Like many other Shubert theaters, the Imperial was designed by Herbert Krapp in his trademark Adam-style. The recessed ceiling and ornamental panels that grace the walls are elaborately decorated with a number of motifs, including florals and geometrics. The rectangular auditorium is wider than it is deep, which allows most audience members to feel close to the stage and performers.

The Shuberts conceived of the Imperial Theatre, their fiftieth New York venue, as a home to musical theater hits. And over the years, the Imperial has lived up to the Shuberts intention. Its inaugural production was Mary Jane McKane (1923) followed by Broadway’s biggest grosser of the 1920s, the operetta Rose-Marie (1924). Next was George and Ira Gershwin’s Oh, Kay! (1926) starring Gertrude Lawrence, which included the now-classic “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Successes of the 1930s included two George and Ira Gershwin tuners, Of Thee I Sing (1933) and Let ‘Em Eat Cake (1933), Moss Hart and Cole Porter’s Jubilee (1935), which featured premieres of “Begin the Beguine” and “Just One of Those Things”, and Rodgers and Hart’s On Your Toes (1936). Mary Martin debuted on Broadway in Cole Porter’s Leave It to Me (1938), singing “My Heart Belongs to Daddy”, and backed up by a chorus boy named Gene Kelly.

Many of the 20th century’s most respected and successful composers and musical theater stars played the Imperial Theatre. Irving Berlin had four hits here in the 1940s: Louisiana Purchase (1940), Miss Liberty (1949), Annie Get Your Gun (1946) and Call Me Madam (1950). Cole Porter had his collaboration with Herbert and Dorothy Fields Let’s Face It (1941), and Silk Stockings (1955).

Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella (1956) led a new generation of hits, followed by Carnival (1960), Oliver! (1963) and the history-making Fiddler on the Roof (1964) starring Zero Mostel, which went on to become the longest running musical of its time in Broadway history. When Fiddler transferred to the Majestic to finish its run, two John Kander and Fred Ebb musicals moved in: Cabaret (1967) and Zorba (1968).

The most successful shows of the 1970s were Bob Fosse’s production of Stephen Schwartz’s Pippin (1972) starring Ben Vereen, and back-to-back Neil Simon hits: Chapter Two (1977) and They’re Playing Our Song (1979). Michael Bennett’s Dreamgirls (1981) was followed by two Shubert-produced musicals: Chess (1988) and Jerome Robbins' Broadway (1989). In 1990, Les Misérables moved to the Imperial from the Broadway, and completed its 6,680 performance run.

Most recently, the Imperial welcomed Australian heartthrob Hugh Jackman in the Peter Allen musical biography, The Boy From Oz (2003), the award-winning musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005), Tracy Lett's acclaimed August: Osage County (2007), and the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Billy Elliot (2008).