X-Nico

42 unusual facts about Broadway Theatre


Arthur Berthelet

Arthur Berthelet (1879–1949) was an American movie director who went from directing stage plays (several on Broadway) to directing silent movies.

Athalia Ponsell Lindsley

Athalia Ponsell Lindsley (July 25, 1917 – January 23, 1974) was a former American model, Broadway dancer, political activist and television personality on the show Winner Take All.

Berkley, Virginia

Peggy Hopkins Joyce (May 26, 1893–June 12, 1957), often-married Broadway actress and New York City socialite, was born in Berkley.

Broadway Theatre, Catford

Since 2001's production of Ben Elton's Popcorn the studio has hosted numerous productions including Cabaret, Trainspotting, A Clockwork Orange and their critically acclaimed take on Frank McGuinness's Someone Who'll Watch Over Me.

Charlie Bowman

At a Mountain City fiddlers' convention in May 1925, Bowman met Al Hopkins, who invited Bowman to join his band, the "Hill Billies." With Bowman on fiddle, the Hill Billies traveled to New York, where they recorded several sides for Vocalion and Brunswick and even played on Broadway.

Consumer Rapport

Vocals were by Frank Floyd, who was a pit singer in the Broadway musical The Wiz.

Daniel Nagrin

In addition to work as a modern dancer, Nagrin also performed on Broadway in Plain and Fancy, Up in Central Park, and Annie Get Your Gun, among other musicals.

Dick Kleiner

Kleiner wrote about Broadway for fifteen years, then switched to covering Hollywood in 1964.

Edward Buzzell

He appeared on Broadway, and was hired to star in the 1929 film version of George M. Cohan's Little Johnny Jones with Alice Day.

Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars

As an exploitation film tie in, Universal had the feature's title changed to Mars Attacks the World, and a week after the Welles broadcast, opened it at a Broadway theater as a major premiere event.

Ford Cougar 406

In 1963, the Cougar was used in Frederick Brisson's film version of his Broadway comedy hit "Under the Yum Yum Tree".

Giorgio Santelli

Santelli tirelessly and generously promoted fencing in all aspects, including stage choreography on Broadway (in productions of Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Peter Pan and many others) and providing free instruction to high school fencers.

Harold Orlob

Harold Orlob (3 June 1883 – 25 June 1982) was a native of Logan, Utah who became a major composer and lyricist for Broadway theatre productions.

Holly Cruikshank

She is known for her role as Brenda in the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp musical Movin' Out, and has also danced lead roles in two other Tony-award winning Broadway musicals: Fosse and Contact.

Hugo Winterhalter

At Kapp he recorded a handful of albums including The Best of '64 and its follow-up, The Big Hits of 1965, before leaving the label to work on Broadway.

Imogen Carpenter

Imogen Carpenter, born Mary Imogene Carpenter on February 2, 1912 in Hot Springs, Arkansas, died March 24, 1993 in Los Angeles California, was a musician, composer, music lecturer, and Broadway actress.

Ismael Cruz Córdova

Ismael Enrique Cruz Cordova (born April 7, 1987, Puerto Rico), known by his stage name Ismael Cruz Córdova is a Broadway, television, stage and film actor who gained national attention playing Mando on Sesame Street.

Jennifer Nettles

In an interview on Fox News with Martha MacCullum, Nettles expressed interest in appearing in a Broadway play, stating in particular that she would like to play the role of Elphaba in Wicked.

John Murray Anderson

He worked almost every genre of show business, including vaudeville, Broadway, and film.

Mari Yaguchi

From May 25, 2007 to June 6, 2007, Yaguchi performed in Damn Yankees, a popular 1955 Broadway musical, at the Tokyo Aoyama Theater.

Max Stafford-Clark

He returned to work and directed the production of The Overwhelming on Broadway in October 2007, as well as continuing to direct for Out of Joint.

Mick Gallagher

He has also written music for films such as Extremes (1971) and After Midnight (1990), also the Broadway play Serious Money (1988).

N'Versity

She later became a lead singer of a rock band as well as playing the role of young Nala in the Broadway edition of The Lion King.

