Monday, May 25, 2015
1902 Joseph Hart's popular musical Foxy Grandpa opens a 120-performance run today at the 14th Street Theatre.
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1859 Sholem Yakov Rabinowitz is born in Ukraine. Under the pen name Sholom Aleichim (1859-1916) he will write many stories in Yiddish, several of which will be adapted as plays, most notably…
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1893 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 included "I got a millio…
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1938 When a grandfather holds off Death (by chasing him up a tree) so he can be sure his grandson will be taken care of, he's working On Borrowed Time. This comedy was adapted by Paul Osborn…
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1896 Say good morning, George. Actually it was "Nathan" then -- Nathan Birnbaum born today. As George Burns, he and Gracie Allen will become headliners of vaudeville. Together they will appe…
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1776 Birthday of E.T.A. Hoffman (1776-1822), whose stories formed the basis of the ballets Coppelia and The Nutcracker.
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1925 Birthday of actor Paul Newman, who will star on Broadway in Picnic, The Sweet Bird of Youth and The Desperate Hours before going to Hollywood and becoming a film star. He will make a la…
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1885 Birthday of master tunesmith Jerome Kern (1885-1945), who will write scores to many Broadway shows, including classics, Show Boat, Sally, Very Good Eddie and Roberta. His songs will res…
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1860 Birthday of Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), one of the fathers of modern drama, whose comparatively small oeuvre includes classics The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, The Seagull and Uncle Va…
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1901 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 05:58PM1905 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, House of…
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1898 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 Street,…
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1930 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 Broadway …
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1876 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, Louisiana Purcha…
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1911 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 for d…
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1907 The Herald Square Theatre in New York hosts the American premiere of Widower's Houses. George Bernard Shaw's comedy is offered by the Shuberts in 16 special matinee performances. Effie …
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1925 Ernest Truex is The Fall Guy for a group of dope dealers. This James Gleason-George Abbott comedy will run at the Eltinge Theatre for almost three months.
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1928 Birthday of playwright Edward Albee, who will go on to write Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia? and Pulitzer-winners, A Delicate Balance, Seascape and Three Ta…
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1928 It's one for all, and all for almost 10 months of The Three Musketeers. William A. McGuire stages his book based on the Dumas novel. P.G. Wodehouse and Clifford Grey write the lyrics fo…
SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58PM1878 Birthday of legendary dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1878-1949), whose Broadway appearances will include Memphis Bound!, The Hot Mikado and Blackbirds of 1928.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, May 24, 2015
1925 Godfrey Tearle is Hamlet in the Fellowship Players production at the Prince of Wales Theatre. The Fellowship offers Sunday performances so these employed professionals have the chance t…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, May 22, 2015
1907 Birthday of Laurence Olivier (1907-1989), preeminent British actor of his generation. His dozens of notable appearances included Romeo and Juliet, The Entertainer, Becket, Private L…
SOURCE: Playbill at 10:57PMThursday, May 21, 2015
1929 Some of the highlights of A Night in Venice are Ted Healy wrestling bears and the choreography of Busby Berkeley. This revue will run at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway for 22 weeks.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, May 20, 2015
1919 Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse call this Kissing Time at London's Winter Garden Theatre. Ivan Caryll provides the music for this tale of complications arising when French ladies carr…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, May 18, 2015
1923 Sweet Nell of Old Drury runs beyond the season at the 48th Street Theatre in New York. Alfred Lunt stars as Charles II and Laurette Taylor as his mistress Nell Gwynne. Lynn Fontanne and…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, May 17, 2015
The Las Vegas stage production of The Duck Commander Musical, based on the popular, yet controversial family from the A&E series "Duck Dynasty," end its run May 17…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM1907 The new Hippodrome Theatre opens in Portsmouth, England.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, May 15, 2015
The winners of the 81st Annual Drama League Awards were announced May 15. An American in Paris is the recipient of the Distinguished Production of a Musical honor, while The Curious Incident…
SOURCE: Playbill at 02:59PMSteven Boyer, star of the Tony-nominated Broadway play Had to God, co-hosts the 81st Annual Drama League Awards May 15 with his alter-ego in the show, the Satanic hand puppet Tyr…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM1922 Father and son playwriting team J. C. Nugent and Elliott Nugent come up with Kempy. They also star in this comedy of mixed-up lovers, staged by Augustin Duncan. Performances will ru…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, May 14, 2015
From Broadway’s best new musicals to global festivals, the city’s stages keep hot during the summer months
SOURCE: Time Out at 11:11PM 
