Thursday, July 16, 2015
1924 Broadway premiere of George Dibdin-Pitt's Sweeney Todd, one of numerous adaptations of the penny-dreadful tale of murder and cannibalism that would later be adapted as a mus…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, July 15, 2015
1856 Birthday of prolific producer Charles Frohman (1856-1915) who, often in collaboration with his brothers Daniel and Gustave, produced dozens of Broadway shows including Sherlock Holm…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, July 14, 2015
1918 Birthday of playwright Arthur Laurents, who will write numerous plays including The Time of the Cuckoo and Invitation to a March, but who is best known as librettist for musical classic…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, July 13, 2015
1940 Actor Patrick Stewart is born today. A Shakespearean-trained actor, Stewart's Broadway appearances will include a solo production of A Christmas Carol, William Shakespeare&a…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:22AMSunday, July 12, 2015
Versatile British actor known for his stage roles in Shakespeare and the RSC’s Nicholas Nickleby who found fame in the US in Cheers and The West WingRoger Rees, who has died aged 71 after …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:29AM1895 Birthday of Oscar Hammerstein II, scion of a notable theatrical family who went on to become its most famous and honored member as a lyricist and librettist. Hammerstein enjoyed a major…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, July 11, 2015
1915 A King is born today... in the form of Yul Brynner. Brynner will, of course, go on to star as one half of the title of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The King And I, opposite Gert…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, July 10, 2015
1931 "It's Today" — that Jerry Herman is born. Herman will become one of Broadway's great musical theatre composers. Among his esteemed credits are the hits Hello, Dolly!…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, July 9, 2015
1930 In today's Variety, a review of a new vaudeville show at the Eighty Sixth Street Theatre singles out a newcomer from the world of cabaret. Reads the review: "She is a good look…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, July 8, 2015
1913 Birthday of theatre critic Walter Kerr (1913-1996), namesake of Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre. In addition to his career as a reviewer, which took him from the New York Herald&…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, July 7, 2015
1976 After two years of playing downtown at the Village Gate Theatre, Earl Wilson, Jr.'s play Let My People Come makes the move uptown to Broadway's Morosco Theatre. The show, which …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, July 6, 2015
1939 A young Hollywood hopeful is forced to watch her own career fizzle as her boyfriend's blossoms in Lew Brown's new musical, Yokel Boy. Lois January and Buddy Ebsen star in the ne…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, July 5, 2015
1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the American National Theatre and Academy bill today, calling for a self-supporting national theatre. ANTA will get off to a slow start but wil…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, July 4, 2015
1898 Birthday of actress Gertrude Lawrence (1898-1952), longtime acting partner of Noël Coward (Private Lives, Tonight at 8:30) and star of musicals by the Gershwin brothers (Oh, Kay!, …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, July 3, 2015
1878 The original Yankee Doodle Dandy, George M. Cohan (1878-1942) is born on the 3rd of July, (not the 4th as was family legend) says. A member of the vaudeville team The Four Cohans wi…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, July 2, 2015
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 12:00AMWednesday, July 1, 2015
1930 Comedian Jack Benny makes his Broadway debut in Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1930. The revue also featured Patsy Kelly, Jimmy Savo and the Collette Sisters.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, June 30, 2015
1924 Opening night of George White's Scandals of 1924, which features a score by George Gershwin, including "Somebody Loves Me." It will run 192 performances at the Apollo The…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, June 28, 2015
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 12:00AMAs part of Playbill's 30 Days of Pride, David Usdan and Howard Brenner, longtime theatre lovers and the first couple to be married at Broadway nightclub 54 Below, share the story of thei…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, June 27, 2015
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 12:00AMFriday, June 26, 2015
1890 (probably) Actress Jeanne Eagels, best known for playing Miss Thompson in Rain, is born today.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, June 25, 2015
1887 Birthday of legendary director George Abbott (1887-1995) whose long life (107 years) and colossal catalog (more than 110 Broadway shows, sometimes also as producer, writer or even a…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, June 24, 2015
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 12:00AMSunday, June 21, 2015
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 12:00AMSaturday, June 20, 2015
1905 Birthday of playwright Lillian Hellman (1905-1984), who will go on to write The Children's Hour, The Little Foxes, Another Part of the Forest, Watch on the Rhine and the book to…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, June 19, 2015
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 12:00AMThursday, June 18, 2015
1956 The Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario kicks off its season with productions of Henry V, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia. Also include…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, June 17, 2015
1943 George Marion, Jr. and Thomas "Fats" Waller's Early to Bed — the first musical comedy of the 1943-1944 season — opens on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre. Descr…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, June 16, 2015
1888 Birthday of Broadway comedian Bobby Clark (1888-1960), best known for his drawn-on eyeglasses and slapstick comedy style, often in tandem with sidekick Paul McCullough. Clark…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, June 15, 2015
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 
