All stories by David Gewirtzman on BroadwayStars

Saturday, December 8, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today In Theatre History: DECEMBER 8 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Christopher Reichheld, Sam Maher and Anne Bradley

1903 Mam'selle Napoleon is Anna Held in this musical at the Knickerbocker Theatre. Produced by Held's husband Florenz Ziegfeld, with a score by Gustav Luders, this show will have a 4…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Friday, December 7, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: DECEMBER 7 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Anne Bradley, Christopher Reichheld and Sam Maher

1879 Composer Rudolf Friml (1879-1972) is born in Prague. He will emigrate to the U.S. and become one of the top Broadway operetta composers of the 1910s and 1920s. His works will include Th…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Thursday, December 6, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today In Theatre History: DECEMBER 6 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Christopher Reichheld and Anne Bradley

1896 Birthday of Ira Gershwin (1896-1983), one of Broadway's most sterling lyricists, mainly in collaboration with his brother George Gershwin. Ira's musicals will include Porgy and …

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Monday, December 3, 2012

Broadway Grosses: Nov. 26 - Dec. 2 by David Gewirtzman

All data provided by The Broadway League View Broadway Grosses in a sortable table or view by show at the Playbill Vault  

SOURCE: Playbill at 03:11PM
Saturday, December 1, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today In Theatre History: DECEMBER 1 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Christopher Reichheld and Anne Bradley

1907 Theatrical producer Herman Levin is born in Philadelphia, PA.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Tuesday, November 27, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: NOVEMBER 27 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Anne Bradley and Steve Luber

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
Sunday, November 25, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today In Theatre History: NOVEMBER 25 by David Gewirtzman and Anne Bradley, Steve Luber and Robert Viagas

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
Saturday, November 24, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today In Theatre History: NOVEMBER 24 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Anne Bradley, Steve Luber and Sam Maher

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 Pretty…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Friday, November 23, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today In Theatre History: NOVEMBER 23 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas and Sam Maher

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
Thursday, November 22, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today In Theatre History: NOVEMBER 22 by David Gewirtzman and Anne Bradley, Steve Luber and Sam Maher

1937 Ethel Barrymore and Dudley Digges star in The Ghost of Yankee Doodle. Written by Sidney Howard, the play deals with a woman pacifist whose industrialist family stands to profit from sel…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Wednesday, November 21, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today In Theatre History: NOVEMBER 21 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Steve Luber, Anne Bradley and Sam Maher

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 Leonard Ber…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Tuesday, November 20, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: NOVEMBER 20 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Sam Maher, Steve Luber and Anne Bradley

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 12:00AM
Monday, November 19, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: NOVEMBER 19 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Sam Maher, Steve Luber and Anne Bradley

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
Sunday, November 18, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today In Theatre History: NOVEMBER 18 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Sam Maher, Steve Luber, Anne Bradley

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 of P…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Saturday, November 17, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today In Theatre History: NOVEMBER 17 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Sam Maher, Steve Luber and Anne Bradley

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 Studio, he w…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Thursday, November 15, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today In Theatre History: NOVEMBER 15 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Sam Maher, Steve Luber and Anne Bradley

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
Wednesday, November 14, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: NOVEMBER 14 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Sam Maher, Steve Luber and Anne Bradley

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
Tuesday, November 13, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today In Theatre History: NOVEMBER 13 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Sam Maher, Steve Luber and Anne Bradley

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's…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Friday, November 9, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today In Theatre History: NOVEMBER 9 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Anne Bradley and Steve Luber

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 Fortune's …

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Wednesday, November 7, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: NOVEMBER 7 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Sam Maher and Steve Luber

1904 The timeless anthem "Give My Regards to Broadway" is first sung tonight on the Broadway stage tonight at the opening of George M. Cohan's Little Johnny Jones at the Libert…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Broadway Grosses: Oct. 29 - Nov. 4 by David Gewirtzman

All data provided by The Broadway League View Broadway Grosses in a sortable table or view by show at the Playbill Vault  

SOURCE: Playbill at 11:49AM

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: NOVEMBER 6 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Sam Maher and Steve Luber

1854 Birthday of John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), composer of countless marches, who also found time to write Broadway musicals including Chris and the Wonderful Lamp (1900), The Free Lance (1…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Friday, October 26, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: OCTOBER 26 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Sam Maher and Steve Luber

1844 William Harrigan, half of the iconic 1880s writing and performing team of Harrigan and Hart, is born today. He and Tony Hart will create the popular Mulligan Guards characters reflectin…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Thursday, October 25, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: OCTOBER 25 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas and Sam Maher

1927 Birthday of Barbara Cook, sylphlike ingenue of the 1950s who created lead roles in Flahooley, Candide, The Grass Harp and The Music Man (as the original Marian the Librarian), and later…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Wednesday, October 24, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: OCTOBER 24 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Sam Maher and Steve Luber

1904 Birthday of Moss Hart, Broadway playwright who will write or cowrite The Man Who Came to Dinner, Once in a Lifetime, As Thousands Cheer, You Can't Take it With You and Lady in the Dark,…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Tuesday, October 23, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: OCTOBER 23 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Sam Maher and Steve Luber

1844 Actress Sarah Bernhardt born today. "The Divine Sarah" will create many memorable roles in French and English, notably in Alexandre Dumas, fils' classic La Dame aux Cameli…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Monday, October 22, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: OCTOBER 22 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas and Sam Maher

1903 Birthday of Jerome Lester Horwitz (1903-1952), better known by his stage name Curley Howard, who will team up with his brother Harry Moses Horwitz (a.k.a. Moe) and Larry Fine to form th…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Sunday, October 21, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: OCTOBER 21 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Sam Maher and Steve Luber

1933 Trying to follow-up the success of their Pulitzer-winning musical Of Thee I Sing, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind bring back President John Wintergre…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Saturday, October 20, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: OCTOBER 20 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas, Sam Maher and Steve Luber

1882 Birthday of Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born actor who plays a variety of character roles before landing the part that will make him an icon, the title role in Dracula, first on Broadway…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Friday, October 19, 2012

PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today in Theatre History: OCTOBER 19 by David Gewirtzman and Robert Viagas and Sam Maher

1907 Top 'o the World, a musical extravaganza, opens on Broadway to a then-impressive 156-performance run.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Monday, October 15, 2012

Broadway Grosses: Oct. 8-14 by David Gewirtzman

All data provided by The Broadway League View Broadway Grosses in a sortable table or view by show at the Playbill Vault  

SOURCE: Playbill at 03:20PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic