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Thursday, July 2, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: July 2 by David Gewirtzman and Ernio Hernandez, Robert Viagas

1900 Birthday of director/producer/writer Tyrone Guthrie (1900-1971) who will stage Broadway productions of The Tenth Man, Tamburlaine the Great and the Leonard Bernstein musical Candide.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Monday, June 29, 2015

Frank Sinatra's "The House I Live In" by Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, Curator Of Exhibitions, New York Public Library For The Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center

  Press photograph of Frank Sinatra, ca. 1946   The Sinatra: An American Icon exhibition has many wonderful media stations for visitors—songs, excerpts from television  specia…

SOURCE: The New York Public Library at 12:14PM
Sunday, June 28, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: June 28 by David Gewirtzman and Ernio Hernandez, Robert Viagas

1902 Birthday of Richard Rodgers (1902-1979), one of the most prolific and successful Broadway composers. His greatest successes came in partnership with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II (O…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Saturday, June 27, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: June 27 by David Gewirtzman and Ernio Hernandez, Robert Viagas

1888 Birthday of Antoinette Perry (1888-1946), an actress and groundbreaking woman stage director who will help found the American Theatre Wing. In gratitude, the Wing will name its annu…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: June 24 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Ernio Hernandez

1942 Gypsy Rose Lee and Bobby Clark are featured in Michael Todd's musical revue, Star and Garter, which opens a 609-performance run at the Music Box Theatre.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Flash: New David Bowie Musical Taps Hedwig Star as Alien Who Falls to Earth by Robert Viagas and Olivia Clement, Andrew Gans

Michael C. Hall, star of TV's "Dexter" and a recent replacement as star of Broadway's Hedwig and the Angry Inch, has been chosen to star in this fall's world premiere o…

SOURCE: Playbill at 01:31PM

New David Bowie Musical Taps Hedwig Star as Alien Who Falls to Earth by Robert Viagas and Olivia Clement, Andrew Gans

Michael C. Hall, star of TV's "Dexter" and a recent replacement as star of Broadway's Hedwig and the Angry Inch, has been chosen to star in this fall's world premiere o…

SOURCE: Playbill at 01:31PM

'This system produces rebels': Russian theatre troupe honours jailed protestors by Reuters and John Freedman For The Moscow Times, Part Of The New East Network

Moscow’s ‘smallest but noisiest playhouse’ perseveres with latest documentary project in the face of legal threats and eviction by the authorities Peering at the audience from behind m…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:11AM
Sunday, June 21, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: June 21 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Ernio Hernandez

1903 Caricaturist Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003) is born today. His distinctive looping line drawings will capture the essence of Broadway shows from the 1920s through the early 2000s. The Ma…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Friday, June 19, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: June 19 by David Gewirtzman and Ernio Hernandez, Robert Viagas

1939 Lee and J. J. Shubert collaborate with Hellzapoppin creators Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson to present The Streets of Paris on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre. The revue's stars inc…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Thursday, June 18, 2015

Join Stephen Merchant, Steffan Rhodri and Richard Bean by Join Stephen Merchant, Steffan Rhodri and Richard Bean For The Mentalists Post-Show Q&a

July 9 at Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End BAFTA Award-winning writer and actor Stephen Merchant makes his West End debut in Richard Bean’s comic two-hander The Mentalists, runni…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:34AM
Monday, June 15, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: June 15 by David Gewirtzman and Ernio Hernandez, Doug Nevins and Robert Viagas

1894 Birthday of Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981), orchestrator of Broadway classics including the original Sunny; Show Boat; Anything Goes; Oklahoma!; Annie Get Your Gun; Kiss Me, Kat…

SOURCE: Playbill at 01:00AM
Saturday, June 13, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: June 13 by David Gewirtzman and Ernio Hernandez, Robert Viagas

1963 Stage actor Howard Da Silva finds himself at the other end of the spectrum: as director of a Lewis John Carlino double bill. Shelley Winters and Jack Warden star in the two one acts, Sn…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Friday, June 12, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: June 12 by David Gewirtzman and Anne Bradley, Doug Nevins

1961 American ideals and and practices are put on trial as The Red Eye of Love opens at New York's Living Theatre. The satire by Arnold Weinstein will last 169 performances.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Sunday, June 7, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: June 7 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Ernio Hernandez and Anne Bradley

1909 Birthday of Broadway star Jessica Tandy (1909-1994), who created many landmark roles including Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, Agnes in A Delicate Balance and Fonsia in …

