Friday, December 5, 2014
1921 Novelist Theodore Dreiser's play, The Hand of the Potter, opens at the Provincetown Playhouse in New York. Scenes range from the poverty-stricken Lower East Side to the lavish&#…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Thursday, December 4, 2014
What does it take to write, create or star in a Broadway musical? Especially one that is broadcast live on network TV? Hard work, talent and luck, of course—all backed up by a good…
SOURCE: Playbill at 10:01AM[SHARE]1860 Birthday of Lillian Russell (1860-1922), who became the epitome of Gilded Age female sex appeal and stage presence starting in vaudeville at Tony Pastor's Theatre and graduating…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:13AM[SHARE]Wednesday, December 3, 2014
1888 One of Frances Hodgson Burnett's greatest successes opens today: Little Lord Fauntleroy starring Tommy Russell. The story of a American boy who discovers he's the heir to a Brit…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Monday, December 1, 2014
1907 Theatrical producer Herman Levin is born in Philadelphia, PA.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Saturday, November 29, 2014
1895 Birthday of legendary film choreographer Busby Berkeley (1895-1976), whose career will be launched with a 12-show burst of creativity on Broadway between the end of 1926 and the…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Friday, November 28, 2014
1923 Lionel Barrymore stars in David Belasco's Laugh, Clown, Laugh!, the Pagliacci-like story of a middle-aged clown who adopts a young girl, but later, as she grows into womanho…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Thursday, November 27, 2014
1906 Anna Held is The Parisian Model who inherits money mysteriously. Harry B. Smith provides the book and lyrics to Max Hoffman's score. While the show is directed by Julian Mitchell, t…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 25, 2014
1882 U.S. premiere of W. S. Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan's operetta Iolanthe, about fairies and other supernatural folk who get involved with Parliamentary peers.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Monday, November 24, 2014
1849 Birthday of author Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924), author of several Broadway plays in the early the 20th century, including Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Little Princess, The Pr…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 23, 2014
1920 In Rollo's Wild Oat, the title character rents a theatre and hires actors so he can star in Hamlet. Roland Young has the lead in this Clare Kummer play.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Friday, November 21, 2014
1694 Birthday of French author François Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire (1694-1778) whose satirical novel "Candide" served as source material for the 1956 Leo…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Thursday, November 20, 2014
1922 The Lucky One is the brother who doesn't get the girl in this A. A. Milne play. Staged at the Theatre Guild by Theodore Komisarjevsky with a cast including Dennis King, Romney Brent…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:30AM[SHARE]What does it take to write, create or star in a Broadway play? Hard work, talent, luck—all backed up by a good education. You have to supply the first three yourself, but PlaybillE…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:30AM[SHARE]Wednesday, November 19, 2014
1906 George Arliss and Mrs. Fiske star in The New York Idea, Langdon Mitchell's play which runs 66 performances at the Lyric Theatre.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Playbill.com will premiere a world-premiere clip from the eagerly awaited film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods on Nov. 20. In anticipation, …
SOURCE: Playbill at 03:30PM[SHARE]1836 Birthday of satirist William S. Gilbert, later to achieve immortality as the lyricist half of the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta-writing team that produced The Mikado, The Pirates …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Monday, November 17, 2014
It all started back in 1992 or so when director Robert Longbottom got a call from a friend who told him he needed to watch a certain terrible movie immediately.
SOURCE: Playbill at 03:06PM[SHARE]What does it take to write, create or star in a big Broadway musical? Hard work, talent, luck—all backed up by a good education. You have to supply the first three yourself, but Pl…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]1901 Birthday of actor/director/producer/teacher/acting coach Lee Strasberg (1901-1982) in Austria-Hungary. As a founder of the Group Theatre and Artistic Director of the Actors Stud…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 16, 2014
1889 Playwright and director George S. Kaufman (1889-1961) is born today in Pittsburgh. A former newsman, Kaufman will make his mark with the comedy Dulcy in 1921, and will go on to writ…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Saturday, November 15, 2014
What does it take to write, create or star in a Broadway drama? Hard work, talent, luck—all backed up by a good education. You have to supply the first three yourself, but Playbill…
SOURCE: Playbill at 11:59PM[SHARE]1875 British comic operetta titans W. S. Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan make their U.S. debut today with Trial by Jury at the Eagle Variety Theatre, where it runs 8 performances.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Friday, November 14, 2014
Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, FL, has begun construction on a 20,000-square-foot fine arts center thanks to a $3 million gift from a pair of philanthropists.
SOURCE: Playbill at 03:17PM[SHARE]1905 Blanche Bates is Minnie, sweetheart of the mines in Girl of the Golden West. She tends a saloon, fugitive lover and pursuing sheriff. Writer, director, producer David Belasco was no str…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Thursday, November 13, 2014
1833 Birthday of master actor Edwin Booth (1833-1893), a major interpreter of Shakespeare and brother to actor Junius Brutus Booth and presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth. Broadway&#…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Wednesday, November 12, 2014
1874 Birthday of pioneering African-American performer-composer Bert Williams (1874-1922), who wrote music for Broadway's In Dahomey (1903) and Abyssinia (1906), but achieved…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 11, 2014
1872 Birthday of Maude Adams (1872-1953), Broadway's first Peter Pan, who originated the role in 1904, and returned at least three times through 1915.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Monday, November 10, 2014
1900 Opening night of legendary musical Floradora at the Casino Theatre for a 553-performance run " the first major hit of the 20th century. The production is remembered principally for …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 9, 2014
1818 Playwright and novelist Ivan Turgenev is born in Russia. His most notable play is A Month in the Country, but he will make a bit of history in 2002 when his 150-year-old play Fo…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Saturday, November 8, 2014
1913 Birthday of June Hovik, better known as June Havoc, even better known as namesake of Baby June, the character based on her in the musical Gypsy. The show pretty accurately sums up her c…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
