Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and
the Great Depression. During the 1900s and 1910s, many theaters in Midtown Manhattan were developed by the
Shubert brothers, one of the major theatrical syndicates of the time. The Shuberts originated from
Syracuse, New York, and expanded
downstate into New York City in the first decade of the 20th century. The brothers controlled a quarter of all plays and three-quarters of theatrical ticket sales in the U.S. by 1925. After World War I, the Shuberts contemplated the construction of six theaters along 48th and 49th Streets, just north of Times Square. Of these, only four were built, and only three (the Ambassador, O'Neill, and Kerr) survive.
Original Broadway run The Shuberts announced plans for their six new theaters in September 1920. The Ambassador, announced that November, was the first new theater that the Shuberts planned to build along 48th and 49th Streets. The Shuberts held a 21-year lease on the theater that extended from August 1919 to August 1940. The brothers believed that the 49th Street site could be as profitable as theaters on
42nd Street, which historically was Times Square's legitimate theatrical hub. The Shuberts built the Ambassador Theatre in 82 days, then a record for theatrical construction. The musical comedy
The Rose Girl was announced in January 1921 as the Ambassador's first production, and the theater opened on February 11 with
The Rose Girl.
Biff, Bang, Bang! was staged that May, followed later the same year by the theater's first true hit: and many of its early productions were not successful. as well as an American version of
Eduard Künneke's
Caroline the next year featuring
Tessa Kosta. The operetta
The Dream Girl opened in 1924 with music by
Victor Herbert, who had died several months previously. as well as
William A. Brady and
Owen Davis's adaptation of the novel
The Great Gatsby in 1926.
Laurence Schwab and
Frank Mandel signed a two-year lease for the Ambassador in June 1926, with plans to renovate the theater and stage their own plays inside. Subsequently,
Queen High ran for 367 performances after its opening in September 1926, and
Bartlett Cormack staged
The Racket late the next year. Most of the Ambassador's productions in the late 1920s were
flops, revivals, or transfers from other theaters. Among the shows that transferred were the play
Little Accident in 1929, as well as
Street Scene later the same year. The following decade started with another transfer, the long-running prison drama
The Last Mile, in 1930;
Blossom Time was revived for a brief run the next year. The Ambassador's next hit was
Ayn Rand's
Night of January 16th, which opened in September 1935. The new owners insisted on staging only drama, which resulted in many flops in the late 1930s.
Intermittent theatrical use, playhouse In December 1938, the Theatrical Realty Corporation, headed by
Lee Shubert, leased the Ambassador Theatre to the
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) for use as a broadcasting studio. CBS enlarged the Ambassador's stage and used it to broadcast orchestra performances in early 1939. Later that year, the 1939 version of
The Straw Hat Revue was presented at the Ambassador, The Shuberts gave up their lease on the theater in September 1940, and the James P. Knight estate took over. The
New York Grand Opera Company performed at the theater in September 1941, and the Ambassador was leased to real-estate operator
Irving Maidman two months later. The Ambassador returned to showing legitimate productions that November with
Cuckoos on the Hearth, which transferred from the
Mansfield Theatre.
