Architect Fred Wesley Wentworth designed the Ritz with a particular philosophy: width before depth. The auditorium was laid out in a wide format with a gently sloping floor, which gave nearly every one of the original 2,791 seats a clear sightline to the stage. The interior was ornate in the Art Deco mode — decorative plasterwork, elaborate fixtures, the kind of cinematic grandeur that made patrons feel they were entering somewhere genuinely special. The theater became part of the Midtown Historic District of Elizabeth, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995, acknowledging that the building represents something irreplaceable about how New Jersey cities looked and worked in the early twentieth century.

In its peak years the Ritz attracted an extraordinary lineup. Elvis Presley performed there. So did Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Maya Angelou, and members of the Rat Pack — Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin among them. Elizabeth sits just across Newark Bay from Manhattan, close enough to draw talent from the New York circuit and far enough to have its own independent identity as a venue. These were not charity bookings or regional one-offs. The Ritz was, for a time, a serious stop on serious touring routes.

RKO closed the theater in 1979. What followed was the familiar fate of mid-century movie palaces: ownership disputes, deferred maintenance, the accumulating damage of years without climate control, without paint, without care. By the time real estate executive George A. Castro II purchased the building in 1994, it needed everything. Castro led a major renovation focused on restoring the theater's 1920s character while equipping it for modern use. Infrastructure upgrades continued through the 2010s. The Ritz now carries more than fourteen national accolades for acoustic excellence and runs on a Clair Brothers sound system. That wide-format auditorium Wentworth designed in 1926 — the one that made acoustics almost accidental — turned out to be the building's most durable asset.

The Ritz is now regularly used as a filming location. NBC, HBO, Netflix, and Fox have all shot there. In 2024, scenes for the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown were filmed at the theater. There's something fitting about that — a venue that once hosted the performers who shaped American popular music becoming a set for a film about the man who declared Tin Pan Alley finished. The Ritz plays a central role in Elizabeth's cultural calendar, collaborating with city organizations to offer free events that reflect the city's diverse communities. It is one of the most recognized concert venues in the state.