CATS

RENT

YIP YIP YAPHANK

GUYS AND DOLLS ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1919

OUR TOWN

FIDDLER ON THE ROOFANYTHING GOES

WEST SIDE STORY

LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHTSPRING AWAKENING

SWEENEY TODD

PETER PAN

THE MIRACLE WORKER

THE ADDING MACHINEA STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

PYGMALIONH.M.S. PINAFORE

GYPSY

MY FAIR LADY THE LION KING

NAUGHTY MARIETTA

ANGELS IN AMERICA

DEATH OF A SALESMAN

PICNIC

THE ICEMAN COMETH

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION

A CHORUS LINEFENCES

LES MISÉRABLES

THE BOOK OF MORMON

EVITA

SHOW BOAT

WAITING FOR

GODOT

THE SOUND OF MUSIC

PIPPINSIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION

THE ODD COUPLE

THE MUSIC MAN THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK

A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

THE GLASS MENAGERIE

THE GLASS MENAGERIE

OKLAHOMA!

ANNIE

HAIR

DOUBT

THE PERSECUTION AND ASSASSINATION OF JEAN-PAUL MARAT AS PERFORMED BY THE INMATES OF THE ASYLUM O F C H A R E N TO N U N D E R TH E DIRECTION OF THE MARQUIS DE SADE

Eric Grode

ISBN: 978-0-7603-4562-7

EAN

$50.00 US / £35.00 UK / $55.00 CAN

Grode

ThE

BOOK

OF

thE 15o dEfiNiTivE

PlaYs and MusicAlsthE 15o dEfiNiTivE

PlaYs and MusicAls

The 150 best , biggest , most inf luential , and most fascinating Broadway shows ever produced.

R a re cove r ag e o f t he p lays t ha t shap e d B road way.

Cr i t i c a n d j o u r n a l i s t E r i c G r o d e h a s r e p o r t e d o n m a n y of the shows over his career, taking him into the rehearsal rooms, down to the orchest r a p i t s , a nd b e h i nd t he s ce ne s a t ma ny o f t he fea t u r e d t h e a t e r s .

D i s c o v e r l i t t l e - k n o w n g e m s a n d c e l e b r a t e b e l o v e d c l a s s i c s — i n c l u d i n g t h o s e o f t h e t w e n t y - f i r s t c e n t u r y.

Spanning the 1850s to the present , in A- to-Z format to al low fun discover ies along the way.

Fi l led with fascinating history, anecdotes , and explanations of why these shows had the inf luence they did.

With more than 300 color and black-and-white photographs

ThE BOOK OF

thE 15o dEfiNiTivE

PlaYs and MusicAls

Eric Grode

thE 15o dEfiNiTivE

PlaYs and MusicAls

ThE BOOK OFThE BOOK OF

thE 15o dEfiNiTivE

PlaYs and MusicAls

First published in 2015 by Voyageur Press, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc., 400 First Avenue North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA

© 2015 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc.Text © 2015 Eric Grode

All photographs are courtesy Photofest unless noted otherwise. Photofest is a New York–based photo archive with over two million images, including extensive performing arts collections from more than a century of American theater.

All rights reserved. With the exception of quoting brief passages for the purposes of review, no part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the Publisher.

The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without any guarantee on the part of the author or Publisher, who also disclaims any liability incurred in connection with the use of this data or specific details.

We recognize, further, that some words, model names, and designations mentioned herein are the property of the trademark holder. We use them for identification purposes only. This is not an official publication.

Voyageur Press titles are also available at discounts in bulk quantity for industrial or sales-promotional use. For details write to Special Sales Manager at Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc., 400 First Avenue North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA.To find out more about our books, visit us online at www.voyageurpress.com.

ISBN: 978-0-7603-4562-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Grode, Eric. The book of Broadway : the 150 definitive plays and musicals / Eric Grode. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7603-4562-7 (hc) 1. Theater--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century. 2. American drama--20th century--History and criticism. 3. Musicals--New York (State)--New York--History and criticism. I. Title. PN2277.N5G75 2015 792.09747’10904--dc23 2015001991

Editor: Grace LabattProject Manager: Caitlin FultzArt Director: James KegleyLayout: Diana Boger

Cover image: Broadway at Night by Larry NicosiaTitle page: Sandra Church as Louise in Gypsy, which debuted in 1959.

