
Playbill Vault’s Today in Theater History: December 19
1865 Birthday of Mary Augusta Davey, who acts as Minnie Maddern, Minnie Maddern Fiske and…
1865 Birthday of Mary Augusta Davey, who acts as Minnie Maddern, Minnie Maddern Fiske and…
While acknowledging that a month would have to be as long as a millennium to…
1889 Playwright and director George S. Kaufman was born in Pittsburgh. Former journalist, Kaufman makes…
1903 Mam’selle Napoleon is Anna Held in the musical at the Knickerbocker Theater. Produced by…
1694 Birthday of French writer François Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, whose satirical novel…
1889 Playwright and director George S. Kaufman was born in Pittsburgh. Former journalist, Kaufman imposes…
1900 Opening night of the legendary musical Floradora at the Casino Theater for a series…
1818 Playwright and novelist Ivan Turgenev was born in Russia. His most remarkable piece is…
1854 Birthday party of John Philip Sousa, composer of countless marches, who also found time…
1916 A new play by a new playwright opens at the Provincetown Playhouse in Greenwich…
1888 Operetta WS Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan Broadway Premiere The Yeomen of the Guard.1915 Arthur…
1893 Arthur Wing Pinero woos scandal with his play The second Mrs. Tanqueray, about a…
Clockwise from top left: Victoria Serra, Mitchell Cohen, Lori Kelley and Thom Gilbert featured in…
1921 The Music Box Magazine of 1921 is the first production of the new Music…
1904 Julian Eltinge, the famous female impersonator, makes her Broadway debut in Mr. Wix from…
1910 Birthday of Lehman Engel, the Tony-winning Broadway conductor who founded the BMI Musical Theater…
1894 Birthday of British playwright JB Priestley, playwright An inspector calls, when we are married,…
1912 Jane Cowl becomes a star playing in In law by Bayard Veiller. The play…
Teatro Hidalgo in Los Angeles, circa 1920. National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sep 15…
1871 Birthday of playwright Jesse Lynch Williams. During the 1917-1918 theatrical season, Williams’ play, Why…
1895 Bert Lahr (née Irving Lahrheim), future stage and film clown, was born in New…
1924 Singer and vaudeville star Sophie tucker opens at the Palace.1924 Helene hayes opens in…
1967 Playwright Joe Orton is found dead in his London apartment. His companion, writer and…
1921 Composer Richard Adler was born. Alongside Jerry Ross, he wrote two of the most…
1920 Two of Broadway’s greatest songwriter talents debut on Main Stem: lyrical Lorenz Hart, 25,…
1920 Producer Alexander H. Cohen, known for bringing quality plays to Broadway for six decades,…
1938 Helen Hayes is named the Greatest Performer on the Stage when The New York…
1951 Birthday of Lillias White, whose Broadway appearances include Effie White in Dream girls, Miss…
1895 Birthday of Oscar Hammerstein II, descendant of a notable theatrical family who became his…
1913 Birthday of theater critic Walter Kerr, namesake of the Walter Kerr Theater on Broadway.…
1887 Birthday of legendary director George Abbott, whose long life (107 years) and colossal catalog…
The Department of Theater Arts at the University of Iowa recently completed a national search…
1903 Cartoonist Al Hirschfeld was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His distinctive looping line art…
1894 Birthday of Robert Russell Bennett, orchestrator of Broadway classics including the original Sunny, Show…
1909 Birthday of Broadway star Jessica Tandy, who has created many landmark roles including Blanche…
1946 Orson Welles takes the stage in Around the world, musical he adapted from Jules…
1924 The star of the Marx Brothers in I will say that she is at…
1905 Theater producer Sam S. Shubert dies in train crash. His brothers Lee and JJ…
1903 In Runaways, with a book by Addison Burkhardt and a score by Raymond Hubbell,…
Frank Chin. (Wikimedia / Nancy Wong) May 1976 (45 years ago) In the May edition…
1912 Karl Malden was born in Chicago, Illinois. He appears in numerous Broadway productions, most…
1912 Karl Malden was born in Chicago, Illinois. He appears in numerous Broadway productions, most…
1925 Ernest Truex is The right guy for a group of drug dealers. The James…
1856 Comedian Eddie Foy was born. He plays in vaudeville and on Broadway, notably in…
1859 Birthday of King of Broadway Operetta Victor Herbert, composer of Babes in Toyland, The…
1859 Birthday of the King of Broadway Operetta Victor Herbert, composer of Babes in Toyland,…
1908 J. Lucifer Mephisto tempts a sculptor to be unfaithful to The kiss of the…
1912 The firefly kicks off the Lyric Theater with music by Rudolf Friml and lyrics…
1892 Songwriter and producer Earl Carroll was born. His best-known contribution to the theater is…
1892 Songwriter and producer Earl Carroll was born. His best remembered contribution to theater is…
1943 George Marion, Jr. and Thomas “Fats” Waller’s Goes to bed early opens on Broadway…
1954 Rodgers and Hammerstein Carousel is relaunched for a 10-week run in downtown New York.…
1901 Sadie Martinot, Guy Bates Post and Junius Brutus Booth play The marriage game. The…
WELLINGTON, FL – Theater Arts Productions (TAP) presents James and the Giant Peach by Roald…
DeLanna Studi at the World Premiere of “Te Ata” at Oklahoma University of Science and…
1909 Broadway star’s birthday Jessica Tandy, who created many notable roles including Blanche DuBois in…
1879 The composer Rudolf Friml was born in Prague. He emigrated to the United States…
1894 Birthday of Robert Russell Bennett, orchestrator of Broadway classics, including the original Sunny, Show…
1903 In runaways, with a book by Addison Burkhardt and a score by Raymond Hubbell,…
Happy birthday, Alan Alda. 1908 J. Lucifer Mephisto tempts a sculptor to be unfaithful to…
1889 Playwright and director George S. Kaufman was born in Pittsburgh. Former journalist, Kaufman makes…
1912 firefly sparkles the Lyric Theater with music by Rudolf Friml and lyrics and a…
1923 Sweet Nell of old Drury opens at the 48th Street Theater in New York.…
1902 There are two beginnings in Each man: Edith Wynne Matthison makes her American debut,…
1854 Birthday of John Philip Sousa, composer of countless marches, who also found time to…
1920 Vincenzo Scognamiglio was born in Naples, Italy. Sound unfamiliar to you? To try Vincent…
Happy birthday, Chita Rivera! 1922 It’s alcohol, jazz and The National anthem. J. Hartley Manners’…
1907 In The Comet, Alla Nazimova plays a woman who falls in love with her…
1925 Ernest Truex is The fell guy for a group of dealers. The James Gleason-George…
1954 Rodgers and Hammerstein Carousel is relaunched for a 10-week run at the New York…
1900 Opening night of the legendary musical Floradora at the Casino Theater for a run…
1903 Cartoonist Al Hirschfeld was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His distinctive looping line drawings…
1943 George Marion, Jr. and Thomas “Fats” Waller’s Goes to bed early opens on Broadway…
1905 Theater producer Sam S. Shubert dies in a train accident. His brothers Lee and…