Steps by Steps and Your Own Thursday Headlines

 

Courtesy Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

This week's Notable Opening Night is Jan. 15, 2008, when The 39 Steps opened at what is now the Todd Haimes Theatre.

Already a hit in London's West End*, The 39 Steps was something of a surprise success in America. After its two-and-a-half months as a Roundabout Theatre production, Steps re-opened in May 2008 at what is now the James Earl Jones Theatre. The four-actor, approximately 150-character play spent eight months at its new digs, managing to become one of the few shows not to close in the massive January 2009 cull (14 productions over five weekends), before re-opening for one last year (January 2009-January 2010) at what is now the Hayes Theatre. From March 2010-January 2011, Steps played at the off-Broadway New World Stages. It had an off-Broadway revival at the now-closed Union Square Theatre from 2015-16.

*Its 2006-2015 run at the Criterion makes The 39 Steps the 25th longest-running West End show to date, and the fifth longest-running West End play. At No. 4, The Play That Goes Wrong. At No. 1, and likely to never be surpassed, The Mousetrap.

"(Director Maria) Aitken and company (originally Arnie Burton, Charles Edwards, Jennifer Ferrin, and Cliff Saunders) are using their cinematic template to celebrate the art of instant illusion-making that is theater," Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times in 2008. "Much of the show’s pleasure comes from being in on the magician’s tricks even as, on some primitive level, you accept them."

Steps' six Tony nominations included all four technical awards, the play itself, and Aitken's direction. It won for Kevin Adams' lighting and Mic Pool's sound. Peter McKintosh's costumes lost to the wardrobe in the revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the show that made Steps vacate the Haimes. Best Play and Best Direction of a Play in 2008 went to August: Osage County, which happened to change theaters (from the Imperial to the Music Box) at approximately the same time as Steps. The lighting and the "Unique Theatrical Experience" were recognized at the 2008 Drama Desk Awards.

Adapted from a previous parody of Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film and John Buchan's 1915 novel by Patrick Barlow, Steps received praise from Brantley for keeping things in perspective. "This 39 Steps isn't using its source material as a satiric target but as an accomplice," Brantley wrote. "The creators of the bloated spectacles The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein and Disney’s The Little Mermaid should take a hard look at Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, which packs a lot less ego into its brand-name title."

Also opening on this day:

H.M.S. Pinafore, which opened in 1879 at the now-demolished Standard Theatre. This was the American premiere of Gilbert & Sullivan's first megahit.

Courtesy YouTube.

Up in Mabel's Room, which opened in 1919 at the intact but no longer a Broadway house Empire Theatre. Wilson Collison made his Broadway playwright debut alongside longtime bookwriter-lyricist Otto Hauerbach. The duo collaborated on a comedy about a man (John Cumberland) who attempts to covertly dispose of a personalized chemise he gave to his former lover (Hazel Dawn, who'd been a star for nearly a decade at this point). Complicating matters, of course, is the wife (Enid Markey, fresh from originating the movie role of Tarzan's Jane).

Fly Away Home, which opened in 1935 at the now-demolished 48th Street Theatre. Dorothy Bennett and Irving White made their Broadway playwright debuts with this comedy. Four young siblings (including 14-year-old Montgomery Clift, making his Broadway debut) initially approve of their mother's remarriage to their neighbor before deciding to reunite their parents. Thomas Mitchell, four years before his Oscar-winning role in Stagecoach, not only played the prodigal father, but also directed.

Make Mine Manhattan, which opened in 1948 at the Broadhurst. Two years before Your Show of Shows, Sid Caesar (then 25) starred in this revue. He was succeeded for just over a week (Dec. 31, 1948-Jan. 8, 1949) by Bert Lahr.

Courtesy YouTube.

Next week, the magistrate which sits in my heart will judge some more shows.