Nobiz Like Shobiz

The horse was given the name Nobiz Like Shobiz by his show business owner Elizabeth J. Valando whose late husband Tommy Valando was a Broadway theatre producer and owner of an important music publishing business.

Northwest Vocal Project

They perform a wide variety of styles within a cappella music, including traditional barbershop, jazz, Broadway, and light classical.

Paree, Paree

Four of the songs in this short were first used in Porter's 1929 Broadway musical Fifty Million Frenchmen, then in the 1931 film adaptation of the same name, which was filmed in Technicolor.

Presidio Brass

The group's repertoire is made up of classical and commercial music transcriptions, including selections from composers Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and George Gershwin to popular songs from jazz legend Dave Brubeck, the rock band Queen and the Broadway smash hit, West Side Story.

Robert Shaw Chorale

During its existence the Robert Shaw Chorale became arguably the best-known and most widely-respected professional choral organization in the United States, with repertoire ranging from J.S. Bach to folk music and Broadway theatre tunes.

Rose McClendon

Rose McClendon born Rose Virginia Scott McClendon, (August 27, 1884 – July 12, 1936) was a leading African-American Broadway actress of the 1920s.

Sam Wooding

On 14 February 1934, Wooding and his orchestra were featured at The Apollo theater in Harlem in a Clarence Robinson production titled Chocolate Soldiers, starring the Broadway star Adelaide Hall.

Samuel E. Wright

Wright was nominated for a Tony Award in 1984 for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance in The Tap Dance Kid, and again in 1998 for Best Featured Actor in a Musical as the original lead actor for Mufasa in The Lion King, the Broadway version of Disney's animated classic of the same name.

Samuel M. Rubin

He managed concessions for several major movie theater chains and Broadway theatres, as well as several sports stadiums, Central Park, and the Empire State Building.

Siobhán Donaghy

In August 2007 she flew to New York to watch RENT on Broadway to get inspiration for her interpretation of her part.

Soul of Shaolin

Soul of Shaolin was a theatrical event presented on Broadway by Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment to coincide with the celebration of the Lunar New Year in January 2009.

Summer Shaw

Summer considered asking him to stay,before a heart-to-heart with Sarah,who asked her "what if you landed a part in a Broadway show?" "I'd ask him to come with me" "For him to drop everything to follow your dreams, when you wouldn't let him follow his?"

Tamanend

In 1794, Ann Julia Hatton's tremendously popular "Tammany: The Indian Chief" premiered on Broadway.

Terazije Theatre

Theatre on Terazije (Serbian: Позориште на Теразијама / Pozorište na Terazijama) is a Broadway-style theatre in the Terazije area of Belgrade, Serbia.

The Passions of Girls Aloud

Walsh then went to New York City to practice with a Broadway vocal coach, as well as a coach who helps her act through facial expressions and body language.

Theodor Mommsen

Fellow Nobel Laureate (1925) Bernard Shaw cited Mommsen's interpretation of the last First Consul of the Republic, Julius Caesar, as one of the inspirations for his 1898 (1905 on Broadway) play, Caesar and Cleopatra.

Tim Greening

In 2006, he reviewed a Britney Spears concert and declared it to have been more "like a big budget Broadway musical than a traditional pop concert."

Tony Meredith

Meredith has been behind the scenes as appearing in films, TV shows and Broadway, including feature film performances in Dance with Me, The Thomas Crown Affair, Let It Be Me and The Last Days of Disco.

WBQH

In addition, on Sunday afternoons at 1:00 p.m., Matinee at One played a complete Broadway show soundtrack with an explanation of the plot.


Angela Bettis

In addition to her work in film, Bettis also starred in two Broadway productions: The Father in 1996 with Frank Langella, and as Abigail Williams in a 1996 production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible alongside Liam Neeson and Laura Linney.

Bessie Griffin

She sang for a while with the Southern Harps, had her own radio show in New Orleans, and later appeared in night clubs, on Broadway and in 1962 on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Buff Cobb

In the 1960s, she and partners including Paul Vroom produced two Broadway shows: a revival of George Bernard Shaw's Too True to Be Good, which ran 94 performances and two previews at the 54th Street Theatre from March 9 to June 1, 1963; and Jerry Devine's Never Live Over a Pretzel Factory, which played nine performances and five previews from March 20 to April 4, 1964 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.

