On this date in 1907, Burgess Meredith was born — “Buzz” to all who knew him.* An actor with a ubiquitous presence throughout my childhood, anyone who grew up in the mid-1960s can easily imitate the “quack, quack, quack” he came up with for the villainous Penguin on Batman. Especially…
Forty years ago today, the above ad appeared in the New York Times “Arts and Leisure” on November 15, 1981. There was also a front-page article in that section about the tumultuous preview period for this new Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical based on a 1934 play by George S. Kaufman…
Hello, Dolly! opened in 1964 to rave reviews, a then-record-breaking ten Tony Awards (out of eleven nominations) and sold-out houses. After its first Dolly, Carol Channing, completed a two-year run, she took it out on a national tour, succeeded on Broadway by fading, but still vibrant stars of stage and…
Even after all these years, whenever I watch James Cagney as George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (usually on July 4th when it airs annually on Turner Classic Movies ), it’s always startling when late in the film he sings and dances while playing Franklin Roosevelt. As part of…
“He loved theatre more than anyone I’ve ever met. As I’ve often said, he was like the love child of a wild night between Noel Coward and the Lunts.” — Nathan Lane
Fittingly, the first memorial to be held in a Broadway theatre upon its reopening after the pandemic shutdown…
Roughly half of Broadway’s forty-one houses have been named for significant members of the theatrical profession, many of whom share legendary status, often known by their last names exclusively. Sadly, all are dead, save for the ninety-one-year-old Stephen Sondheim. Seeing a play there, or at the O’Neill, Gershwin or Hirschfeld…
Nowadays, new musicals rarely schedule out of town try outs due to how expensive it is. Yes, a regional theatre such as ART at Harvard will develop new works via their subscription seasons, most of which have their eyes on New York, but that’s not nearly the same thing as…
For Part II of the saga, let’s begin at the beginning: what was the derivation of Mack & Mabel as a musical and whose idea was it?
Leonard Spigelgass, was a successful Hollywood screenwriter in the 1940s and ’50s, mostly responsible for adaptations of books and plays, who would finish…
This column first posted on this date four years ago.
Today marks the opening night of Mack & Mabel on October 6, 1974 at the Majestic Theatre. There have been many musicals that have come and gone over the years, but there is a special place in the hearts of…
With today marking the anniversary of the opening of Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway, fifty-seven years ago, I thought I would share this excerpt from Up in the Cheap Seats: A Historical Memoir of Broadway, which explains only a portion of why this musical will always hold a special…
Author, playwright, director, actor, theatre critic and historian, his book, “Up in the Cheap Seats,” is available at Amazon.com.
