Winter Garden Theatre
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The Winter Garden Theatre is located at Broadway and 50th Street in New York City. Opened on March 10, 1911 and owned by the Shubert family, it has been home to a number of Broadway's greatest musicals. Currently it hosts the musical Mamma Mia, based on songs from ABBA.
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The Winter Garden is probably best known as the home to Broadway's longest-running musical, Cats, which opened on October 7, 1981 and closed after 7,485 performances on September 10, 2000.
The Winter Garden also housed the Ziegfield Follies of 1934, 1936, 1943, and 1957, and has been home to Jerry Herman's Mame, Jule Styne's Gypsy and Funny Girl, Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures and Follies, Leonard Bernstein's Wonderful Town and West Side Story, and Mary Rodgers's Once Upon a Mattress.
In 2002, it was renamed the "Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre" under an agreement between the Shubert Organization, which owns the theater, and General Motors.
At least three other Broadway theatres at other locations had previously borne the name Winter Garden Theatre:
- Tripler Hall at 624 Broadway was built in 1850 and immediately renamed Jenny Lind Hall. It became Metropolitan Hall in 1851, Laura Keene's Variety House in 1854, Burton's New Theatre in 1856, and the Winter Garden Theatre in 1859. Edwin Booth appeared there in several Shakespeare plays, and was manager of the theatre from 1863 to 1867, when fire raced through the Winter Garden, resulting in its demolition.
- The Olympia Theatre: Roof Garden at 1514-16 Broadway near 44th Street opened in November, 1895 and was renamed the Winter Garden Theatre that same year. It was rechristened the Cherry Blossom Grove in 1900, the New York Roof in 1905, and as the Jardin de Paris hosted the Ziegfeld Follies of 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, and 1911. It was demolished in 1935.
- The New York Winter Garden Theatre housed the revival of Florodora in 1902.