Notable Opening Nights Catchup and Your Own Thursday Headlines

 

Via Giphy.

This commercial, which aired a few years before my first flight, made it seem so glamorous. The idea of sleeping in Manhattan and waking up in London.

Notable Oct. 1 openings include:
The Girl Behind the Counter, which opened in 1907 at the now-demolished Herald Square. This musical, which previously ran in London, concerned the stepdaughter of a newly-rich man who wed his divorced landlady to resolve his rental debt. Anyway, the young lady sells flowers in a department store and meets a seemingly ideal man, although her birth father initially doesn't approve. Everything is fine in the end.

Tarnish, which opened in 1923 at the now-demolished Belmont. Gilbert Emery wrote this play, also about a daughter with more sense than her parents. Letitia supports her father, who keeps lavishing money on the wrong women, including manicurist Nettie Dark (!). Letitia initially fears her co-worker and love interest Emmet is with Nettie, but soon realizes she's wrong.

Best Foot Forward, which opened in 1941 at the Ethel Barrymore. Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane wrote the score to this musical directed and produced by George Abbott and choreographed by Gene Kelly. It's the story of shenanigans that happen when a Hollywood actress (Rosemary Lane; Lucille Ball as herself in the 1943 movie) is convinced to be a military student's prom date. The OBC also featured June Allyson and, making her Broadway debut, Nancy Walker. June and Nancy reprised their roles for the movie.

Courtesy YouTube.

Command Decision, which opened at the now-demolished former Helen Hayes in 1947. Paul Kelly and James Whitmore won Tonys for this William Wister Haines play about World War II generals having to weigh the matter of important missions vs. so many casualties. Haines wrote his play first, but could only get it on stage after it was a bestselling novel. After the play came a 1949 MGM movie with Clark Gable and Van Johnson in Kelly and Whitmore's roles. Whitmore, for the record, was the only male recipient of a Best Newcomer Tony. He continued on Broadway for 35 more years.

Look Back in Anger, which opened at the Lyceum in 1957, then transfered to the John Golden in the spring and closed there in September 1958. John Osborne received a Tony nomination for his "angry young man" play starring Kenneth Haigh as a working class guy whose wife (Mary Ure, who scored a nomination) married beneath her. The couple's troubles include her pregnancy and his being an asshole.

Moon Over Buffalo, which opened at what is now the Al Hirschfeld in 1995. Philip Bosco and Carol Burnett received Tony nominations for this Ken Ludwig comedy about longtime stage actors who might just make it to the big time if they can just get three couples together, including themselves. I've never seen it, but the documentary Moon Over Broadway covers Buffalo's run.

Courtesy YouTube.

Superior Donuts, which opened at the Music Box in 2009. This wasn't a long-runner (gone after three months), but it makes my list for being Tracy Letts' follow-up to August: Osage County, and for Jon Michael Hill's Tony-nominated performance as the young assistant at a Chicago donut place. The boss is a former 1960s radical (Michael McKean). Donuts was adapted into a 2017-18 CBS sitcom starring Judd Hirsch and Jermaine Fowler. I wonder if Christopher Lloyd was approached for either the play or show?

Yellow Face, which opened at the Todd Haimes in 2024. David Henry Hwang's play about his ill-fated 1993 play Face Value came to Broadway with a cast including Tony nominee Daniel Dae Kim as "DHH," Tony winner Francis Jue as "HYH" (Henry Yuan Hwang), and Ryan Eggold as Marcus G. Dahlman.

Courtesy YouTube.

I'll do the Oct. 8 and Oct. 15 openings at another time. Thank you.