The world premiere of Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play, which opened Off-Broadway November 5, has extended its limited engagement at Playwrights Horizons. Performances will now run through December 2, instead of the previously announced November 25.
Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel directs a cast comprised of Margo Seibert, Jennifer Bareilles, Jeffrey Bean, and Greg Keller.
The play follows a group of well-intentioned white teaching artists as the scramble to create an ambitious, “woke” Thanksgiving pageant.
1904 The timeless anthem “Give My Regards to Broadway” is first sung on the Broadway stage at the opening of George M. Cohan’s Little Johnny Jones at the Liberty Theatre. The story of an American jockey in England runs just 52 performances, but the song lives on.
1910 Opening night for Victor Herbert‘s operetta Naughty Marietta, which runs 136 performances at the New York Theatre, and quickly becomes a theatre staple, enjoying countless tours and three Broadway revivals in the decades to come.
1919 Birthday of Ellen Stewart, whose La Mama Experimental Theatre Club serves as one of the cornerstones of the Off-Off-Broadway movement.
1921 Lisping comedian Ed Wynn earns a nickname with the musical comedy The Perfect Fool, written by and starring himself, which begins a 275-performance run at the Cohan Theatre. Wynn stars in many Broadway productions and films, but is perhaps best known to modern audiences as the giggling Uncle Albert who hosts the tea party on the ceiling in Disney‘s film Mary Poppins.
1922Jeanne Eagels creates the role of Sadie Thompson, a prostitute at odds with a jungle missionary, in Rain, based on a W. Somerset Maugham short story. It runs 256 performances at Maxine Elliott’s Theatre. Joan Crawford immortalizes the role on film in 1932.
1934 Opening night of Dark Victory, one of the great weepers in Broadway history, and endlessly imitated. Tallulah Bankhead stars at the Plymouth Theatre as a spoiled heiress who discovers she has just months to live, and must mend her evil ways, live life to the fullest, and make peace with the world before she departs. Bette Davis takes the role in the 1939 film version.
1956Long Day’s Journey Into Night opens (against late playwright Eugene O’Neill’s wishes) at the Helen Hayes Theatre. The cast includes Jason Robards Jr., Fredric March, and Florence Eldridge, all directed by José Quintero. Variety reports that this play is “a monumental, overwhelming drama, terrible in its ruthlessness, searing in its self-revelation, exalting in its pity and shattering in its impact.” Brooks Atkinson declares that this production helps “acquire size and stature” for the American theatre. The show runs for 390 performances.
1958The Quare Fellow opens Off-Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre. The show, whose title is slang for “condemned man,” is written by Brendan Behan and stars Liam Clancy. It runs for 126 performances.
1971David Rabe‘s Sticks and Bones opens at the Public Theater. David Selby stars as a traumatized Vietnam vet who returns home to his all-American family. The Golden Theatre hosts the show’s move to Broadway in 1972, with Santo Loquasto getting his first opportunity to design a Broadway set. It runs for 121 performances Off-Broadway, and then 246 performances on Broadway.
1996The Santaland Diaries opens at the Atlantic Theater Company. The play, adapted from David Sedaris’ book, Barrel Fever, features two stories: “Season’s Greetings to Our Friends and Family,” about a housewife who finds her husband’s illegitimate daughter on her doorstep, and “The Santaland Diaries,” describing the experience of working as a Christmas elf at Macy’s. The show runs 63 performances.
2001Elaine Stritch‘s solo show, Elaine Stritch: At Liberty, debuts at the Public Theater to rave reviews. The production moves to Broadway later in the season and wins a Tony Award for Special Theatrical Event.
2003 The song catalog of rocker Rod Stewart forms the basis of a new musical, Tonight’s the Night, which opens at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre.
2004Howard Keel, 85, the handsome high baritone who sang musical theatre’s great roles in the film versions of Show Boat, Annie Get Your Gun, Kismet, and Kiss Me, Kate (and appeared onstage in stock and in the Broadway musical Saratoga), dies of colon cancer in Palm Desert, California.
Lyric Opera of Chicago’s new production of Siegfried, the third installment of Richard Wagner’s epic Ring of the Nibelung cycle, opened November 3. Performances continue at the Lyric Opera House in Chicago through November 16.
