Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and
the Great Depression. Manhattan's theater district had begun to shift from
Union Square and
Madison Square during the first decade of the 20th century. From 1901 to 1920, forty-three theaters were built around Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, including the Shubert Theatre. The venue was developed by the Shubert brothers of
Syracuse, New York, who expanded
downstate into New York City in the first decade of the 20th century. After the death of
Sam S. Shubert in 1905, his brothers
Lee and
Jacob J. Shubert expanded their theatrical operations significantly. The brothers controlled a quarter of all plays and three-quarters of theatrical ticket sales in the U.S. by 1925. Meanwhile,
Winthrop Ames, a member of a wealthy publishing family, did not enter the theatrical industry until 1905, when he was 34 years old. After being involved in the development of two large venues, Boston's
Castle Square Theatre and New York City's
New Theatre, Ames decided to focus on erecting smaller venues during the
Little Theatre Movement. The New Theatre's founders acquired several buildings at 219–225 West 44th Street and 218–230 West 45th Street in March 1911, for the construction of a "new New Theatre" there. The New Theatre's founders cited the difficulty of finding a director for the new New Theatre, as well as possible competition with Ames's Little Theatre. Shubert's theater was to be the larger venue, being on 44th Street, while Ames's theater would be on 45th Street and would have half the seating capacity. The larger theater was known as the Sam S. Shubert Theatre, in memory of Lee's late brother, while the smaller one was named after Edwin Booth. The Booth Theatre became the second New York City venue to bear Booth's name, after
Booth's Theatre at
23rd Street and
Sixth Avenue, completed in 1869 for Booth himself. In the planning stages, the Booth Theatre on 45th Street was named the Ames Theatre. the name was in use until at least August 1913. Ultimately, Ames named his 45th Street theater after Booth because Ames's father had worked directly for Booth at the old theater. Work on the two theaters started in May 1912. Herts began accepting bids for construction contractors that July, and the Fleischmann Bros. Company was selected the following month to construct both of the new theaters. The project encountered several delays and disputes over costs. Documents indicate that the Fleischmann Bros. had expressed concerns of imprecise drawings and fired several workers. Further delays occurred when Ames requested several changes to the Booth's design in mid-1912; Herts said this would require the plans to be completely redone, while J. J. Shubert believed the changes were superficial. The Booth was supposed to open on October 10, 1913, but its opening was postponed by six days because a heavy rain flooded the basement. The theater opened on October 16 with the
Arnold Bennett play
The Great Adventure with
Lyn Harding and
Janet Beecher; it closed after 52 performances. and continued for 255 performances. Ames also hosted a competition for the best play on an American subject by an American writer; he awarded the $10,000 prize to
Alice Brown's play
Children of Earth, which was shown at the Booth in January 1915. That April, the theater hosted
The Bubble with
Louis Mann, which had 176 performances. The Booth hosted numerous moderately successful plays by notable playwrights in the late 1910s. Another successful play arrived at the Booth in early 1917 with the opening of
Clare Kummer's
A Successful Calamity with
William Gillette,
Estelle Winwood, and
Roland Young.
De Luxe Annie opened later the same year, featuring
Jane Grey and
Vincent Serrano. The play
Seventeen, based on a
Booth Tarkington novel, opened at the Booth in 1918 with
Ruth Gordon and
Gregory Kelly. This was followed in 1919 by the mystery
The Woman in Room 13 In 1920, the Booth hosted the melodrama
The Purple Mask with
Leo Ditrichstein; the play
Not So Long Ago with
Eva Le Gallienne,
Sidney Blackmer, and
Thomas Mitchell; and a dramatization of
Mark Twain's
The Prince and the Pauper with
Ruth Findlay and
William Faversham. The next year, the play
The Green Goddess opened with
George Arliss,
Seventh Heaven premiered later the same year, running for 683 performances. This was followed shortly thereafter by
George S. Kaufman and
Edna Ferber's play
Minick, as well as the
Theatre Guild's version of
Ferenc Molnár's play
The Guardsman with
Alfred Lunt and
Lynn Fontanne. Many productions at the Booth in 1925 and 1926 were
flops. The next year, Ames produced a short-lived version of
Philip Barry's comedy
White Wings. The Booth finally had another hit in early 1927 with the
Maxwell Anderson comedy ''Saturday's Children'' with
Beulah Bondi,
Ruth Gordon, and
Roger Pryor, which had 310 performances. Also that year, Leslie Howard and Frieda Inescort returned in Ames's production of
John Galsworthy's
Escape. The revue
Grand Street Follies was presented at the Booth in 1928 and 1929, with
James Cagney and Dorothy Sands. Ames announced his retirement from producing in October 1929, though he said he would continue to control the Booth Theatre. The same month, the play
Jenny opened at the theater, featuring
Jane Cowl and
Guy Standing.
