Courtesy Broadway Box.
I've got two weeks worth of Notable Opening Nights, and approximately 90 minutes to write about them. Let's see how I do!
Till the Day I Die and Waiting for Lefty, which opened at the Longacre in 1935. Just over a month after Awake and Sing! opened, Clifford Odets was back with this pair of one acts. Lefty actually debuted off-Broadway before Awake; the two shows ended up running in repertory later in the year. Anyway, Die is about an anti-fascist (Alexander Kirkland) who loses the will to live after his imprisonment, torture and harassment after release by the Nazis. Lefty is about taxi drivers mulling a strike. Flashbacks depict their reasons for considering such action. "Lefty," leader of the would-be strikers, is like Godot, never on stage.
Funny Girl, which opened at the Winter Garden in 1964, moved to the Majestic two years later, and spent most of the 1966-67 season at the Broadway. Barbra Streisand's last Broadway show was this Jule Styne-Bob Merrill musical about the rise to fame and romantic troubles of Fanny Brice, who had been dead for nearly 13 years at that point. Today, it would be like making a musical about Eydie Gormé (who actually was up for role of Fanny, but she insisted on Steve Lawrence playing Nicky Arnstein). Anyway, Funny Girl went zero for eight at the 18th Tony Awards. To be fair, it was the year of Hello, Dolly!
Courtesy YouTube.
Clarence Darrow, which opened at the now-demolished original Helen Hayes in 1974. This wasn't a long-runner -- 29 performances -- but it makes my list because Henry Fonda scored a Tony nomination for the title role. It's a one-man show that Henry repeated for TV in September 1974, before doing another 18 performances in March 1975, just before the Tonys.
Courtesy YouTube.
Clothes for a Summer Hotel, which opened at what is now the James Earl Jones in 1980. This is another short-lived production, making the list because it was Tennessee Williams' last Broadway show before his 1983 death. Kenneth Haigh and Geraldine Page played F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, or at least a version of them.
Fences, which opened at what is now the Richard Rodgers in 1987. Six Tony nominations and four wins -- for August Wilson's play, Lloyd Richards' direction, Mary Alice's featured performance, and James Earl Jones' lead performance -- went to this drama about a former Negro league baseball player who never fulfilled his potential. I read Fences a long time ago, and I've been meaning to revisit it. The also-rans at the 41st Tonys were featured actors Frankie R. Faison as James' brother, and Courtney B. Vance as his son.
Courtesy YouTube.
Rob Becker's Defending the Caveman, which opened at the current Hayes in 1995 before spending the first six months of 1997 at the Booth, where it closed. The engagement at the Booth featured Michael Chiklis, who took over for Becker while he embarked on a national tour. It looks like the show continued touring for several years -- apparently it played in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2002. I don't think my parents saw it, though. Another one-man production, Defending the Caveman is about the differences between men and women, or "hunters" and "gatherers." It started as a stand-up routine.
Exit the King, which opened at the Ethel Barrymore in 2009. Geoffrey Rush won the Tony for this revival of Eugène Ionesco's play about a dying monarch. Geoffrey's costars included Susan Sarandon and Lauren Ambrose as the king's past and present wives, plus Andrea Martin as his long-suffering maid.
Sweat, which opened at Studio 54 in 2017. Lynn Nottage won the Pulitzer, but not the Tony, for this play about the decline of friendships, potential, and hope among blue collar folks in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Courtesy YouTube.
Sweeney Todd, which was revived at the Lunt-Fontanne in 2023. What a production this was! We had Josh Groban, who sang the score beautifully but came across as the neighborhood DILF having Halloween fun. And then there was Annaleigh Ashford, playing an especially horny Mrs. Lovett. I can't blame her for that. Years from now, I'll still probably wonder whose idea it was to make Lovett do a Curly-style floor spin.
Courtesy YouTube.
Notable April 2 openings include:
Piff! Paff!! Pouf!!!, which opened at the now-demolished Casino in 1904. Would you have guessed it's a musical? Jean Schwartz and William Jerome provided the score for a show about a widower who must marry off his four daughters in the order of their births in order to receive his late heiress wife's money. Uh, I'm pretty sure this is why they include the "being of sound mind and body" language in wills.
A Doll's House, which was revived at the Belasco in 1997. This five-month production currently holds the record for Broadway's longest run of Ibsen's drama about a wife (Tony-winner Janet McTeer) who ends up leaving her husband and family for independence.
Fortune's Fool, which opened at the Music Box in 2002. Ivan Turgenev's 1848 play received a belated run on Broadway, scoring Tony wins for lead actor Alan Bates and featured actor Frank Langella. If I've got the gist of this pan from Variety, apparently Alan had a claim on land including Frank's place.
The Play That Goes Wrong, which opened at the Lyceum in 2017 and has been playing off-Broadway at New World Stages since 2019. It's also a long-running in London, having been at the Duchess since 2014. Matthew and I saw the show during one of my visits. It really is amazing how much mileage comes from escalating bloopers.
Courtesy YouTube.
Next week, a musicalization that some may like.
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