Ambassador Theatre, West 49th Street, New York City

The Ambassador Theatre is located at 219 West 49th Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan. It was constructed for the Shubert brothers and opened in February 1921. Today it is operated by the Shubert Organization.

The theater was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp. The plot of land required that the auditorium be placed diagonally on its relatively small lot. This resulted in a uniquely shaped hexagonal auditorium. Its façade is simple, with little ornamentation. The interior employ more elaborate Adam-style plasterwork in the decoration of the walls, ceiling, boxes, doorways and arches. It has 1,125 seats across two levels. The musical comedy The Rose Girl was the Ambassador's first production.

In December 1938, the Theatrical Realty Corporation leased the Ambassador Theatre to the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) for use as a broadcasting studio. CBS enlarged the Ambassador's stage and used it to broadcast orchestra performances in 1939. The Shuberts gave up their lease on the theater in September 1940, and the James P. Knight estate took over. That December, the Knights leased the Ambassador to Cummins Pictures Inc. for films. The New York Grand Opera Company performed at the theater in September 1941, and the Ambassador was leased to real-estate operator Irving Maidman two months later. The Ambassador returned to showing legitimate productions that November with Cuckoos on the Hearth, which transferred from the Mansfield Theatre.

In 1956, the Shuberts re-bought and restored the Ambassador to legitimate-theater use and the comedy The Loud Red Patrick, which opened in October, the same year, was the first production at the reopened theater.