Tuesday, May 10, 2011
1838 John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865), perhaps the most infamous actor in American history, is born today. The son of actor Junius Brutus Booth, and brother of actors Junius Brutus Booth Jr. an…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Monday, May 9, 2011
1860 Birthday of James M. Barrie (1860-1937), British author and playwright whose creations will include What Every Woman Knows, The Little Minister, The Admirable Crichton and the work that…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Sunday, May 8, 2011
1892 Birthday of opera singer Ezio Pinza (1892-1957) who made two memorable Broadway appearances, in Fanny and South Pacific, the latter creating the role of Emile deBecque and singing "…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Thursday, May 5, 2011
1955 Baseball, ballet and Gwen Verdon provide the slugging power in Damn Yankees. Adapted from Douglass Wallop's book, The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, by Wallop and George Abbott,…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Monday, May 2, 2011
1887 Birthday of Vernon Castle who, with wife and dancing partner Irene Castle, would redefine not just what dancing represented on Broadway, but the kind of music used for that dancing. He …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Sunday, May 1, 2011
1922 Comedy team Potash and Perlmutter are Partners Again. The show plays beyond the season at the Selwyn Theatre.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Saturday, April 30, 2011
1924 Birthday of Sheldon Harnick, who will go on to write lyrics to musicals including Fiorello!, She Loves Me, The Apple Tree and Fiddler on the Roof.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Friday, April 29, 2011
1899 Happy birthday Edward Kennedy Ellington, who, taking the surname "Duke," became one of the 20th century's most important musician-composers. His Broadway shows, Beggar'…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Tuesday, April 26, 2011
The 25th annual Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competition raised a near-record $3,706,085 in six weeks of nightly curtain-call appeals. The number was revealed at the April…
SOURCE: Playbill at 06:52PM[SHARE]The 25th annual Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competition raised a near-record $3,706,085 in six weeks of nightly curtain-call appeals. The number was revealed at the April…
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:40PM[SHARE]Tuesday, April 19, 2011
1946 Actor Tim Curry is born in Cheshire, England. He will create memorable Broadway roles including Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, Mozart in Amadeus, Dada artist Tristan Tzara in…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Thursday, April 14, 2011
1865 Our American Cousin starring Laura Keene is in performance tonight when John Wilkes Booth shoots President Abraham Lincoln at the Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. Booth's broth…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Wednesday, April 13, 2011
1886 Birthday of Willie Howard (1886-1949), half of the comedy team of Willie and Eugene Howard, who will appear in vaudeville, in musicals Sally and Girl Crazy, and in various editions of r…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Tuesday, April 12, 2011
1905 The colossal Hippodrome Theatre opens on Broadway today. The inaugural production is the colorful extravaganza A Yankee Circus on Mars. It will run 176 performances.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Friday, April 8, 2011
1904 The New York Times moves its editorial offices to Long Acre Square, prompting a name change to Times Square.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Thursday, April 7, 2011
1913 On The Purple Road there's a disguised Napoleon waiting to woo an unsuspecting girl named Wanda. Valli Valli is the innocent soon to meet her Waterloo at the Liberty Theatre in New …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Wednesday, April 6, 2011
1947 The first Tony Awards ceremony is held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Thirteen awards are presented to the likes of Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Fredric March, Jose Ferrer, A…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Tuesday, April 5, 2011
1906 Britain's first actor-M.P., A.E.W. Mason, delivers his first speech. The theatre community sees this as a victory, hoping it will have an advocate in the House of Commons.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Monday, April 4, 2011
1921 Sarah Bernhardt, who recently had one leg amputated, comes to London to play the title role in Louis Verneuil's Daniel at the Prince's Theatre. When she found a wooden leg unwie…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Friday, April 1, 2011
1918 Actor-manager Henry Miller opens his theatre in New York City. It's designed to seat 1,000 spectators and capable of handling the latest staging innovations. This will ring true wel…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Thursday, March 31, 2011
1922 Birthday of actor Richard Kiley (1922-1999), who will create memorable roles in mid-20th century musicals, including Kismet, Redhead, No Strings and his signature role, the title charac…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Wednesday, March 30, 2011
1858 Birthday of DeWolf Hopper (1858-1935), vaudeville comedian and musical comedy star, who was featured in Wang, Hoity-Toity and many early Gilbert & Sullivan productions. His signatur…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Tuesday, March 29, 2011
1950 Joshua Logan transports the action of Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard to 19th century Louisiana for his adaptation, The Wisteria Trees. It will run 165 performances at the martin…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Sunday, March 27, 2011
1924 Long before Madonna sang about Vogueing, there were the Vogues of 1924. This revue at the Shubert Theatre stars Fred Allen and Jimmy Savo. It will run for almost three months.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Saturday, March 26, 2011
1905 Actor Maurice Barrymore dies today. He was father to Lionel, Ethel and John. He was 57 years old.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Friday, March 25, 2011
1871 Birthday of Lee Shubert, one of the three legendary Shubert brothers who will found the theatre-owning and producing empire, the Shubert Organization.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Thursday, March 24, 2011
1909 Irish poet and playwright John Millington Synge dies today. He penned numerous plays including Riders to the Sea and The Playboy of the Western World. For the latter he traveled to the …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Wednesday, March 23, 2011
1940 It's Separate Rooms for an actress who'd rather sleep with her pet Chihuahua than her playwright husband. Glenda Farrell and Lyle Talbot are the twosome. This comedy by Alan Di…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Monday, March 21, 2011
1867 Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. is born today in Chicago, Illinois. He will go on to become one of the most powerful showmen ever. His Follies, filled with beautiful women and exciting variety act…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]Saturday, March 19, 2011
1901 Birthday of groundbreaking set designer Jo Mielziner (1901-1976) who will win five Tony Awards for his designs, which included sets for original productions of Death of a Salesman, Guys…
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