Shubert operation 1930s and 1940s The Booth hosted about fifty productions in the 1930s. Though the theater was always quickly rebooked because of its location in the center of the Theater District, many of these shows were short-lived or relocated from other venues. One of the more notable short runs was
Elmer Harris's
A Modern Virgin in 1931, in which
Margaret Sullavan performed for the first time on a Broadway stage. This was followed in 1932 by
Another Language, starring
John Beal,
Margaret Hamilton,
Dorothy Stickney, and
Margaret Wycherly for 348 performances. In 1934, the theater hosted some moderate successes such as
No More Ladies,
The Shining Hour, and
The Distaff Side. The Booth's plays in 1935 included
J. B. Priestley's
Laburnum Grove; John Gearon and
Louis Bromfield's short-lived
De Luxe;
Edward Chodorov's
Kind Lady with
Grace George; and
James Warwick's
Blind Alley with
George Coulouris. This was followed in 1936 by the Chinese drama
Lady Precious Stream;
Sweet Aloes, where
Rex Harrison premiered on Broadway; and the wrestling farce
Swing Your Lady. George Kaufman and
Moss Hart's
''You Can't Take It with You'', with
Josephine Hull and
Henry Travers, premiered in December 1936 and stayed for 837 performances, winning a
Pulitzer Prize. and
Philip Barry's drama
Here Come the Clowns in 1938, as well as the
Nancy Hamilton and
Morgan Lewis revue
One for the Money in 1939. Another Pulitzer-winning play,
The Time of Your Life, opened at the Booth in late 1939. The Booth's productions in the 1940s generally lasted for longer than in the previous decade. In 1940, Hamilton and Lewis brought to the Booth the revue
Two for the Show, a sequel to
One for the Money that featured many of the same performers. This was followed in February 1941 by the
Rose Franken play
Claudia with
Dorothy McGuire,
Frances Starr, and
Donald Cook, running for one year. The
Noël Coward comedy
Blithe Spirit, featuring
Mildred Natwick,
Clifton Webb, and
Peggy Wood, moved to the Booth in May 1942 Another long run was
The Two Mrs. Carrolls, which opened in 1943 with
Elisabeth Bergner,
Victor Jory, and
Irene Worth and had 585 performances. followed by
Tennessee Williams and
Donald Windham's comedy
You Touched Me!. The next year, the theater hosted a revival of
The Would-Be Gentleman; the mystery
Swan Song; and a revival of
The Playboy of the Western World. Among the Booth's productions in 1947 were the
Norman Krasna play
John Loves Mary, which featured
Tom Ewell,
Nina Foch, and
William Prince. The following year, Molnár's comedy
''The Play's the Thing'' was revived, featuring
Louis Calhern and
Faye Emerson.
James B. Allardice's
At War with the Army was presented in 1949 with
Gary Merrill, and
The Velvet Glove opened at the end of that year with
Grace George and
Walter Hampden.
1950s to 1970s William Inge's play
Come Back, Little Sheba opened in 1950, featuring
Shirley Booth and
Sidney Blackmer; Another hit was
Beatrice Lillie's revue
An Evening with Beatrice Lillie in 1952, which ran for 278 performances. Afterward, the Booth hosted the world premiere of the film
Caesar in 1953, the first non-
legitimate production in t he theater's history. The Booth's next success was a ten-month run of
Jerome Chodorov's
Anniversary Waltz with
Macdonald Carey and
Kitty Carlisle, which had relocated from the Broadhurst, starting in late 1954. Ralph Berkey and
Henry Denker's Korean War drama
Time Limit opened in 1956 and ran for 127 performances.
