This Day in the Arts — March 20 in Broadway Theatre History

We’re back on Broadway for today’s segment of This Day in the Arts, but this time we’re looking at the history of a theatre, rather than one particular production. On March 20, 1911, the Winter Garden Theatre opened on Broadway. It had previously been a horse exchange — horses and carriages were what made “Long…

This Day in the Arts — March 13 in Broadway Musicals History

Today, not only am I celebrating the anniversary of the opening of a delightfully whimsical Broadway musical, I’m also (stealthily) celebrating the birthday of a writer friend. Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, who went on to write such classics of the Broadway stage as Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady, and Camelot, brought a…

This Day in the Arts — March 6 in Film and Stage History

The word “icon” is bandied about in the entertainment world perhaps too readily. However, I believe there is no question that the achievement in film and stage history we are celebrating today does deserve the term “iconic performance.” On March 6, 1985, Yul Brynner gave his 4,500th stage performance as King Mongkut in The King…

This Day in the Arts — February 27 in Music History

I had to do some sleuthing to track down the details of the event I’m celebrating today. Although it was mentioned in a couple of sources, other sources seemed to contradict the information. However, we can justifiably celebrate this anniversary today without fear of error. On February 27, 1919, Sir Adrian Boult conducted the first…

This Day in the Arts — February 13 in Music History

On February 13, 1867, in Vienna, Austria, a conductor named Johann Herbeck raised his baton to conduct a “choral waltz” which he had commissioned by none other than the Waltz King himself, Johann Strauss, Jr.  By all accounts, in its choral form it was not a success and might have fallen into obscurity if Strauss…

This Day in the Arts — February 6 in Arts Patronage

On February 6, 1952 twenty-five year old Princess Elizabeth awoke to learn that her father, King George VI, had died in the night and she was now Queen. (Succession is immediate and automatic — when the monarch dies, the successor becomes monarch without any lapse whatsoever.) What does this have to do with the arts,…