Opened in 1931 as the hotel's ballroom, it became the Arena Theatre on May 31, 1950, with a revival of George Kelly's The Show Off.

The following year it was returned to the hotel's ballroom and remained as such until the early 1970s, when it was re-converted to a theatre.

Calcutta!, which opened on September 24, 1976, and ran for 13 years, with a total of 5,959 performances.

Its final production was Those Were the Days, a musical revue celebrating Klezmer, featuring Bruce Adler,[1] who was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

In 1991, Maria DiDia, the Edison Theater General Manager, returned the property to the owners of the Edison Hotel, who promptly removed the theater seats and restored it to its original art deco ballroom configuration.