Carolina Brass

Carolina Brass performs a wide variety of music including Classical and Contemporary works, Medieval and Renaissance music, and pops programs encompassing Broadway, Jazz, Dixieland, Big Band, and other popular forms.

Carolyn George

She started her professional dance career in 1952 in Broadway musicals and joined New York City Ballet (NYCB) on its European tour that year in George Balanchine's Swan Lake.

Christopher, Jr.

It was featured on Broadway in October 7, 1895 at the Empire Theater, and starred Maude Adams.

Corey Reynolds

Corey Reynolds (born July 3, 1974) is an American musical theatre, television, and film actor known for originating the role of Seaweed in the Broadway adaptation of Hairspray, and for the TNT crime show The Closer.

Daily O'Collegian

Tom Heggen - Literary writer; his book Mister Roberts would go on to be a hit on Broadway, in addition to being adapted into a movie starring Henry Fonda

David Rapkin

Rapkin has designed sound on Broadway for Steaming by Nell Dunn, On Golden Pond by Ernest Thompson, The Curse Of An Aching Heart by William Alfred, The Wake Of Jamie Foster by Beth Henley and Off-Broadway for Playwrights Horizons and The Phoenix Theater.

Erminie

The Broadway, New York production was extraordinarily successful, opening at the Casino Theatre on 10 May 1886 and running for 571 performances.

Eugénie Fougère

The ‘audacious’ Fougère made her debut in the United States in 1893 at Broadway’s Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York.

Florence Mills

Mills became well-known as a result of her role in the successful Broadway musical Shuffle Along (1921) at Daly's 63rd Street Theatre (barely on Broadway), one of the events credited with beginning the Harlem Renaissance, as well acclaimed reviews in London, Paris, Ostend, Liverpool, and other European venues.

Fly So Free

A grandson of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Damascus, Fly So Free was owned by New York City Broadway theatre producer and music publishing company owner Tommy Valando and his wife Elizabeth.

Franz Allers

He is best known for his work on Broadway, and especially for conducting the original Broadway productions of My Fair Lady and Camelot, for each of which he won the Tony Award for Best Conductor and Musical Director, in 1957 and 1961.

Gavin Lee

Gavin Lee (born 15 October 1971) is an English actor who starred as Bert on Broadway in the musical Mary Poppins.

Graciela Rivera

In 1945, she was given the role of Adele in the musical "Rosalinda", a Broadway version of Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus.

Helen Lawson

Lawson is described as having been a very successful Broadway star for many years (Lawson is said to be based on the real-life Broadway actress Ethel Merman).

Here's Love

The Broadway production, directed by Stuart Ostrow and choreographed by Michael Kidd, opened on October 3, 1963 at the Shubert Theatre, and closed on July 25, 1964 after 334 performances and 2 previews.

Howard Rollins

In 1974, he moved to New York where he went on to appear in the Broadway productions of We Interrupt This Program..., in 1975, The Mighty Gents in 1978, and G. R. Point in 1979.

I'm in Love Again

Due to LaBelle's work in musical theatre, including the Broadway play, Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf and Working, as well as filming her role on the film, A Soldier's Story, which halted the second album's production.

Ira Gershwin

With George he wrote more than a dozen Broadway shows, featuring songs such as "I Got Rhythm", "Embraceable You", "The Man I Love" and "Someone to Watch Over Me".

John C. Rice

John C. Rice (ca. 1858, Sullivan County, New York – June 5, 1915, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American born Broadway stage actor who is credited with performing the first onscreen kiss with May Irwin in 1896 for the Thomas Edison film company film The Kiss.

John Heilpern

He has also worked as Peter Hall’s assistant director on Tamburlaine at the National Theatre of Great Britain in 1976, and when he went to live in New York in 1980, he subsequently worked on Broadway as a librettist for Michael Bennett (of A Chorus Line).

John Pascal

His works included collaboration on the book for the Broadway musical George M!, which was also released on NBC, and on scripts for the ABC Daytime soap opera The Young Marrieds.