David Poutney’s new staging stars Burkhard Fritz as Siegfried, Christine Goerke as Brünnhilde, Matthias Klink as Mime, Eric Owens as Wotan, Samuel Youn as Alberich, Ronnita Miller as Erda, Diana Newman as Woodbird, and Patrick Guetti as Fafner. Sir Andrew Davis leads the Lyric Opera Orchestra.
Flip through photos of the production below:
Production Photos: Siegfried at Lyric Opera of Chicago
With Wicked recently surpassing A Chorus Line to become the sixth-longest running show, and Kinky Boots moving up past Oklahoma!, check out the latest list of long runs on Broadway.
Flip through the 31 longest running shows on Broadway 5 of which are still running today:
31 Longest-Running Broadway Shows
31 Longest-Running Broadway Shows
From Phantom of the Opera to Oklahoma!, flip through the 31 longest Broadway runs to date.
31 PHOTOS
1. The Phantom of the Opera: 12,798 Clive Barda
2. Chicago (1996 Revival): 9,123 Max Vadukul
3. The Lion King: 8,727 Joan Marcus
4. Cats: 7,485 Martha Swope
5. Les Misérables: 6,680 Michael Le Poer Trench/Bob Marshak
6. Wicked: 6,262 Joan Marcus
7. A Chorus Line: 6,137 Martha Swope/ The New York Public Library
In the music video above, stage favorites from New York and London—including Christina Bianco, Sophia Anne Caruso (Beetlejuice), Kerry Ellis (Wicked) James Monroe Iglehart, (Hamilton, Aladdin), Charlie Stemp (Hello, Dolly!, the upcoming Mary Poppins revival), and Marisha Wallace (Dreamgirls)—sing their gratitude toward the Armed Forces. The original song “The Hero” was written by the husband-and-wife songwriting duo of Daniel and Laura Curtis.
In addition to the music video, stars such as recent Olivier winner Bryan Cranston (soon to be on Broadway in Network), Whoopi Goldberg, Alan Menken, Matthew Morrison, Paul McCartney, and Stephen Fry recorded words of thanks.
Proceeds from the tribute, released in conjunction with the centennial anniversary of the end of World War I, will go to the U.K. charity Help for Heroes.
“It became quickly clear that people really engaged with the song, which is about a female recruit and her journey,” Daniel Curtis explains. Soon, we had artists from Broadway signing on—we even had to change the name from ‘A West End Tribute’ to ‘A West End and Friends Tribute.’”
For more information and to donate to Help for Heroes, click here.
The complete cast is set for the national tour of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, which begins November 8 in Paducah, Kentucky.
Reprising their roles from the previous tour are Sean Montgomery as Bob Wallace, Jeremy Benton as Phil Davis, Kerry Conte as Betty Haynes, Kelly Sheehan as Judy Haynes, Conrad John Schuck as General Waverly, Tony winner Karen Ziemba as Martha Watson, Brad Frenette as Ralph Sheldrake, Aaron Galligan-Stierle as Mike Nulty, and Cliff Bemis as Ezekiel Foster. Emma Grace Berardelli and Kyla Carter are new to the cast in the role of Susan Waverly.
Rounding out the company of returning cast members are Kelly Black, Stephanie Brooks, Darien Crago, Laurie DiFilippo, Sarah Fagan, Drew Humphrey, Brianna Latrash, Ann-Ngaire Martin, Danny McHugh, Chris McNiff, Sean Quinn, and Chelsea Williams. Additional new cast members include Drew King, Daniel Plimpton, Karilyn Ashley Surrat, and Richard Riaz Yoder.
Directed and choreographed by Randy Skinner, the limited tour will also play engagements in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Nashville, Tennessee; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Atlanta, Georgia; Denver, Colorado; Orlando, Florida; and Miami, Florida.
Based on the classic film of the same name, the musical has a score full of Irving Berlin classics and a book by David Ives and Paul Blake. The production tells the story of two showbiz buddies putting on a show in a Vermont inn, and finding their perfect mates in the bargain.
The creative team also includes set designer Anna Louizos with set adaptation by Kenneth Foy, lighting designer Ken Billington, sound designer Keith Caggiano, orchestrator Larry Blank, vocal and dance arranger Bruce Pomahac, and associate director and choreographer Mary Giattino.
The original Broadway production was directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Skinner.
Irving Berlin’s White Christmas is produced by Work Light Productions.
