Walter Kerr Theatre, West 48th Street NYC

The Walter Kerr Theatre, formerly the Ritz Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 219 West 48th Street in New York City. It opened in 1921 and renamed in 1990 after theatrical critic Walter Kerr. It has 975 seats across three levels and is operated by ATG Entertainment.

By the late 19th century, theaters were establishing around Long Acre Square, renamed Times Square in 1904, when the Times Building and the Subway station were constructed in the area. The Shubert brothers were the main theater constructers in the first decades of the 20th century. They commissioned architect Herbert J. Krapp to design the Ritz Theatre in 1920.

The Ritz Theatre was erected in just sixty days, made of patterned brick and decorated by a brickwork laid in a diamond pattern. A marquee hangs above the entrance at ground level, and a large sign is mounted on the right side of the building. The auditorium contains Adam-style detailing, two balconies, and murals and has 975 seats.

The theater opened on March 21, 1921, with John Drinkwater's Mary Stuart. The next month, William Harris Jr. leased the theater for ten years and brought the Porter Emerson Browne play The Bad Man to the Ritz.

In 1937, it was leased by the Federal Theatre Project, a theatre program established during the Great Depression as part of the New Deal to fund live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the United States.

It was used as a radio (later, TV) station from 1943 to 1965, with Alexander Woolcott broadcasting his Broadway commentaries from the stage. In 1963, Leonard Tow and Roger Euster, owners of the Little Theatre (now Hayes Theater), acquired the Ritz.

The theater was closed from 1965 to 1969. In 1970, Eddie Bracken took over the theater. It was bought and renovated in 1971. In 1981, Jason Carter bought the Ritz at a foreclosure auction and later sold it to the Jujamcyn Theaters. In 1990, it was renamed for Walter Kerr (1913-1996), critic and playwright, and reopened on April 16.