Julissa

She began acting and producing in theatre, and is now one of Mexico's leading theatre producers and importing Broadway shows such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Pippin and many others.

Lauren Lucas

Lucas also contributed to the Broadway adaptation of the film Urban Cowboy, and one of her cuts for the play was nominated for a Tony award.

Louis Aldrich

On September 11, 1888, he produced The Kaffir Diamond (based on She by Rider Haggard) at the new Broadway Theatre in New York, and two years later starred in The Editor.

Maria Golovin

Its first performance was at the International Exposition Pavilion Theater at Expo '58 in Brussels on 20 August 1958. Later that year, David Merrick and the NBC Opera mounted a Broadway production billed as a "musical drama."

Mary Testa

She returned to Broadway in July, 2007 in the musical-theater remake of the 1980 film Xanadu for which she received a Drama Desk Award nomination.

Meg Giry

Elisa Heinsohn (opening cast), Catherine Ulissey, Tener Brown, Geralyn Del Corso, Jennifer Dawn Stillings, Joelle Gates, Heather McFadden, and Kara Klein in Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical.

Moroni Olsen

After having worked on Broadway he made his film debut in a 1935 adaptation of The Three Musketeers.

Part of Your World

Originally recorded by American actress and singer Jodi Benson in her film role as Ariel, "Part of Your World" is a Broadway-style ballad in which the film's heroine, a mermaid, expresses her desire to become human.

Paul Dietzel

During the first game of the 1968 season, Dietzel heard the school's band play the Broadway show tune "Step to the Rear" and decided that it should be the school's new fight song, and proceeded to write a new set of lyrics to the tune.

Peter Feller

Peter Feller is a Tony Award winning American theatrical set builder who worked primarily on Broadway.

Ralph Morgan

Ralph Morgan was married to Georgiana Louise Iverson, who as a stage actress was known as Grace Arnold, although he called her "Daisy" and was the father of Claudia Morgan (1911–1974), an actress best known for creating the role of Vera Claythorne on Broadway in the original production of Ten Little Indians, and for her portrayal of Nora Charles on the radio series The Thin Man.

Ray Fulmer

Fulmer first began on Broadway with a role in Auntie Mame, co-starring with a number of different actresses in the lead role, including Rosalind Russell, Greer Garson, Beatrice Lillie and Eve Arden.

Raymond Bailey

He appeared in four Broadway plays, as Howard Haines in Last Stop (1944), playing an unknown man in The Bat (1953), A.J. Alexander in Sing Till Tomorrow (1953), and Captain Randolph Southard in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1954–1955), which starred Henry Fonda.

Ricardo Barretto

He also produced and directed a Neil Simon Broadway comedy with major TV talent, and was part of the team that developed the first sitcom project in Brazil, directed by Debbie Allen.

The Last Warning

It was adapted from the 1922 Broadway melodrama mystery The Last Warning written by Thomas F. Fallon based on the story The House of Fear by Wadsworth Camp, the father of the writer Madeleine L'Engle.

The Mary Tyler Moore Hour

Moore announced plans to return in a new sitcom in the fall of 1980, but instead turned to Broadway, where she starred in a revival of Whose Life Is It Anyway? (winning a special 1980 Tony Award for her performance of a role originally played by Tom Conti), and then went back to Hollywood, where she played the emotionally crippled mother in the acclaimed film Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford.

Toronto Centre for the Arts

Prior to Jersey Boys, the facility was the home of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Sunset Boulevard and a 1993 production of Show Boat that transferred to Broadway.

Two on the Aisle

The project marked Comden and Green's return to Broadway following their successful reign at MGM (where they penned the classic Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon, among others) and their first teaming with composer Styne.

Uptown... It's Hot!

It's Hot! was a 1986 Broadway play created, directed, choreographed by and starring Maurice Hines.

William Pierson

Pierson, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York originally played the role of Marko in the original Broadway production of Stalag 17, and was tapped by director Billy Wilder for the role in the 1953 motion picture production.

Zvi Kolitz

He later moved to the United States and was co-producer of Rolf Hochhuth's The Deputy, one of the first plays to challenge the Vatican's silence during the Holocaust, which ran on Broadway, amid considerable controversy, for nine months in 1964.