Dedication: The marquee for the original production of South Pacific, which ran on Broadway from 1949 to 1954.

Printed in China

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To B , J , a nd E , w iTh a ll my lovE .

CONTENTSi nTroducTion

9

a B i E ’ s i r i sh rosE 10

ThE add i ng machi nE

1 2

amadEus 14

angEl sTrEET 16

angEls i n amEr ica 18

ann i E 20

ann i E gET your gun

22

anyThi ng goEs 24

a rcad ia 26

as Thousands chEEr

28

awakE and s i ng! 30

Ba BEs i n a rms 32

ThE Band wagon 3 4

ThE BEa uTy QuEEn of lEEnanE

36

ThE B lack crook 38

ThE Book of mormon

40

Born yEsTErday 42

B r igadoon 4 4

Bus sTop 4 6

ByE ByE B i rd i E 4 8

caBa rET 50

capTa i n J i n ks of ThE horsE ma r i nEs

52

ThE carETakEr 5 4

carousE l 56

caT on a hoT T i n roof

58

caTs 60

charlEy ’ s a unT 62

chicago 6 4

ThE chi ldrEn ’ s hour

66

a chorus l i nE 68

c iTy of angEls 70

clyBournE pa rk 72

company 74

ThE cruc i B lE 76

dEaTh of a sa lEsman

78

a dE l icaTE Ba lancE 80

ThE d ia ry of annE frank

82

d i nnEr aT E ighT 8 4

a doll’ s housE 86

douBT 88

EasT lynnE

90

Ev iTa 92

fa lsETTos 9 4

fEncEs 96

f i dd lEr on ThE roof

98

f i n ia n ’ s ra i n Bow 100

foll i Es 102

ThE fronT pagE 10 4

gi r l crazy 106

ThE glass mEnagEr i E

108

glEngarry glEn ross

1 10

grEasE 1 1 2

guys and dolls 1 14

gypsy 1 16

ha i r 1 18

harvEy 1 20

ThE hE i rEss 1 22

hEllo, dolly! 1 24

h.m . s . p i na forE 1 26

ThE homEcom i ng 1 28

how To succEEd i n Bus i nEss

w iThouT rEa lly Try i ng

1 30

ThE icEman comETh

1 32

ThE i m porTancE of BE i ng Ea rnEsT

1 3 4

i n dahomEy

1 36

i nhEr iT ThE w i nd 1 38

JE rsEy Boys 140

JEsus chr i sT su pErsTa r

142

JoE Tu rnEr ’ s comE and gonE

14 4

J u no and ThE paycock

14 6

ThE k i ng and i 14 8

k i ss mE , kaTE 1 50

la dy i n ThE da rk 1 52

lEs m i séra B lEs 1 5 4

ThE l i fE and advEnTu rEs of

n icholas n icklE By 1 56

l i fE w iTh faThEr 1 58

ThE l ion k i ng 160

l iTTlE Johnny JonEs

16 4

a l iTTlE n ighT mus ic

166

long day ’ s JournEy i nTo

n ighT 168

look Back i n angEr

170

looT 172

a man for a ll sEasons

174

man of la mancha 176

“masTEr ha rold”. . .

and ThE Boys 178

ThE mErry w i dow 180

mETamorphosEs 182

ThE m i raclE workEr

18 4

a moon for ThE m i s BEgoTTEn

186

ThE mosT ha ppy fE lla

188

mrs . warrEn ’ s profEss ion

190

ThE mu ll igan gua rds’ Ba ll

192

ThE mus ic man 19 4

my fa i r la dy 196

naughTy mar i ETTa 198

no, no, nanETTE 200

noi sEs off 202

ThE odd couplE 20 4

of ThEE i s i ng 206

oh, Boy! 208

oklahoma ! 210

on ThE Town 21 2

our Town 214

pa l JoEy 216

9

ThE pErsEcuT ion and assass i naT ion

of JEan- pau l ma raT as

pErformEd By ThE i nmaTEs

of ThE asylum of charEnTon undEr

ThE d i rEcT ion of ThE marQu i s

dE sadE 218

pETEr pan (play) 220

pETEr pan (mus ica l)

