Richard Rodgers Theatre

The Richard Rodgers Theatre is a Broadway theater located at 226 West 46th Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue, in New York City. The theatre was built by Irwin Chanin in 1925 and was originally called Chanin's 46th Street Theatre. Chanin almost immediately leased it to the Shuberts, who bought the building outright in 1931 and renamed it the 46th Street Theatre. In 1945, the theatre was taken over by Robert W. Dowling. In 1960, it was purchased by the producer Lester Osterman., who sold it to producers Stephen R. Friedman and Irwin Meyer in 1978. In 1981, it was purchased and renovated by the Nederlander Organization, who in 1990 changed the house's name to the Richard Rodgers Theatre in memory of the composer.The theatre currently holds the distinction of having housed the greatest number (eleven) of Tony Award-winning Best Plays and Best Musicals, more than any other theatre on Broadway.Chanin's seating planThe Richard Rodgers Theatre is notable in that it was the first to feature Chanin's 'democratic' seating plan. In most earlier Broadway theatres, patrons seated in the cheaper balcony and mezzanine sections utilized separate entrances from patrons who had purchased the more expensive orchestra section seats. Instead, all patrons entered the new theatre through the same doors, and a series of steps inside the house led to the upper seating areas.