Gore Vidal's comedy
Visit to a Small Planet opened the next February, starring
Cyril Ritchard and
Eddie Mayehoff for a year. Subsequently,
William Gibson's two-person play
Two for the Seesaw opened in January 1958 and ran until late 1959. and lasted for 623 performances over the next year. but the comedy
A Shot in the Dark was more successful the same year, starring
Julie Harris,
Walter Matthau,
Gene Saks, and
William Shatner. A comedy by
Murray Schisgal,
Luv, opened in 1964 and featured
Alan Arkin,
Anne Jackson, and
Eli Wallach; it ran for about 900 performances. The next year,
Harold Pinter's play
The Birthday Party was staged at the theater. After several relatively short runs, which had 1,128 performances through 1972. and ran for 844 performances over the next year and a half. Subsequently, in 1974, the Booth hosted a transfer of
Terrence McNally's off-Broadway play
Bad Habits,
as well as the Schisgal play All Over Town
. The next year, Papp announced that he would produce five plays at the Booth under the auspices of the New York Shakespeare Festival, offering tickets at low prices. Papp canceled the program due to a lack of money, and only one production was staged, the short-lived The Leaf People
. This was followed by the Jerome Kern musical Very Good Eddie at the end of 1975. Another hit was For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf'', which opened in 1976 and ran for 742 performances over the next two years. In 1979, the Shuberts hired
Melanie Kahane to redesign the Booth Theatre. The project involved restoring the Booth's original design within three weeks; at the time, Kahane characterized the theater as a "sad old sack". Kahane removed some design details such as French chandeliers, as she believed they were incompatible with the theater's design scheme. The auditorium was redecorated with a beige and brown color scheme. The
Royal Shakespeare Company presented the
C. P. Taylor play
Good with
Alan Howard in 1982, and
Larry Atlas's
Total Abandon flopped the next year after its single performance. This was followed in 1984 by
Stephen Sondheim and
James Lapine's Pulitzer-winning musical
Sunday in the Park With George with
Mandy Patinkin and
Bernadette Peters. The
Herb Gardner play ''
I'm Not Rappaport'' relocated to the Booth from off-Broadway in November 1985, staying for 890 performances until early 1988. with discussions continuing over the next several years. The LPC designated both the Booth's facade and part of the Booth's interior as landmarks on November 4, 1987. This was part of the LPC's wide-ranging effort in 1987 to grant landmark status to Broadway theaters. The
New York City Board of Estimate ratified the designations in March 1988. The Shuberts, the
Nederlanders, and
Jujamcyn collectively sued the LPC in June 1988 to overturn the landmark designations of 22 theaters, including the Booth, on the merit that the designations severely limited the extent to which the theaters could be modified. The lawsuit was escalated to the
New York Supreme Court and the
Supreme Court of the United States, but these designations were ultimately upheld in 1992. In October 1990,
Lynn Ahrens and
Stephen Flaherty's musical
Once on This Island launched at the Booth, running for 469 performances. This was followed in 1992 by
Frank Loesser's
The Most Happy Fella for 221 performances, as well as
Frank McGuinness's play ''
Someone Who'll Watch Over Me'' for 216 performances.
Jonathan Tolins's play
The Twilight of the Golds had a short run in late 1993, The next year, the Booth hosted
Emily Mann's production of
Having Our Say, which ran for 308 performances. The Booth next hosted two solo shows:
Love Thy Neighbor by
Jackie Mason in 1996, as well as
Defending the Caveman by Rob Becker (later replaced by
Michael Chiklis).
David Mamet's set of three one-act plays,
The Old Neighborhood, ran 197 performances at the Booth in late 1997 and early 1998. The revue
An Evening with Jerry Herman and
Sandra Bernhard's stand-up routine ''
I'm Still Here... Damn It!'' were staged in 1998, followed by
David Hare's
Via Dolorosa and
Barry Humphries's
Dame Edna: The Royal Tour in 1999.
2000s to present Lily Tomlin performed her solo show
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe in 2000, followed by another solo show in 2002,
Bea Arthur's
Bea Arthur on Broadway. A 2002 revival of ''I'm Not Rappaport'' closed after 51 performances, and
Thornton Wilder's play
Our Town was revived the same year.
The Retreat from Moscow opened in 2003 for a 148-performance run, and
Eve Ensler's solo
The Good Body flopped after a month in 2004. Next was the drama
The Pillowman and a revival of
Edward Albee's
Seascape in 2005, then revivals of
Faith Healer and
Butley in 2006.
Joan Didion's solo play
The Year of Magical Thinking and
Conor McPherson's drama
The Seafarer both had runs of several months in 2007, and
Laurence Fishburne also headed the solo drama
Thurgood for over a hundred performances in 2008. and the musical
The Story of My Life had five performances in 2009. The musical
Next to Normal opened at the Booth in April 2009 and ran until January 2011. After a seven-performance run of the play
High at the theater in April 2011, a longer run of
Other Desert Cities premiered later that year. Generally, the Booth hosted straight plays during the 2010s. These included ''
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 2012, I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers and The Glass Menagerie in 2013, and The Velocity of Autumn
and The Elephant Man in 2014. Other plays at the Booth included Hughie, An Act of God, and Les Liaisons Dangereuses
in 2016; Significant Other
and Meteor Shower
in 2017; and The Boys in the Band
and American Son
in 2018. followed later the same year by a limited run of Freestyle Love Supreme. The theater closed on March 12, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. A revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
, which had only played previews at the Booth before the shutdown, was then canceled. which closed after three months. A short-lived revival of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
opened at the Booth in April 2022, followed by Kimberly Akimbo from November 2022 to April 2024. Several limited runs followed, including the plays The Roommate starting in September 2024, John Proctor is the Villain starting in April 2025, and Little Bear Ridge Road starting in October 2025. A limited run of the play Proof'' opened at the Booth in April 2026. ==Notable productions==