Named after heiress and actress Vivian Beaumont Allen, the theater was one of the last structures designed by modernist architect Eero Saarinen.

The Beaumont opened on October 21, 1965, and was originally operated by Jules Irving and Herbert Blau of the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center, generally presenting four shows a season.

Controversies over the Beaumont's operation, a proposed renovation, and financial difficulties led to LCT being reorganized in 1985, with Gregory Mosher and Bernard Gersten taking over as the new Director and Executive Producer.

The theater has hosted several popular productions since the late 1980s, including Anything Goes, Contact, The Light in the Piazza, South Pacific, The King and I, and My Fair Lady.

[12] The structure faces the Metropolitan Opera House to the south; David Geffen Hall to the east; and the Juilliard School to the north, via a pedestrian bridge across 65th Street.

[32] In June 2012, LCT opened the Claire Tow Theater on the Beaumont's roof,[43] which features work by emerging playwrights, directors, and designers.

[53][54][55] Vivian Beaumont Allen, a former actress and heiress to the May Department Stores fortune, donated $3 million in May 1958 for the construction of the repertory theater at Lincoln Center.

[2] Allen expressed concerns that the site allotted to the repertory theater was too small, in part because Robert Moses was intractable in his refusal to reduce the size of the nearby Damrosch Park.

[10] The final scheme was tested in an unused movie theater in Pontiac, Michigan, where Mielziner drew up plans for theatrical sets he had designed in the past.

[91] Due to conflicts with Lincoln Center president William Schuman, Whitehead and Kazan resigned and were replaced by Herbert Blau and Jules Irving.

[94] The next month, a revival of Georg Büchner's play Danton's Death was booked as the Beaumont's inaugural production, and the opening date was pushed to October 21.

[6] John Chapman of the New York Daily News called the Beaumont's opening "the most important theatrical event of the 1965–66 season in this city", despite the mediocrity of Danton's Death.

[93][109] Richard P. Cooke of The Wall Street Journal said the Lincoln Center Repertory Company "is still struggling for popular and critical acclaim", despite having both ample funding and up-to-date equipment at the Beaumont.

As part of the 1968 Lincoln Center Festival, French theatre company Théâtre de la Cité performed The Three Musketeers, George Dandin, and Tartuffe at the Beaumont.

[126] The sixth season in 1970–1971 was composed entirely of revivals[127] and included The Good Woman of Setzuan, The Playboy of the Western World, An Enemy of the People, and Antigone.

[128] Lincoln Center's directors forgave $200,000 of the repertory company's debts and agreed to provide another $125,000 a year to cover high overhead costs.

[120] The Forum's season was canceled in October 1972 due to a lack of funds, and Irving resigned as the Lincoln Center Repertory Theater's artistic director as a direct result.

The guest season would run for one year, allowing the Lincoln Center Theater to search for a new artistic leader and give them time to transition into the job.

[139] Papp announced in early 1975 that he would change the Beaumont's programming to revivals of traditional plays and dramas with established performers, citing "hostility" from the audiences.

[163] After Papp's sudden departure, Lincoln Center's directors hurried to make arrangements with other producers and theatrical companies to keep the Beaumont open.

[166] At the end of the year, Woody Allen, Sarah Caldwell, Liviu Ciulei, Robin Phillips, and Ellis Rabb were appointed as the theater's new directors, and Edward Albee was hired as the in-house playwright.

[173][176] The poor reception to the three plays prompted Crinkley to keep the theater closed after the 1980–1981 season, which put him in conflict with Lincoln Center chairman Martin E.

[177] Crinkley wanted to convert the Beaumont into a proscenium theater, resolving not only poor sightlines but also inferior acoustics that required some of the more recent plays to use amplification.

[40] In May 1981, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation granted Lincoln Center $4 million each for the renovations of the Beaumont and State (now Koch) theaters.

[201] Gregory Mosher was hired as the director of the Lincoln Center Theater in April 1985,[202][203] and Bernard Gersten was appointed as the Beaumont's executive producer that June.

[38] In December 1995, LCT announced it would close the Beaumont for an extensive renovation lasting six to eight months, relocating Broadway shows to the Plymouth Theatre.

[238] The renovation, led by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates,[239] involved modifying mechanical systems, improving acoustics, and adding accessible restrooms and seating areas.

[261] The musical The Light in the Piazza opened at the Beaumont in April 2005,[262] followed by Stoppard's three-part play The Coast of Utopia in 2006[263] and a revival of Shakespeare's Cymbeline in 2007.

[279] A single performance the musical Camelot took place at a benefit concert in March 2019,[280] and Robert Schenkkan's comedy The Great Society had a limited run in late 2019.

[217] LCT's Broadway productions were also relocated during the Beaumont's 1996 renovation,[238] as well as in the 21st century, such as during the runs of Contact, The Light in the Piazza, and South Pacific.