Tis the season for great theater BroadwayHD, the premiere streaming service for theater fans, is welcoming an exciting new lineup of classic movie musicals this month that every theater fan will love.
1895 Birthday of legendary film choreographer Busby Berkeley, whose career is launched with a 12-show burst of creativity on Broadway between the end of 1926 and the beginning of 1930 (including A Connecticut Yankee and Good Boy) before being whisked off to Hollywood to do films like 42nd Street. His Broadway swan song is 1971’s No, No, Nanette.
1926 Ethel Barrymore stars in W. Somerset Maugham‘s The Constant Wife, which stays for 295 constant performances at Maxine Elliott’s Theatre.
1932 Cole Porter’s Gay Divorce opens at Broadway’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre with Fred Astaire making his final Broadway appearance in the cast. Best remembered for introducing Porter’s “Night and Day,” the work will go on to be adapted for the big screen as The Gay Divorcee in 1934 starring Astaire and Ginger Rogers, their second screen pairing.
1939 Swingin’ the Dream, with a cast including Louis Armstrong, Moms Mabley, and Butterfly McQueen opens at the Center Theatre in New York. Erik Charell directs his and Gilbert Seldes‘ musical, a swing version of William Shakespeare‘s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Among its more fanciful elements are sets based on Walt Disney cartoons.
1943 Lovers and Friends by Dodie Smith opens for a 21 week-run at the Plymouth Theatre. The stars are Katharine Cornell and Raymond Massey, with direction by Guthrie McClintic.
1945 Strange Fruit blossoms under the direction of José Ferrer. Lillian Smith adapts her own novel, with help from her sister. The cast at the Royale Theatre includes Eugenia Rawls, Murray Hamilton, and Ralph Meeker.
1956 Judy Holliday, playing an employee of an answering service, is in love with a man plaza-O-double-four-double-three as Bells Are Ringing opens at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre. Written by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jule Styne, the musical wins Holliday a 1957 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical. She will re-create the performance for the 1960 film adaptation.
1958 Birthday of composer Frank Wildhorn, who writes the scores to Broadway musicals including Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Bonnie & Clyde.
1992 Tyne Daly leads a star-filled cast—including Danny Burstein, Ethan Hawke, Laura Linney, Maryann Plunkett, Tony Roberts, and Jon Voight—in a revival of Chekhov’s The Seagull at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre.
1997 Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the world premiere of Amistad, by composer Anthony Davis. Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe directs a cast that includes Mark S. Doss and Thomas Young. The opera, based on an 1839 slave uprising aboard a Cuban chartered ship, precedes Steven Spielberg’s film version of the same story (also titled Amistad), which opens December 10.
2001 Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt‘s musical Roadside opens at York Theatre Company. They briefly have two musicals on New York stages: Both Roadside and their long-running phenomenon The Fantasticks close within weeks of each other in early 2002.
2006 Director John Doyle brings his trademark actor-musician spin to Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Company, opening today at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Raúl Esparza stars as the perpetually single Bobby in a production that will go on to win Best Revival of a Musical at the 2007 Tony Awards and be filmed for commercial release.
2012 Norbert Leo Butz and Katie Holmes co-star in the Broadway premiere of Theresa Rebeck‘s dark comedy Dead Accounts, opening at the Music Box Theatre. Jack O’Brien directs the play about an Ohio family whose prodigal son returns flush with money and secrets. The cast also includes Judy Greer, Josh Hamilton, and Jayne Houdyshell.
2017 Amy Schumer, Keegan-Michael Key, Laura Benanti, and Jeremy Shamos star in Meteor Shower, playwright and comedian Steve Martin’s debut work on Broadway. The absurdist look at love and marriage opens at Broadway’s Booth Theatre.
More of Today’s Birthdays: Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888). Trixie Friganza (1870-1955). Chester Erskin (1905-1986). Ann Corio (1909-1999). Raoul Pène Du Bois (1914-1985). Michael Kermoyan (1921-1994). Frank Galati (b. 1943). Hinton Battle (b. 1956). Frank Wildhorn (b. 1959). Jackie Hoffman (b. 1960). Andrew McCarthy (b. 1962).
Earliertoday, cast members of Broadway showsand some very special guestsjoined together in Duffy Square’siconic red steps to honor Stephen Sondheim’s life. Watch below as organizer Erich Bergenis joined by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Josh Groban, Brian Stokes Mitchell anddozens more for a very special performance of’Sunday’fromSunday in the Park with George.
Check out our mega-playlist of holiday songs from Broadway shows like White Christmas, Elf, Rent, She Loves Me and more, as well as classics sung by some of Broadway’s biggest stars, such as Billy Porter, Julie Andrews, Kristin Chenoweth, Barbra Streisand, Josh Groban, Leslie Odom, Jr., Norm Lewis, Idina Menzel, Angela Lansbury, Linda Eder, Matthew Morrison and many more.
By nature, theatre is ephemeral, but thanks to the small screen, some of Stephen Sondheim’s genius has been captured for all time. There have been TV broadcasts of Sunday in the Park With George, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Passion, and more; Tony wins and Tony Award tributes; birthday concert celebrations; profiles from 60 Minutes and other news programs; a Kennedy Center Honors evening; and even a duet with fellow musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Watch some of these memorable, magical Sondheim moments below. (Read the complete obituary for Mr. Sondheim, who passed away November 26 at the age of 91 here.)
Stephen Sondheim Wins His First Two Tony Awards for Company in 1973
Richard Chamberlain and Bernadette Peters Duet on Company’s “Barcelona” From PBS’ Musical Comedy Tonight in 1979
Beth Howland, Dorothy Loudon, Robert Guillaume, and More Pay Tribute to Sondheim at the 1984 Tony Awards
Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters in “Sunday,” First Act Finale From Sunday in the Park With George, Broadcast on Showtime and PBS in 1986
Diane Sawyer Profiles Sondheim for 60 Minutes in 1988
Joanna Gleason Sings “Moments in the Woods” From the 1991 PBS Broadcast of Into the Woods
Betty Buckley and the Harlem Boys Choir Perform “Children Will Listen” at 1992’s Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall
Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, and More Salute Sondheim at the 1993 Kennedy Center Honors
Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber Honor Producer Cameron Mackintosh With New Lyrics for “Send in the Clowns” and “Music of the Night” at 1998’s Hey, Mr. Producer!
Audra McDonald and Michael Cerveris Sing “Happiness” in Concert Staging of Passion, Broadcast on PBS in 2005
Patti LuPone, Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald, Donna Murphy, Bernadette Peters, and Elaine Stritch Perform at 2010’s Sondheim! The Birthday Concert
Anika Noni Rose Performs “Another Hundred People” From the 2011 Concert Version of Sondheim’s Company
As we welcome the most wonderful time of the year, Broadway fans will have much to be joyful about as dozens of Broadway stars appear in holiday films throughout the season. From Annie Live to Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas, see where Broadway stars will be appearing this holiday season. Check out our complete guide on where and when to watch your favorite Broadway stars in a hoiday film this season