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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 GirlFunny Girl is a 1964 semi-biographical musical that tells the story of Broadway star Fanny Brice. It featured a book by Isobel Lennart, music by Jule Styne, and lyrics by Bob Merrill. The original production starred Barbra Streisand, Sydney Chaplin, Kay M, Stephen SondheimStephen Joshua Sondheim (born March 22, 1930) is an American musical theater lyricist and composer. Early Life Sondheim was born in New York City and grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and later on a farm in Pennsylvania. An only child in a well-'s Pacific OverturesPacific Overtures was an ambitious 1976 musical by Stephen Sondheim, with a libretto by John Weidman, and additional material by Hugh Wheeler, set in 1853 Japan. Four Western ships arrive omniously, opening the feudal country for the first time in 250 yea and FolliesFollies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. It is set in a crumbling old Broadway theatre during a reunion for all the past members of the “Weismann’s Follies,” a musical review which played in that theatre, Leonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein ( August 25, 1918 October 14, 1990) was an American Jewish composer and orchestra conductor. Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and studied at Harvard. He was highly regarded as a conductor, composer, pianist, and educator.'s Wonderful TownWonderful Town is a musical written by Leonard Bernstein (music), and Betty Comden and Adolph Green (lyrics), and Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov (book). It was originally directed by George Abbott, choreographed by Donald Saddler and produced by Rob and West Side StoryWest Side Story is a musical written by Arthur Laurents (book), Leonard Bernstein (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), and originally produced, choreographed and directed by Jerome Robbins. West Side Story debuted on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theate, 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. The New York Winter Garden Theatre housed the revival of Florodora in 1902.
4. The Winter Garden Theatre mentioned above, at 1634 Broadway, was built in 1911 and renamed the Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre in 2002.