Via Make a Gif.
Oh, my, I did not intend to get so backlogged. Let's see how many capsule show histories I can write in a 180-minute span.
Saturday's Children, which opened at the Booth in 1927. Ruth Gordon was back, opposite Roger Pryor and later Humphrey Bogart in this Maxwell Anderson slice of life comedy about a couple who fear they rushed too soon into marriage. After 310 performances, Saturday's Children sat out the winter of 1927-28 before coming back for a final 16 performances in April 1928. It's been adapted into movies three times, but not since 1940. It's probably going to remain obscure since Barefoot in the Park remains so popular.
Green Grow the Lilacs, which opened at what is now the August Wilson in 1931. I cheated to include this short-lived Lynn Riggs play. It's the source material for Oklahoma! The cast included Franchot Tone as Curly, June Walker as Laurey, Richard Hale as "Jeeter" Fry, and Lee Strasberg as the Peddler.
Shadow and Substance, which opened at the John Golden in 1938 before closing on Oct. 1, 1938, at what is now the Gerald Schoenfeld. Paul Vincent Carroll, an Irish Catholic, wrote about Brigid (Julie Haydon, who went on to the original productions of The Time of Your Life and The Glass Menagerie), a servant girl whose visions of her saintly namesake and overall guilelessness end up affecting those around her. Sir Cedric Hardwicke starred opposite Haydon as Brigid's boss, an older priest (or "canon.").
Seascape, which opened at the Shubert in 1975. This was another short-lived play, but it won Edward Albee the Pulitzer Prize. Deborah Kerr, Barry Nelson, Maureen Anderman, and Tony-winner Frank Langella starred as two couples, a long-married pair of humans, and two near-completely evolved lizards.
The Phantom of the Opera, which opened at the Majestic in 1988 and finally closed there on April 16, 2023. Seven Tonys went to Phantom, including for the show itself, Michael Crawford and Judy Kaye's performances as the Phantom and Carlotta, respectively, and Harold Prince's direction. There was no sound design Tony in 1988, but if there had been, Phantom probably would have gotten it. Despite several prominent awards, Phantom lost arguably two of the biggies -- Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical -- to Into the Woods.
Courtesy YouTube.
Black and Blue, which opened at the Minskoff in 1989 and closed there just shy of two years later. Ruth Brown won the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She was one of several performers honoring the black artists who performed jazz, blues, dancing, and comedy in Paris between the world wars.
This one's for you, Souse! Courtesy YouTube.
Bridge & Tunnel, which opened at what is now the Hayes in 2006. Sarah Jones won a special Tony for her one-woman show about people of various races who live in New York City's outer boroughs. Bridge & Tunnel previously played off-Broadway.
Courtesy YouTube.
Notable Jan. 29 openings include:
The Three Sisters, which opened at the now-demolished Jolson's 59th Street Theatre in 1923. Sisters was part of the Moscow Art Theatre repertory series that also introduced America to The Cherry Orchard.
All My Sons, which opened at what is now the Eugene O'Neill in 1947. The unofficial first Tony Award for Best Play went to Arthur Miller's drama about a husband and father (Ed Begley in the original production, and actors including John Lithgow, Tracy Letts, and Bryan Cranston within the last 20 years) who finally faces a reckoning for unscrupulous business practices during World War II and evading justice for them. The original cast also included Beth Merrill, Arthur Kennedy, Lois Wheeler, and Karl Malden, all directed by Elia Kazan. Unlike Arthur, Elia got to inaugurate a Tony category, what's now Best Direction of a Play.
Sweet Charity, which opened at the Palace in 1966. Like I mentioned last week, Charity was the first show when the Palace officially became a legitimate Broadway theatre, as opposed to a venue for vaudeville or movies. Bob Fosse, Neil Simon, Cy Coleman, and Dorothy Fields teamed up for this musical adaptation of Fellini's Nights of Cabiria. Charity Hope Valentine (Gwen Verdon), a taxi dancer who just cannot catch a break, nevertheless lives "hopefully ever after." Nominated for nine Tonys, it won one, for choreography. In the defense of the 1966 Tony voters, it was the year of both Man of La Mancha and Mame.
Courtesy YouTube.
