.

Winter Garden Theatre History

The Winter Garden Theatre stands on the site of what was once the American Horse Exchange.

William Vanderbuilt leased this large property to the Shuberts in 1910, and the Winter Garden Theatre officially opened the following year. The Winter Garden's opening production was La Belle Paree starring Al Jolson, one of the most famous singers of the era.

In 1928, the theater was leased by Warner Brothers and changed to a movie house, but unlike many theaters that suffered this fate during the Depression, the Winter Garden soon regained legitimacy when, in 1933, it reopened with Hold Your Horses.

In 1982, the theater was renovated in preparation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber hit Cats. After the feline-themed musical reigned for two decades, it finally ended its record-breaking run, and the Winter Garden Theatre then closed for refurbishing. It reopened in 2001, at which point it was renamed the Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre and in 2007 when Cadillac's sponsorship ended, the theatre went back to its original name.

Winter Garden Theatre Design

Architect William Albert Swasey designed the Winter Garden Theatre with lattice work walls and a trellised ceiling to look like an outdoor roof garden. The most talked about feature in the original design was the “runway," a bridge built over the orchestra section from the stage to the rear.

One of the rare Broadway theaters not initially built by Herbert J. Krapp, the Winter Garden did eventually get a makeover by Krapp in the 1920s when he was brought in to redesign the theater as it now is today. A huge marquee was added and the auditorium was modernized with a lowered ceiling and one hundred new seats that replaced the runway. The runway did make a return appearance, though, sixty years later for the Stephen Sondheim musical Pacific Overtures.