High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The first theater in New York City to bear the name The Winter Garden Theatre had a brief but important seventeen-year history (beginning in 1850) as one of New York`s premier showcases for a wide range of theatrical fare, from Variety shows to extravagant productions of the works of Shakespeare. Although the theatre burned to the ground several times, it rose from the ashes under different managers, bearing various names, to become known as one of the most important theatres in New York history.