theatre history

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

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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 tiny Scottish village to life for 581 performances (not just one every one hundred years) beginning on March 13, 1947 when Brigadoon opened at the Zeigfeld Theatre on Broadway.

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

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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 and I. His final performance, his 4,633rd (!) was on June 30 the same year. Less than four months later he died of lung cancer.

This Day in the Arts — January 2 in Theatre History

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We’re visiting the theatre again today for our trip into the history of the arts. On January 2, 1983, the musical Annie closed on Broadway after an amazing 2,377 performances (it opened on April 21, 1977). Over those years, there were many cast changes and the play moved to a different theatre 3 times after opening in the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre). It also played the ANTA Playhouse (now the August Wilson Theatre), the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, and the Uris Theatre (now the Gershwin Theatre). It won numerous awards, including seven Tonys. Because Annie became a hit movie musical, many people who would never have had the chance to see it on Broadway are familiar with the show, and particularly with the iconic song, “Tomorrow.” Today, instead of talking about the final performance of that first run, although that’s what brought us here, I’d like to tell you a bit about the musical’s beginnings.

This Day in the Arts — December 26 in Theatre History

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Welcome to the first of a new series on my blog — This Day in the Arts. Each Wednesday, I hope to bring you some vignette of theatre, music, dance, or visual arts history, with a few personal reflections. I know I will find this an interesting subject to delve into — I hope you will, too. On this day in theatre history, a play opened in Chicago. Although it doesn’t happen as often anymore, at that time it was standard practice to try out plays “out of town” before they opened on Broadway. It was a play that was to become very well known in succeeding years, being performed not only on Broadway to great acclaim, but eventually all over the country, and indeed, the world. It was the first professionally staged play I ever saw. The play? Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie.

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