Al Hirschfeld Theatre

302 West 45th Street , New York, NY 10036

Al Hirschfeld Theatre Information, Shows and Tickets

Directions & Box Office

  • Directions: By Subway, take the A,C,E trains to 42nd Street. North 3 blocks to 45th Street and then west to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.
  • Entrance: 45th Street, between 8th and 9th Ave The Al Hirschfeld Theatre is located on the south side of West 45th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues.
  • Box Office Hours:
    Monday - Saturday:
    10am - 8pm
    Sunday:
    Noon - 6pm

Best Seats In The House

  • Seats: 1437

The best seats in the house, with great audio and visual, are in the center orchestra rows E thru L and in the mezzanine rows A thru C. The remaining seats in the theater are good but, far sides and the back of the theatre suffer from poor sightlines, given the size of the theatre. This theatre is best for big production musicals.

Al Hirschfeld Theatre Seating Chart

Al Hirschfeld Theatre Seating Chart

Parking for Al Hirschfeld Theatre

The closest parking garages for Al Hirschfeld Theatre are located at:

Champion Parking On West 45
251 West 45th Street
New York, NY 10036
212-819-1866
West 46 Street Garage LLC
303 West 46th Street
New York, NY 10036
212-664-0064

The closest parking is not always the best as it often takes longer to park and retrieve your vehicle as fellow theatre goers have the same idea. A better choice of parking may be the second choice or further away by a couple of Avenues.

Additional Notes

The restrooms at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre are downstairs and the concession stand is on main level.

Landlord: Jujamcyn Theaters

Official Ticketer: Telecharge

Notes:

Formerly the Martin Beck Theatre, renamed for caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.

Elevator: No

Escalator: No

Now Playing Moulin Rouge

  • Previews Began: June 28, 2019
  • Opens: July 25, 2019
  • Show Closes: Open ended
A reimagination and update to Baz Luhrmann’s revolutionary 2001 film of the same name. A young, penniless English poet falls in love with a beautiful courtesan in Paris in 1899, …more
Get Tickets

Previous Shows

Kinky Boots

  • Opened: April 4, 2013
  • Show Closed: April 7, 2019
The tale of a young straight-laced man who inherits his family’s struggling shoe factory, and ends up manufacturing “kinky” boots made for drag queens. …more

Al Hirschfeld Theatre History

The Martin Beck theatre was originally opened in 1924 by the famous vaudeville impresario Martin Beck. The theatre was renamed to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in 2003.

Martin Beck Accolades

Among his many vaudeville accolades, Martin Beck discovered the illusionist Houdini in 1899, who was performing rudimentary magic tricks in St. Paul, Minnesota. Beck convinced Houdini to focus on his "escape" routines and gave him his first big break in Beck's chain of Orpheum theaters across the country

Although the business relationship with Houdini would sour years later, Houdini's brother Dash later wrote that Houdini owed all his success to the "astute" Martin Beck.

Beck Lost Orpheum Chain

Although Beck was voted out of the presidency of the newly "Public" Orpheum circuit in 1923, Beck remained a potent force in theatrical circles. He opened the impressive Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway in 1924, which is the only theater in New York City on which there was no mortgage. The theatre has continuously operated as a successful Broadway venue since 1924, without any gaps.

Theatre Renamed To Al Hirschfeld Theatre

In 2003 the Martin Beck was redubbed the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, whose namesake's 100th birthday followed his death in that year. Al Hirschfeld, a famous American caricaturist, is best known for his simple black and white satirical portraits of celebrities and Broadway theatre stars.

The Al Hirschfeld Theatre includes an on-going show of Hirschfeld's works.

Notable Productions

The premiere show at the Martin Beck Theatre was Madame Pompadour in 1924, and Cabin in the Sky was the current show when Martin Beck died in 1940.

Tony award winning shows at the theatre have included Bye Bye Birdie (1960), Sweet Bird of Youth (1972), and Into the Woods (1987). The show Man Of La Mancha was the current Broadway show playing at the time that the theater's name was changed from the Martin Beck Theatre to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in June 2003.

Al Hirschfeld Theatre Design

When originally built, back in the middle part of the roaring twenties, the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (which was then called the Martin Beck Theatre) was designed to grab the public's attention and was one of the most opulent Broadway theatre of that time.

Using fluted columns, a curved balcony and Byzantine details, the interior of this landmarked theatre was as awe-inspiring as the outside. Since the theatre has dressing rooms for over two hundred actors, the Al Hirschfeld Theatre is ideal for large musicals with big casts and has seen many great productions.