222

ThE phanTom of ThE opEra

224

ThE ph i la dE lph ia sTory

226

p icn ic 228

p i p p i n 230

ThE p i raTEs of pEnzancE

23 4

ThE playBoy of ThE wEsTErn

world 236

porgy and BEss 238

pr ivaTE l ivEs 240

ThE producErs 242

prom i sEs , prom i sEs 24 4

pygma l ion 24 6

ragTimE 24 8

a ra i s i n i n ThE sun 250

rEnT 252

rosEncranTz and gu i ldEnsTErn

a rE dEad 25 4

1776 256

shE lovEs mE 258

show BoaT 260

ThE show-off 262

shu fflE a long 26 4

s ix dEgrEEs of sEpa raT ion

266

ThE sk i n of our TEETh

268

s lEuTh 270

ThE sound of mus ic

272

souTh pac i f ic 274

spr i ng awakEn i ng 276

a sTrEETcar namEd dEs i rE

278

ThE sTudEnT pr i ncE i n

hE i dE lBErg 280

swEEnEy Todd 282

ThE T i mE of your l i fE

28 4

ToBacco road 286

Torch song Tr i logy

288

a Tr i p To chi naTown

290

unclE Tom ’ s ca B i n 292

vEry good Edd i E 29 4

wa iT i ng for godoT

296

wa iT i ng for lEfTy 298

waTch your sTEp 300

wEsT s i dE sTory 302

who’ s a fra i d of v i rg i n ia woolf?

30 4

wickEd 306

yi p y i p ya phank 308

you can ’T TakE iT w iTh you

310

z i EgfE ld foll i Es of 1919

31 2

acknowlEdgmEnTs 314

B i B l iogra phy 314

i n dEx 316

a BouT ThE a uThor

320

The use of the word definitive in selecting the 150 plays and musicals in this book allows for a certain amount

of solipsism. Why are these particular works definitive? Because I defined them as definitive.

Choosing these shows in earnest couldn’t really begin until the parameters had been set. A list of the 150 greatest Broadway shows would look very different from a list of the 150 biggest Broadway shows. A quick cut-and-paste from Wikipedia would determine the 150 most popular shows, although that list would be egregiously skewed toward contemporary theater (and egregious on several other levels). But the smash hits both past and present have played an enormous role in defining Broadway for the creators who operated in their shadow, as well as for paying customers. Long runs certainly played a role in my logic, but so did inherent quality, which is as subjective a notion as any show’s number of performances is objective.

The changing economy of Broadway also played a role. Bear in mind that live theater had essentially no competition from radio or film for the first fifty years covered here, which affected the intersection of commerce and art in any number of ways. The idea of a nonprofit theater would have been ludicrous in 1905. (These days, plenty of jaded theater professionals would be no less dumbfounded at the idea of a for-profit theater.) The concept of art for art’s sake didn’t surface on the Broadway stage until about the 1960s, and I tried to consider this switch as I assessed works from before then.

The biggest hurdle was off-Broadway. A trend has surfaced in recent years of what I think of as semi-canonical plays reaching Broadway after having debuted years earlier off-Broadway, and I grappled with what to do with these late entries. It took twenty-six and sixteen years, respectively, before Top Girls and Hedwig and the Angry Inch made it uptown, and Sam Shepard’s Broadway credentials consist mostly of decades-old transfers. Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls might be my favorite play from the twentieth century, but if it qualifies, then why not Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens, which didn’t grace a Broadway stage until 1993? So I decided, with a heavy heart, to confine the candidates to

those that made the transfer more or less directly from their off-Broadway incarnations.

This criterion also pertained to plays traveling from around the world—in order to be considered, a show’s Broadway debut had to have come in fairly close proximity to its premiere. That is why the likes of Shakespeare and Chekhov (whose first Broadway production didn’t occur until more than a decade after his death) are absent. If any of the great pre–Broadway era works were fair game, Shakespeare alone would gobble up more than 20 percent of the book! Shaw, Ibsen, and Wilde happened to be in the right place at the right time, at least for the purposes of this book. (Given Wilde’s unconscionable legal troubles, being born a century later might have been a blessing. Also, can you imagine what his Twitter feed would be like?)

