Friday, February 27, 2015
1848 English actress Ellen Terry is born today. She will make her American debut in 1883 with Henry Irving's company. She will go on to star in classic and contemporary works. The Terry …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, February 26, 2015
1911 Chicago's Columbia Theatre opens its doors today. Architect J.E.O. Pridmore designed this house which seats 1,550. In 1923 it will become the Adelphi. In 1974 its doors will close f…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:19AMWednesday, February 25, 2015
1900 Birthday of legendary Broadway producer and director Jed Harris (1900-1979), who will present The Royal Family, Broadway, Our Town, The Heiress and The Crucible. Also said to be the…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, February 24, 2015
1876 Birthday of Broadway comedian Victor Moore (1876-1962), who starred or co-starred in the original casts of many musical comedies, notably Of Thee I Sing, Anything Goes, Louisian…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, February 23, 2015
1960 The Dublin Gate Theatre will hear Chimes at Midnight. Orson Welles directs his adaptation of Shakespeare and Holinshead.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, February 22, 2015
1930 Birthday of Marni Nixon, singer whose voice will be dubbed into the mouths of better-known performers, including Natalie Wood in the film of West Side Story. She will make her Broad…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, February 21, 2015
1879 John Wellington Wells deals his magic and spells for the first time on Broadway with the American premiere of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's The Sorcerer at the old Broadway Th…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, February 20, 2015
1893 Birthday of playwright and producer Russel Crouse (1893-1966), whose prodigious output of scripts, many in partnership with Howard Lindsay, includes State of the Union and The Great…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, February 19, 2015
1900 A week-long engagement at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre by the Irish Literary Theatre does not cause much of a stir. The company stages The Bending of the Bough by George Moore, Maeve…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, February 16, 2015
1898 Birthday of Broadway leading lady and producer Katharine Cornell (1898-1974), who starred in and/or produced A Bill of Divorcement, The Age of Innocence, The Barretts of Wimpole Str…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, February 15, 2015
1905 Birthday of composer Harold Arlen (1905-1986) a cantor's son who cut his musical teeth in 1920s Harlem, and went on to write music for Broadway shows, Star and Garter, Jamaica, …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, February 14, 2015
1882 Birthday of John Barrymore (1882-1942), actor in the grand style, and scion of the Barrymore acting clan. Though he began as a light comedian, he became identified with the classics…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:18AMWednesday, February 11, 2015
1901 A man marries his fiancee On the Quiet because his parents want him to finish Yale. Playwright Augustus Thomas based this comedy on a real incident. It unfolds at the Madison Square The…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, February 10, 2015
1893 Birthday of Jimmy "Schnozzola" Durante (1893-1980), big-nosed comedian who would star on Broadway in Show Girl, The New Yorkers and Strike Me Pink. Catchphrases includ…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, October 18, 2014
1858 Our American Cousin, Tom Taylor's comedy about the difference in manners between the English and the Americans, debuts in New York today, and proves an enduring hit, touring and bei…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, October 14, 2014
1893 Lillian Gish, film acting pioneer whose Broadway career lasted from 1913 to 1976, is born today. Her stage shows will include Camille, The Trip to Bountiful and several versions of Uncl…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, October 13, 2014
1903 Victor Herbert's Babes in Toyland opens on Broadway, introducing the songs "I Can't Do the Sum," "Go To Sleep," "Toyland" and "The March of th…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, October 12, 2014
1914 Broadway premiere of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, with Mrs. Patrick Campbell as Eliza Doolittle. The drama will serve as the basis of the 1956 musical My Fair Lady.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:09AMSaturday, October 11, 2014
1918 Jerome Robbins born today. The choreographer spent most of his early career moving easily between the worlds of classical ballet and Broadway, choreographing and/or directing classics i…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, October 10, 2014
1730 Birthday of Oliver Goldsmith, British author of She Stoops to Conquer.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, October 9, 2014
1893 Arthur Wing Pinero courts scandal with his play The Second Mrs. Tanqueray, about a man who brings misery to all with a second marriage. Mrs. Patrick Campbell plays the title character a…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, October 8, 2014
1857 Birth of Edward Franklin Albee, who, with B.F. Keith, controlled one of the biggest circuits in vaudeville in the early 20th century. Also, grandfather and namesake of Pulitzer-winn…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, October 7, 2014
1907 The Gay White Way, a musical revue whose title meant something quite different in that innocent era, opens at the Casino Theatre for a then-healthy run of 105 performances. Blanche …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, October 5, 2014
1896 Broadway premiere of Secret Service, which becomes a perennial touring hit for its author and star, William Gillette.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, October 4, 2014
1880 Writer Damon Runyon, whose short story "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" will go on to form the basis for the musical Guys and Dolls, is born today.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, October 3, 2014
1859 Eleanora Duse born in Italy. One of the leading actresses of her day, "The Great Duse" will champion the realistic playwrights of the early 20th century, and will have some of…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, October 2, 2014
1890 Julius Henry Marx is born in New York. Under the nickname "Groucho," he and his brothers form one of the most enduring comedy acts ever, The Marx Brothers, rising from Vaudevi…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, October 1, 2014
1928 Mae West's controversial play Pleasure Man opens at the Biltmore Theatre. It's the story of an actor who has impregnated so many women that the brother of one of them takes up a…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, September 30, 2014
1915 The huge Hippodrome Theatre opens one of its most successful extravaganzas, Hip! Hip! Hooray!. Described by the New York Times as "a gargantuan spectacle, smarter and more sumptuou…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:16AMMonday, September 29, 2014
1921 The operetta Blossom Time opens on Broadway. With a score of Franz Schubert themes rearranged by Sigmund Romberg, the show will go on to reach a then-epic run of 576 performances an…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, September 28, 2014
1892 Birthday of playwright Elmer Rice (1892 -1967), author of many dramas including Street Scene, Counsellor-at-Law, Dream Girl, The Grand Tour and the libretto to Kurt Weill…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM 
