Built by Fortune Gallo as the Gallo Opera House, it was intended to rival the Metropolitan Opera House; its lavish decorations include the 54th Street entrance, which is embellished with mirror, marble, and eighteenth-century plaster ornamentation.

The theater itself is actually located on 53rd Street, which creates a very long lobby entrance to 54th Street. It has been used for many types of productions: opera, theater, and television. In 1942, CBS purchased the space for the taping of many renowned television shows including Captain Kangaroo, What’s My Line?, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. CBS sold the space in the late 1970s, and the new owners transformed the space into the most legendary nightclub of the disco era, Studio 54. The club closed in 1986 and remained vacant until 1998, when the Roundabout Theatre Company moved its production of Cabaret into the theater. Today, it is the company’s permanent home.