Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Posts the Thursday Headlines

 

Courtesy Variety.

"Yes, it really is that good."

-- Ben Brantley, opening his New York Times review

This week's Notable Opening Night is Aug. 6, 2015, when Hamilton opened at the Richard Rodgers after a successful off-Broadway production. The Broadway production of Hamilton continues to run, and as of Sunday, remains the 16th longest-running Broadway show.

I still need to see Hamilton on stage. I have the cast album, although it's been years since I've listened to it. There have been hit Broadway musicals since 2015, and it's still possible for a musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (A Strange Loop, 2020). No one can deny the hype storm when Wicked's first film came out in 2024. But for my money, the Hamilton hurricane was the last time that we've had such an amazing convergence of art, entertainment, populism, and just plain cool. I hope we'll have it again some day. 

Courtesy Just Jared.

A moment of silence, please, for Allegiance. And Tuck Everlasting. And Bright Star. And especially American Psycho. I'm not saying any of these shows would have won any or all of Hamilton's near-record 11 Tony Awards if that show wasn't around -- and there were productions that didn't completely roll over for Lin-Manuel and company, like School of Rock and Waitress -- but the rap musical certainly took up a lot of the oxygen during the 2015-16 Broadway season. You just couldn't ignore Hamilton.

Courtesy YouTube.

Other notable Aug. 6 openings include:

The Dollar Princess, which opened at the now-demolished Knickerbocker in 1909. This was the Broadway premiere of a hit London musical that adapted a German operetta about an heiress and her cheating husband.

It's a Wise Child, which opened at the Belasco in 1929. Laurence E. Johnson wrote this play about a young woman who pretends to be pregnant so she can get out an arranged marriage with an older man. Wise Child was adapted into a 1931 Marion Davies film.

Next week, a step in the right direction?