Notable Feb. 2 openings include:
Madame X, which opened at the New Amsterdam in 1910. Another short-lived production, but I think it's worth mentioning as the American debut of Alexandre Bisson's well-known French melodrama. A fallen woman kills her disreputable lover and gets defended in court by the son she had to abandon so long ago. Naomi Watts, have I got a project for you!
Courtesy YouTube.
The Night Boat, which opened at the now-closed Liberty in 1920. Another Alexandre Bisson adaptation, this time as a Jerome Kern musical about a philanderer (John E. Hazzard) trying to have affairs away from the eyes of his wife (Stella Hoban) and mother-in-law (Ada Lewis).
Courtesy YouTube.
Rio Rita, which opened at the now-demolished Ziegfeld in 1927, transferred to the now-demolished former Lyric after Christmas, and closed on April 7, 1928, at the Majestic. Rita (Ethelind Terry) is a multi-racial performer who's loved by both a Texas Ranger (J. Harold Murray) and a corrupt Mexican politician (Vincent Serrano). Meanwhile, an American salesman (Bert Wheeler) comes with his lover (Ada May) to obtain his quickie divorce, only to learn from a lawyer (Robert Woolsey) that it's apparently not on the up and up. Oh, and this is a musical, too, with a score by Harry Tierney & Joseph McCarthy (not that one), a book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson (not that one), and producing by Florenz Ziegfeld (that one).
Wait Until Dark, which opened at the Ethel Barrymore in 1966. After a week off in July, it reopened at the Shubert before transferring to the now-demolished George Abbott in October and finally the Music Box in November before closing on Dec. 31, 1966. Lee Remick (Tony nominee, lost to Rosemary Harris for The Lion in Winter) and Robert Duvall starred in this Frederick Knott thriller about a heroin trafficker's attempts to outsmart, terrorize, and even kill a blind housewife. Back in the day, I was in a summer production of Dark. I was the second policeman at the very end, and for two-thirds of the play, I ran the light board. During the climax, I was backstage. It never stopped being a thrill, hearing how the audience responded to that moment.
Courtesy YouTube.
Otherwise Engaged, which opened at what is now the Schoenfeld in 1977. Tom Courtenay starred in the American premiere of Simon Gray's play about a publisher whose would-be afternoon of solitude and Wagner's Parsifal turns into an exercise of exposing just what a shithead he is. Courtenay lost the Tony to Al Pacino for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel.
Rabbit Hole, which opened at what is now the Samuel J. Friedman in 2006. Cynthia Nixon won the Tony for David Lindsay-Abaire's Pulitzer-winning play about coping with life after the death of a child. Cynthia starred opposite John Slattery, Tyne Daly, Mary Catherine Garrison, and John Gallagher Jr. Rabbit Hole was adapted into a 2010 film that scored an Oscar nod for Nicole Kidman.
Notable Feb. 5 openings include:
Lady Windermere's Fan, which opened at the now-demolished Palmer's Theatre in 1893. This was the American premiere of Oscar Wilde's tale of a woman who ends up saving her daughter's marriage at the cost of her own financial aid, position in society, and chance at a relationship with the girl, who has no idea of her true identity.
The Show Off, which opened at the now-demolished Playhouse in 1924. George Kelly (Grace's uncle) wrote this comedy about a would-be big man (Louis John Bartels) who annoys his in-laws (C.W. Goodrich and Helen Lowell) and nearly loses his wife (Regina Wallace).
Redhead, which opened at what is now the Richard Rodgers Theatre in 1959. Gwen Verdon won her fourth Tony in six years with this Albert Hague-Dorothy Fields musical that scored Bob Fosse his third Tony for choreography, capping five consecutive years of nominations. Fosse was overlooked, however, for his direction. Featuring a book by siblings Dorothy & Herbert Fields, plus Sidney Sheldon and David Shaw, Redhead is a murder mystery that also won Tonys for leading man Richard Kiley, featured actor Leonard Stone (Violet's dad in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), and the show itself.
Courtesy YouTube.
Piaf, which opened in 1981 at what is now the Schoenfeld. Jane Lapotaire won the Tony for reprising her West End performance as Edith Piaf. Jane acted opposite, among others, Zoë Wanamaker as Edith's ex-prostitute half-sister, and Jean Smart as Marlene Dietrich.
Whoof! I did it!
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