Walter Kerr Theatre

Designed by Herbert J. Krapp for the Shuberts, the venue opened under the name of the The Ritz Theatre. It functioned as a radio and television studio for ABC from 1943 to 1965. Ownership changed hands a number of times between the 1950s and 1970s, during which time it operated as a traditional theatre, an adult movie cinema and then a children's theatre under the name after Robert F. Kennedy from 1973.

Jujamcyn took ownership in 1980 and, after renovations, re-opened the theatre on 5th March 1990 under its new name - in honour of the theatre critic Walter Kerr - with a production of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson. In 2017, Bruce Springsteen made his Broadway debut at the Walter Kerr Theatre with a new show, which broke box office records. 

In 2021, Jujamcyn Theaters celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Walter Kerr Theatre, currently home to the Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown. 

Jordan Roth, president of Jujamcyn Theaters, said, “To mark this milestone, we offer some moments of reminiscence, solace, celebration by revisiting the first hundred years of the Kerr – and by extension Broadway as a whole – and recommitting to the next hundred years. We join everyone who has found their own personal spring in these hundred years of the Walter Kerr in looking forward to the spring that is to come.”