Opened in 1921, the Music Box Theatre was designed by C. Howard Crane in a Palladian-inspired style and was constructed for Irving Berlin and Sam H. Harris.

At ground level, the eastern portion of the facade contains the theater's entrance, with a marquee over it, while the stage door is to the west.

The auditorium contains Adam style detailing, a large balcony, and two outwardly curved box seats within ornate archways.

The theater initially hosted the partners' Music Box Revue nearly exclusively, presenting its first play, Cradle Snatchers, in 1925.

The Music Box Theatre is on 239 West 45th Street, on the north sidewalk between Eighth Avenue and Broadway, near Times Square in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City.

[4] The Music Box Theatre was designed by C. Howard Crane in a Palladian-inspired style and was constructed from 1920 to 1921 for Irving Berlin and Sam H.

A bronze fire-escape gate, accessed by two granite steps, and two wide sign boards are to the west of the center doors.

The auditorium facade is slightly recessed behind the colonnade, creating a gallery, which is shielded by decorative iron railings between the columns.

The balcony's soffit, or underside, is divided into panels that contain plaster medallions with light fixtures, as well as air-conditioning vents.

Berlin's studio was designed like an attic, with exposed ceiling rafters, as well as wainscoted walls and a stone fireplace mantel.

[27] Architecture and Building magazine described the lounge as being in the Queen Anne style, "developed more as if in a dwelling than in a club or public place".

[8] The Music Box ultimately cost more than $1 million, $400,000 for the building itself and $600,000 for the land;[8][42] the theater overran its original budget by about $300,000.

[10][48] Among theatrical critics, Jack Lait referred to the Music Box as the "daintiest theatre in America" in Variety magazine.

"[49] In his autobiography, producer Moss Hart said that the Music Box was "everybody's dream of a theatre", enhancing the quality of the productions staged there.

[50][51] Film executive Joseph M. Schenck originally was a partner in the Music Box Theatre with Berlin and Harris,[8][43] though he transferred his stake to the Shubert brothers not long afterward.

[54][55] Its producer, Earl Carroll, was briefly jailed in November 1924 after showing "obscene" photos outside the Music Box.

[59][61] This was followed by the comedy Chicago, which premiered in late 1926 with Francine Larrimore and Charles Bickford,[52][62] and a run of the melodrama The Spider in 1927, which transferred from a neighboring theater.

[67][68] The Music Box staged the French play Topaze with Frank Morgan in 1930,[69][70] followed by the comedy The Third Little Show with Ernest Truex and Beatrice Lillie in 1931.

[80][81] The next year, Berlin and Hart staged the revue As Thousands Cheer,[78][82] which with 400 performances was lengthy for a Great Depression-era musical.

[85] These were Rain,[86][87] Ceiling Zero,[88][89] If This Be Treason,[90][91] a theatrical version of Pride and Prejudice,[92][93] and finally Kaufman and Katharine Dayton's collaboration First Lady.

[78][96] This was followed the next year by a short run of Young Madam Conti with Constance Cummings,[97][98] as well as a Kaufman-directed adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel Of Mice and Men.

[102][103] The productions in 1939 began with the Noël Coward revue Set to Music,[104][105] following which was From Vienna, produced by the Refugee Artists Group.

[106][110] Irving Berlin subsequently recalled that he and Harris had almost lost control of the otherwise financially-successful Music Box Theatre during the Depression.

[144][145] The next year saw the opening of the comedy The Beauty Part with Bert Lahr,[141][146] which flopped during the city's newspaper strike despite critical acclaim.

[145][154] The British play Sleuth opened in 1970, featuring Keith Baxter and Anthony Quayle;[145][155] it became the theater's longest-running production with 1,222 performances.

[165][166] The Music Box had a major hit in the early 1980s with the religious drama Agnes of God, which premiered in 1982[167][168] and had 599 performances with Geraldine Page and Amanda Plummer.

[175] In 1987, the Music Box staged Sweet Sue with Mary Tyler Moore,[169][176] as well as the Royal Shakespeare Company's hit production Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

[222][223] As part of a settlement with the United States Department of Justice in 2003, the Shuberts agreed to improve disabled access at their 16 landmarked Broadway theaters, including the Music Box.

[129] The Music Box's productions at the end of the 2000s included Deuce and The Farnsworth Invention in 2007; a transfer of the long-running August: Osage County from the Imperial Theatre in 2008; and Superior Donuts in 2009.

[247][248] A revival of Bob Fosse's Dancin' opened at the Music Box in March 2023, running for two months;[249][250] it was followed by the play Purlie Victorious that September.