Broadway Show Girls

The Broadway House Guide

The Largest Broadway Theaters

The fifteen biggest rooms on Broadway, ranked by seat count. Gershwin Theatre leads with about 1,933 seats; 12 houses top 1,500.

  • 1,933seats at the Gershwin
  • 12houses with 1,500+ seats
  • 32houses with 1,000+ seats
  • 1,232average Broadway house

The short answer

The Gershwin Theatre is Broadway’s largest house.

At about 1,933 seats, the Gershwin Theatre is the largest of the 41 houses in our guide. The Broadway Theatre follows at about 1,763 seats.

See the 15-house ranking ↓

Broadway's big houses are where the long-running musicals live: a show that needs to sell 1,933 seats eight times a week wants a room that can hold them. The Gershwin Theatre at 222 West 51st Street is the largest of the 41 current Broadway theaters, followed by the Broadway Theatre (1,763) and the Minskoff Theatre (1,710).

Size changes how you should buy. In a house this big the back of the top level is a long way from the stage, so the front of the first upper level is usually the value seat — high enough to see the whole stage picture, close enough to see faces.

How Broadway’s rooms compare

A count of all 41 houses in this guide. We use 800 seats or fewer as a working definition of an intimate Broadway room, not an official category.

6800 seats or fewer
16801 to 1,200 seats
19More than 1,200 seats

The full range runs from 597 at the Hayes to 1,933 at the Gershwin. Counts are approximate and can change with a production’s seating configuration.

The 15-house ranking

  1. Gershwin Theatre2 levels · Nederlander OrganizationSeats1,933
  2. Broadway Theatre2 levels · The Shubert OrganizationSeats1,763
  3. Minskoff Theatre2 levels · Nederlander OrganizationSeats1,710
  4. St. James Theatre3 levels · ATG EntertainmentSeats1,709
  5. New Amsterdam Theatre3 levels · Disney Theatrical ProductionsSeats1,702
  6. Majestic Theatre2 levels · The Shubert OrganizationSeats1,681
  7. Palace Theatre3 levels · Nederlander OrganizationSeats1,648
  8. Lyric Theatre3 levels · ATG EntertainmentSeats1,622
  9. Marquis Theatre2 levels · Nederlander OrganizationSeats1,612
  10. Winter Garden Theatre2 levels · The Shubert OrganizationSeats1,600
  11. Lunt-Fontanne Theatre2 levels · Nederlander OrganizationSeats1,505
  12. Shubert Theatre3 levels · The Shubert OrganizationSeats1,502
  13. Neil Simon Theatre2 levels · Nederlander OrganizationSeats1,467
  14. Imperial Theatre2 levels · The Shubert OrganizationSeats1,457
  15. Al Hirschfeld Theatre2 levels · ATG EntertainmentSeats1,404

Gold bars show each house’s seat count against the largest on Broadway (1,933).

Same size ranking, different rooms

Capacity alone cannot tell you the view. These houses show why the stage shape and number of levels matter when you pick a seat.

For a section-by-section starting point, read our guide to choosing Broadway seats.

On the Map

Highlighted: the houses on this list. Tap any dot for its guide.

Schematic map of Broadway theaters, 41st to 54th StreetEach dot is a Broadway house placed by its street address, almost all between Sixth and Eighth Avenues. North is up.54535251504948474645444342418th Ave7th Ave6th AveBroadwayTimes SqAl Hirschfeld Theatre — 1,404 seatsAmbassador Theatre — 1,125 seatsAugust Wilson Theatre — 1,225 seatsBelasco Theatre — 1,016 seatsBernard B. Jacobs Theatre — 1,100 seatsBooth Theatre — 800 seatsBroadhurst Theatre — 1,218 seatsBroadway Theatre — 1,763 seatsCircle in the Square Theatre — 776 seatsEthel Barrymore Theatre — 1,058 seatsEugene O'Neill Theatre — 1,108 seatsGerald Schoenfeld Theatre — 1,079 seatsGershwin Theatre — 1,933 seatsHayes Theater — 597 seatsHudson Theatre — 970 seatsImperial Theatre — 1,457 seatsJames Earl Jones Theatre — 1,092 seatsJohn Golden Theatre — 800 seatsLena Horne Theatre — 1,069 seatsLongacre Theatre — 1,077 seatsLunt-Fontanne Theatre — 1,505 seatsLyceum Theatre — 922 seatsLyric Theatre — 1,622 seatsMajestic Theatre — 1,681 seatsMarquis Theatre — 1,612 seatsMinskoff Theatre — 1,710 seatsMusic Box Theatre — 1,025 seatsNederlander Theatre — 1,235 seatsNeil Simon Theatre — 1,467 seatsNew Amsterdam Theatre — 1,702 seatsPalace Theatre — 1,648 seatsRichard Rodgers Theatre — 1,400 seatsSamuel J. Friedman Theatre — 650 seatsShubert Theatre — 1,502 seatsSt. James Theatre — 1,709 seatsStephen Sondheim Theatre — 1,055 seatsStudio 54 — 1,006 seatsTodd Haimes Theatre — 740 seatsWalter Kerr Theatre — 975 seatsWinter Garden Theatre — 1,600 seatsN ↑ · Vivian Beaumont: Lincoln Center, W 65th St (off map)
Schematic, not to scale: every house placed by its street address. Tap a dot for the house; on a phone, swipe the map sideways.

Questions, Answered

What is the largest Broadway theater?
The Gershwin Theatre at 222 West 51st Street, with about 1,933 seats on 2 levels. It is operated by Nederlander Organization.
What are the second and third largest Broadway theaters?
The Broadway Theatre (about 1,763 seats) and the Minskoff Theatre (about 1,710 seats).
How many Broadway theaters have more than 1,500 seats?
12 of the 41: Gershwin Theatre, Broadway Theatre, Minskoff Theatre, St. James Theatre, New Amsterdam Theatre, Majestic Theatre, Palace Theatre, Lyric Theatre, Marquis Theatre, Winter Garden Theatre, Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and Shubert Theatre.
How many seats does a typical Broadway theater have?
The average across all 41 houses is about 1,232 seats; 32 houses have 1,000 or more. Together they hold about 50,513 seats.

Every figure here is derived from the house-by-house facts in our guide, each cited to the theater’s Wikipedia article and checked 2026-10-09. Seat counts are approximate — capacity shifts a little with each production. Spot an error?Tell us.