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Saturday, June 6, 2015

Ipswich murders film shows how street of terror has regained its pride by Vanessa Thorpe, Arts and Media Correspondent

This week sees the film premiere of London Road, a musical based on one of Britain’s most infamous serial killings. Local people say the area has finally moved on from a tragic timeWhen re…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:08PM

Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: June 6 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Anne Bradley and Ernio Hernandez

1954 Playwright and actor Harvey Fierstein is born today. Fierstein will win Tony Awards for writing and performing in his play Torch Song Trilogy, as well as for his book for the musical La…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Friday, June 5, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: June 5 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Anne Bradley and Ernio Hernandez

1939 Actor James Barton, a star of the Broadway hit Tobacco Road, returns to the show today after having been fired the previous February after quarreling with his co-stars backstage. Bo…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Thursday, June 4, 2015

Tony Voters Speak, in a Royal We by Scott Heller, Michael Paulson and Erik Piepenburg

An unscientific survey of 44 eligible voters finds good odds for “The King and I” and Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, and tougher races in other categories.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:08PM

Playbill Vault’s Today In Theatre History: June 4 by David Gewirtzman and Anne Bradley, Ernio Hernandez and Robert Viagas

1968 Stage and screen actress Dorothy Gish dies today in Rapallo, Italy. Her first New York stage appearance was in 1903 in East Lynne. She began her film career in 1912, but resumed her sta…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today In Theatre History: June 2 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Anne Bradley and Ernio Hernandez

1954 Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's Carousel is revived for a ten-week run at the New York City Center. In the cast are Barbara Cook and Jo Sullivan.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Monday, June 1, 2015

Nas presents the Real Hip-Hop – video by Dan Susman, Jess Gormley, Juliet Riddell, Adam Sjoberg, Charlie Phillips and Bond 360

Rapper Nasir 'Nas' Jones takes us on a world tour of breakdancing in the most unexpected places, as we visit the slums, shanty towns and ghettos of the world, where hip-hop really means some…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:20AM
Sunday, May 31, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today In Theatre History: May 31 by David Gewirtzman and Ernio Hernandez, Robert Viagas

1946 Orson Welles circumnavigated the stage in Around The World, a musical he adapted from the Jules Verne novel, “Around the World in Eighty Days,” Cole Porter provided …

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Saturday, May 30, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today In Theatre History: May 30 by David Gewirtzman and Ernio Hernandez, Robert Viagas

1868 Birthday of producer/director/manager Charles Dillingham (1868-1934), whose productions included As Good as New, The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, Sunny, Bulldog Drummond, The Red Mill and …

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Friday, May 29, 2015

Playbill Vault’s Today In Theatre History: May 29 by David Gewirtzman and Anne Bradley, Ernio Hernandez

1951 Performer Fanny Brice dies today in Hollywood at age 60. She started in showbiz by winning a series of amateur nights at vaudeville theatres in Brooklyn, then graduated to Burlesque as …

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Thursday, May 28, 2015

Keke Palmer Joins Cast of Fox’s Grease: Live! by Adam Hetrick, Robert Viagas and Michael Gioia

Singer and actress Keke Palmer, who recently appeared on Broadway in the title role of Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella, has joined the cast of the FOX-TV broadcast of Grease: Live…

SOURCE: Playbill at 03:37PM
Monday, May 25, 2015

Fringe Festival in Review by ANDY WEBSTER, DAVID ROONEY, RACHEL SALTZ and DANIEL M. GOLD

New York Times writers review five shows that made their debuts in the early days of this year’s New York International Fringe Festival.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Festivals in Review: Warring Relatives and Joking Rabbis by Ben Brantley, Charles Isherwood, Eric Grode and Jason Zinoman

Four plays at two New York festivals, Under the Radar and Coil, offer a range of themes, styles and even language.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Onstage, the Irreverent (and Maybe Irresistible) by BEN BRANTLEY, CHARLES ISHERWOOD, ERIK PIEPENBURG and SCOTT HELLER

Critics and writers for The New York Times write about shows and performances they are looking forward to seeing on New York stages in 2011.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Onstage, the Irreverent (and Maybe Irresistible) by BEN BRANTLEY, CHARLES ISHERWOOD, ERIK PIEPENBURG and SCOTT HELLER

Critics and writers for The New York Times write about shows and performances they are looking forward to seeing on New York stages in 2011.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM