Video: '"Producers' Showcase" Peter Pan (7 March 1955)' (4 videos)
(Monday, March 7, 1955, 7:30-9:00 p.m. EST) — NBC-TV presented the full-length Broadway production of Peter Pan live tonight in color (only a black-and-white kinescope recording survived) as part of Producers’ Showcase, with nearly all of the show’s original cast.
The show attracted a then-record audience of 65-million viewers, the highest ever up to that time for a single television program.
Video: 'The Wiz Original Cast Album' (17-video playlist)
(Sunday, January 5, 1975) — The Wiz, a musical version of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz featuring an all-black cast, opened tonight on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre, with Geoffrey Holder as director and starring Stephanie Mills as Dorothy.
Video: '1944 Broadway Musical: On the Town ~ Lonely Town (1940s)'
(Thursday, December 28, 1944, 8:30 p.m. EWT) — The musical On the Town, with music by Leonard Bernstein and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, opened tonight on Broadway at the Adelphi Theater. Continue reading ‘On the Town’ musical opens on Broadway 70 years ago this hour (Dec 28 1944)
ETHEL MERMAN - ANYTHING GOES 1979
(Wednesday, November 21, 1934) — The Cole Porter musical Anything Goes, starring Ethel Merman as Reno Sweeney and set aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London, opened today at the Alvin Theatre (now known as the Neil Simon Theatre) on Broadway in New York.
Video: 'Highlights From "Harvey" Starring Jim Parsons'
(Wednesday, November 1, 1944) — Harvey, a play about a wealthy eccentric who prefers the company of an invisible six-foot rabbit to his family, premiered today on Broadway at the 48th Street Theatre for 1,775 performances.
Directed by Antoinette Perry, the production starred Frank Fay and Josephine Hull.
Video: 'Barbra streisand Broadway Funny Girl'
(Thursday, March 26, 1964) — Funny Girl, a musical based on the life and career of Broadway, film star and comedienne Fanny Brice and her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nick Arnstein, opened today on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre, starring Barbra Streisand.
(Thursday, January 23, 1964) — Arthur Miller’s play After the Fall, widely regarded as a thinly-disguised account of Miller’s failed marriage to the late Marilyn Monroe, opened today at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre in New York and ran for 208 performances.
Directed by Elia Kazan, the play starred Barbara Loden and Jason Robards, Jr., with an early appearance by Faye Dunaway.
Video: '2013 Helen Hayes Tribute to Actors' Equity Association'
(Monday, May 26, 1913) — The Actors’ Equity Association, a labor union representing the world of live theatrical performance, was organized today by a group of actors at the Pabst Grand Circle Hotel in New York. The union’s first president was Francis Wilson.
Video: '"OBCR - "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"' (six-part playlist)
(Sunday, April 28, 1963) — Broadway’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was named best play today at the 17th Tony Awards, while A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum won best musical. The ceremony was held in the Hotel Americana Imperial Ballroom in New York City and hosted by Abe Burrows and Robert Morse.
Video: 'Celeste Holm - I Cain't Say No'
(Wednesday, March 31, 1943) — Oklahoma!, the first musical play by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, opened today on Broadway at the St. James Theatre in New York City. Ten years later, Oklahoma! would be described as “a new musical that broke all the rules: it had no big-name stars, no bare-legged chorus and, worst of all, it contained a ‘high-brow’ ballet.” Continue reading Musical play ‘Oklahoma!’ opens on Broadway 70 years ago today (1943)