Central Hanover Bank & Trust acquired the Ambassador in January 1942 and resold it to J. Arthur Fischer that June in an all-cash transaction. The
burlesque revue
Wine, Women and Song opened at the theater that September. However, the revue was closed three months later because it was "indecent", namely violating ordinances against obscenities; under the orders of the mayoral administration of
Fiorello La Guardia, the Ambassador lost its license to operate as a legitimate theater. The Ambassador's theatrical license was restored in August 1943, just before the opening of a third and final revival of
Blossom Time, which ran only 47 performances. This was followed by a set of
Gilbert and Sullivan plays in early 1944, as well as transfers of
Decision and
School For Brides the same year. The Ambassador was leased to Joseph and Sam Siritzky in August 1945 for film screenings. The Siritzkys' lease was to run for at least five years, with options for extensions. The Ambassador was used as a movie house and as a radio and television studio for the next 11 years. For the next three years, the theater was used exclusively for screening foreign films. The Siritzkys suspended their operations at the Ambassador in mid-1950 and departed to France. That August,
DuMont Television Network signed a five-year lease for the Ambassador and immediately began remodeling it for use as a broadcast studio. The wooden stage was resurfaced with a smooth
finish of
magnesium chloride, and a partitioned control room was added. DuMont opened its studio in September 1950
Broadway revival 1950s to 1970s In July 1956, the Shuberts announced that they would restore the Ambassador to legitimate-theater use. The comedy
The Loud Red Patrick, which opened that October, was the first production at the reopened theater. Generally, the productions of the revived Ambassador were no more successful than those that were staged in the theater's original Broadway run. In 1957, the Ambassador hosted
Eugenia with
Tallulah Bankhead; a transfer of the long-running
The Diary of Anne Frank; This was followed in 1958 by a limited run of
Back to Methuselah with
Faye Emerson and
Tyrone Power, as well as
Comes a Day with
Judith Anderson and
George C. Scott (the latter in his Broadway debut). The next year,
Jean Dixon,
Melvyn Douglas, and
E. G. Marshall performed in ''The Gang's All Here''. The long-running
Paddy Chayefsky play
The Tenth Man transferred from the
Booth Theatre in 1961, Subsequently, the theater hosted
A Passage to India Another transfer,
Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, was staged at the Ambassador in 1963, The Ambassador also hosted limited concert engagements from the
Paul Taylor Dance Company and
Charles Aznavour in 1965. The theater then hosted
The Lion in Winter with
Robert Preston and
Rosemary Harris in 1966, as well as
Robert Anderson's collection of one-act plays, ''
You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running'', starting in 1967. The Ambassador ended the decade with runs of
Joseph Heller's
We Bombed in New Haven in 1968 and
Tom Jones and
Harvey Schmidt's
Celebration in 1969. The Ambassador hosted various types of productions in the 1970s, ranging from adaptations of children's stories to musical parodies. This was followed by ''
Paul Sills' Story Theatre'' the same year. which played in repertory with
Sills's
Metamorphoses near the end of its run. The Ambassador also hosted
Melvin Van Peebles's musical ''
Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death in 1971, as well as a revival of Scapino
with Jim Dale in 1974. The Ambassador hosted three solo productions in the mid-1970s: and Miss Margarida's Way with Estelle Parsons (1977). and Eubie!'' in 1978.
1980s to present The theater was briefly known as the New Ambassador Theatre in April 1980, when the production
Goodbye Fidel was being performed. The same year, the Ambassador hosted
Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, as well as a transfer of the musical ''
Dancin', the latter of which ran through 1982. Afterward, Herman van Veen performed the one-man show All of Him'' in 1982, and a revival of
Arthur Miller's
A View from the Bridge was staged in 1983.
Barbara Cook had a limited concert engagement in April 1987, followed the same year by a six-month run of
''Ain't Misbehavin'. The last production of the decade was
The Circle in 1989, The Circle'' marked Granger's only Broadway appearance and Harrison's last. The
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) had started to consider protecting the Ambassador as a landmark in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. The LPC designated the facades of the Ambassador,
Neil Simon, and
Virginia (now August Wilson) theaters as landmarks in August 1985, along with the Ambassador's and Neil Simon's interiors, over the objections of the three theaters' owners. The
New York City Board of Estimate considered the designations for ratification in December 1985 and approved the designation of the Ambassador's interior, as well as the two other theaters' designations. Though the Ambassador's interior had cultural and architectural significance, the exterior had been designated only for its cultural significance. In a concession to theatrical owners, the Board of Estimate refused to ratify designations of theaters if these were made solely on cultural grounds. After
The Circle closed, the Ambassador did not host another legitimate production for five years. This was followed in 1996 by ''
Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk, which opened in 1996 and ran 1,130 performances over the next three years. as well as It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues'' that September. Relatively few productions have played the Ambassador since 2000. The next year, the Ambassador hosted
A Class Act and
Hedda Gabler, the latter of which opened during a downturn in the Broadway industry caused by the
September 11 attacks. The play
Topdog/Underdog opened at the Ambassador in 2002. This was followed by the musical
Chicago, which had already run for several years on Broadway when it transferred to the Ambassador in January 2003.
Chicago has played at the Ambassador ever since, 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 Ambassador. The theater
closed on March 12, 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened with performances of
Chicago on September 14, 2021.
Chicago broke the theater's box-office record several times during its run, most recently during the week ending January 1, 2023, when the musical grossed $1,299,400. == Notable productions ==