Richard Rodgers Theatre
226 West 46th Street | Times Square | built 1924
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1924
Herbert Krapp designs the Forty-Sixth Street Theater with a single entrance for all ticket-holders
The Landmarks Commission describes the Forty-Sixth Street Theater, built in 1924, as the Chanin organization's first Broadway venture. Its architect, Herbert J. Krapp, used the project to try several of his own ideas for better theater design, among them one entrance shared by every ticket-holder and a "stadium" arrangement inside. The facade is a glazed terra-cotta arcade in a neoclassical style, which the report calls exceptionally handsome.
- 1925
Irwin Chanin's first Broadway theater opens as Chanin's 46th Street Theatre
Irwin Chanin and his brother Henry built the theater, hiring Herbert Krapp, who gave the facade more ornament than his earlier commissions because the Chanins had no booking network or reputation to draw audiences. The Shuberts leased it for 21 years in October 1924 for $2 million. The 46th Street opened on February 7, 1925, with Is Zat So?, a play transferred from another house.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1934
Henry Fonda makes his Broadway debut in The Farmer Takes a Wife
The Farmer Takes a Wife opened at the 46th Street Theatre in 1934, the year after the long run of Howard Lindsay's comedy She Loves Me Not. The show was Henry Fonda's Broadway premiere, and Margaret Hamilton appeared alongside him. His debut followed She Loves Me Not, which had given the theater 367 performances in 1933.
“The Farmer Takes a Wife, which opened the next year, featured Henry Fonda in his Broadway premiere alongside Margaret Hamilton.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1940
Cole Porter's Panama Hattie opens on 46th Street
Panama Hattie, with words and music by Cole Porter, played the 46th Street Theatre from 1940 to 1942. Raoul Pene Du Bois designed both the sets and the costumes. The NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project lists the show among the theater's big hits with LGBT associations, and it also names Porter's Du Barry Was a Lady (1939-40) among the productions here with LGBT creators.
Source: NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project
- 1943
The U.S. Army stages five soldier-written plays in one night for charity
In 1943 the United States Army took over the 46th Street Theatre for a single performance of five plays that soldiers had both written and acted. The evening raised $100,000 for charity. In the same stretch of the early 1940s the house also staged Junior Miss, Beat the Band and Sons o' Fun.
“…the United States Army staged a single performance of five plays written and performed by soldiers, which raised $100,000 for charity…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1950
Guys and Dolls opens at the 46th Street Theatre and wins the Tony Award for best musical
Frank Loesser's Guys and Dolls opened at the 46th Street Theatre in 1950 and ran for roughly three years, about 1,200 performances. It won the 1951 Tony Award for best musical. It was the first of eleven productions at the theater to win the Tony for best play or musical, more than at any other Broadway theater.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1955
Gwen Verdon stars in three consecutive hits at the 46th Street Theatre
Three productions at the theater between 1955 and early 1960 starred dancer and singer Gwen Verdon, in Damn Yankees (1955), New Girl in Town (1957) and Redhead (1959). Verdon took the Tony for lead actress in a musical each time, and Damn Yankees and Redhead were also named best musical, in 1956 and 1959.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1965
Do I Hear a Waltz?, the only Rodgers and Sondheim collaboration, opens here
Nine played the 46th Street Theatre from 1982 to 1984. Tommy Tune won the Tony Award for best direction of a musical, Thommie Walsh created the dances, and William Ivey Long won a Tony for costume design. The NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project counts the show among the theater's big hits with LGBT associations.
“Do I Hear a Waltz?, which opened in 1965 and was the only collaboration between composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Stephen Sondheim…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1982
Nine opens, with Tommy Tune winning a Tony for directing
Nine played the 46th Street Theatre from 1982 to 1984. Tommy Tune won the Tony Award for best direction of a musical, Thommie Walsh created the dances, and William Ivey Long won a Tony for costume design. The NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project counts the show among the theater's hits with LGBT creators.
Source: NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project
- 1987
Landmarks Commission designates the theater after 81 witnesses speak in favor
The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Forty-Sixth Street Theater a landmark on November 17, 1987. Hearings in June and October 1982 had drawn eighty-one witnesses or written statements in favor of designation and one witness against; the owner appeared but had no position. The commission praised the house as one of the historic theaters symbolizing American theater.
“Eighty-one witnesses spoke or had statements read into the record in favor of designation. One witness spoke in opposition to designation.”
- 1988
Theater owners sue to overturn landmark status for 22 Broadway houses
In June 1988 the Nederlanders, the Shuberts and Jujamcyn jointly sued the Landmarks Commission to undo the designations of 22 theaters, including this one, arguing that the rules sharply limited what owners could change. The case rose to the state Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court. The designations were upheld in 1992.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1990
The Nederlanders rename the theater for composer Richard Rodgers
On March 27, 1990, at a luncheon raising money for the performing arts branch of the New York Public Library, the Nederlander Organization renamed the 46th Street Theatre for composer Richard Rodgers. The Nederlanders had bought a half-interest in the building in 1981. Rodgers's only collaboration with Stephen Sondheim, Do I Hear a Waltz?, had played there in 1965, and in 2006 the theater added the Richard Rodgers Gallery of memorabilia.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2013
A $3.5 million renovation strips up to 20 layers of paint and replaces all 1,319 seats
In 2013 EverGreene Architectural Arts carried out a $3.5 million renovation of the theater. Workers removed up to 20 layers of paint, installed light-gray wall patterns and murals around the proscenium, replaced all 1,319 seats, and took out a second arch that had been added in front of the original proscenium. The first show in the renovated house was a limited run of Romeo and Juliet.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2015
Hamilton opens at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and keeps playing there
Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton opened at the Richard Rodgers in 2015 and remained there, including after the theater reopened on September 14, 2021, following the pandemic shutdown. It won the 2016 Tony Award for best musical, the theater's eleventh best-play or best-musical winner. Miranda's earlier musical In the Heights had played there from 2008 to 2011.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Richard Rodgers TheatreWikipedia
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