C'mon, up On Your Toes and Make Your Own Thursday Headlines

 

Via Giphy.

Hi, and welcome to the debut of my new gimmick for Thursday day threads! It's a salute to notable theatrical opening nights. The spotlight shines on March 6, 1983, when On Your Toes was revived on Broadway at what is now the August Wilson Theatre.

On Your Toes, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, is about a college professor who falls for a Russian ballerina and ends up dancing opposite her in "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue." Toes' original Broadway run opened in April 1936 with choreography by George Balanchie and a book by the composers and "Mister" George Abbott. Abbott directed the 1954 and 1983 revivals, the latter happening shortly before his 96th birthday.

The 1983 Toes ran for nearly 200 more performances than the original run, 505 compared to 315. It won two Tonys, for "Best Reproduction (Play or Musical)"* and for Natalia Makarova's leading performance as Vera. While Frank Rich at the New York Times disliked Toes on the whole, calling it a "musty lesser (sketch) of the old masters," he had kind words for Makarova.

*There weren't separate play and musical revival awards until 1994.

"(She brings) a sense of freshness and fun," Rich wrote about Makarova. "She seems to be the only one who finds doing this show an invigorating novelty, rather than a rigorous academic exercise in historical preservation."

Well, some of us like historical preservation!

Courtesy YouTube.

Don't have time for the whole show?

Courtesy YouTube.

Also debuting on this day:

Over Here!, headlined by Maxene and Patty Andrews. It had a score by the Sherman Brothers and an ensemble including Marilu Henner, Ann Reinking, John Travolta, Treat Williams, and Samuel E. Wright. Opening at the Shubert in 1974, it closed in early January 1975.

All The Way, which starred Bryan Cranston as Lyndon B. Johnson. Cranston and playwright Robert Schenkkan were both honored for the 2014 production, which opened at the Neil Simon. It was Cranston's Broadway debut.

Will you join me again, same time, next week?