Its original façade consisted of several arches on Broadway, which were subsequently converted to a brick wall with a large sign.

In its early days, the theater frequently hosted series of revues presented under the umbrella titles The Passing Show, Artists and Models, and the Greenwich Village Follies.

The Winter Garden Theatre is on 1634 Broadway, near Times Square, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City.

[55] This prompted Jacob to develop his own theater; he subsequently recalled that, while walking up Broadway in early 1910, he looked at the Horse Exchange.

Though the exchange was far north of the established Broadway theater district at the time, the raked balcony above the horse-auction ring appealed to Jacob, even after he learned that Vanderbilt was the landlord.

[57] In May 1910, the Shubert brother filed plans for a theater called Lew Fields' Winter Garden, which would be built on the Horse Exchange site at a cost of $500,000.

[18] The Winter Garden was originally intended to host operas, ballets, dances, and other large performances, similar to variety and music halls.

[57][62] A factor in Fields's withdrawal was Lee's lack of intervention in the dispute, implicitly favoring his less experienced brother over his longtime partner.

[73][74] That November, the revue Vera Violetta opened,[75][76] with numerous performers including Jolson, Deslys, and Mae West.

[67][72] In its early years, the Winter Garden hosted a successful series of concerts on Sunday nights, which featured performers such as Jolson.

[72] While on a trip to Europe, Lee had met with German producer Max Reinhardt, who had pioneered the idea of a runway extending from a stage into the audience.

[19] In early 1912, Jolson, Deslys, and Stella Mayhew starred in The Whirl of Society,[77][78][79] the first show to use the Winter Garden's runway.

[19][82] (From) Broadway to Paris premiered in November 1912,[83][84][85] and Jolson, Deslys, and Fanny Brice appeared in The Honeymoon Express the next year.

[86][87][88] Jacob's son, John Shubert, subsequently recalled that after The Honeymoon Express, Jolson returned to the Winter Garden once every 18 months on average.

[100] Jolson never appeared in any edition of The Passing Show,[101] but the series nonetheless had notable acts such as Miller's dancing debut in 1914.

[23][108] The theater's decorative scheme was changed to gold and white,[23][109] and mulberry-colored damask panels were installed to give a perception of intimacy.

[119][120] In addition to these revues, the musical Innocent Eyes was staged in 1924,[111][121] followed by Big Boy in 1925,[122][123] which was Al Jolson's last live appearance at the Winter Garden.

[139][143][144] These two editions featured performers such as Passing Show stars Willie and Eugene Howard, as well as Eve Arden, Josephine Baker, Fanny Brice, Buddy Ebsen, Bob Hope, Gypsy Rose Lee, The Nicholas Brothers, Gertrude Niesen, and Jane Pickens.

[139] Between these performances, the Winter Garden staged Life Begins at 8:40 in 1934,[139][145][146] as well as Earl Carroll's Sketch Book[136][147] and At Home Abroad in 1935.

[151][152][153] It was succeeded the same year by a much longer run of Olsen and Johnson's revue Hellzapoppin, which had transferred from the 46th Street Theatre and ran until 1941.

[156][157] The Winter Garden hosted the Ziegfeld Follies once again in 1943, with Milton Berle, Jack Cole, Ilona Massey, and Arthur Treacher.

[20][166] United Artists started negotiating for the rights to use the Winter Garden for motion pictures in August 1945,[167] but there were disputes over sound equipment.

[175][176] This was followed by the satire Top Banana in 1951, with Phil Silvers;[177][178] the musical Wonderful Town in 1953, with Rosalind Russell;[177][179] and a revival of Peter Pan in 1954.

[183][184][c] The last Ziegfeld Follies at the Winter Garden was staged in 1957, featuring Beatrice Lillie and Billy De Wolfe,[189][190] but it was not as successful as previous versions, closing after 123 performances.

[206][207] This was followed the next year by a revival of Much Ado About Nothing,[208][209] produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival and featuring Sam Waterston and Kathleen Widdoes.

[213][214] A revival of the Sondheim musical Gypsy, featuring Lansbury, was staged later in 1974,[215][216] and the Winter Garden hosted the 29th Tony Awards the following year.

[22] This included Zoot Suit in early 1979,[226][227] followed in June by Bruce Forsyth concerts[228][229] and in August by Gilda Radner's Live From New York appearances.

[240] Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats had been booked for the Winter Garden in April 1982, with a premiere scheduled for that October.

[267][268] 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 Winter Garden.

[286] During its closure, a stagehand at the Winter Garden died after falling while taking down props for Beetlejuice in November 2020;[287][288] the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the Shuberts as a result.