As I debated these shows ad nauseum with a group of peers, the question of “children” frequently came up. How different did Broadway pre–Show X look from Broadway post–Show X? This worked to the advantage of nearly all of the smash hits, as I mentioned above, but also to that of many of the playwrights featured in these pages. Though several of their works ran for just a few weeks, their words and ideas reverberate a century later in the plays of many others.

And then there are the ones that made the list for the reason that every child vows they will never give as a parent, and that every parent eventually gives: because I said so.

The result was a fairly grueling winnowing process. I originally scribbled down some 350 contenders, then hacked my way—with a minimum of teeth-gnashing—to just under 200. That’s when it got tough. Two or three titles were demoted near the end in the course of writing the book, as I’d pore over the texts and realize that they just didn’t hold up the way I had remembered them. (And no, I’m not saying which entries crept in as a result, let alone which ones slipped out.)

All of this is to say that your list of 150 might look very different from mine. Let the arguments begin.

introduction

19

18

William M. Hoffman’s As Is, Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart—focused on a ripped-from-the-headlines approach. Playwrights began to sidle up to the material later in the decade through more indirect methods, as when Craig Lucas wrestled with the physical decline of a loved one in Prelude to a Kiss or Paula Vogel eulogized her deceased brother by coining the new Acquired Toilet Disease (ATD) in The Baltimore Waltz.

Then came Angels.As the subtitle made clear, Tony Kushner was neither

ripping from any headlines nor being coy about anything. No, this was seven hours of poetic, graphic, fanciful, cerebral, mind-blowing theater over two evenings—a panoramic synthesis of Walt Whitman, Walter Benjamin, Charles Ludlam, and especially Bertolt Brecht. First in Millennium Approaches and then in its continuation, Perestroika, Kushner pinwheeled from the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg saying Kaddish over the detestable Roy Cohn to a pitiably gaunt, lesion-covered Prior Walter cracking wise over the arrival of an angel to Prior’s tormented ex-lover spilling forth page upon page of defensive/self-scouring/obfuscating text after leaving him.

The results commandeered national attention in a way that a nonmusical play had not done in decades. Thirty-six-year-old Kushner instantly became an American George Bernard Shaw—Shaw’s Heartbreak House was subtitled “A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes,” something Kushner claims not to have known

when he named his play—and an entire generation of theater performers began their ascent under the wings of Angels. Jeffrey Wright, Kathleen Chalfant, and replacement performer Cherry Jones all became New York acting royalty, while costars David Marshall Grant and Ellen McLaughlin would begin playwriting careers of their own. Joe Mantello, meanwhile, would soon make a name for himself as one of Broadway’s most dependable directors.

Belize, the flamboyant hospital orderly, describes heaven to a dying Roy Cohn as a place where “race, taste, and history finally overcome.” In his sublime gay fantasia, Kushner came astonishingly close to creating just such a place on stage.

LEFT: ron Leibman played roy Cohn, a ruthless lawyer who, after contracting HIV, insists he is succumbing to liver cancer. The real-life Cohn was an aide to Senator Joseph McCarthy. © Joan Marcus

OPPOSITE PAGE: Stephen Spinella (Prior Walter) and Ellen McLaughlin (the Angel) in the original Broadway production. © Joan Marcus

Angels in America A Gay Fantasia on National Themes

By Tony kushnEr

daTEs:May 4, 1993–December 4, 1994 at the Walter Kerr Theater (584 combined performances of its two plays, Millennium Approaches and Perestroika)

synopsis:Where to begin? Mormons, former drag queens, Valium-addicted wives, closeted McCarthyists, and a long-dead Ethel Rosenberg converge in 1980s New York City, all imperiled in different ways by the AIDS virus.

awards:7 Tony Awards combined; Pulitzer Prize

noTEd rEvivals and adapTaTions:TV miniseries in 2003

original sTars:Stephen Spinella, Ron Leibman, Joe Mantello, Jeffrey Wright

Turning tragedy into art takes time: after almost fifteen years, the great 9/11 play has yet to be written,

while the most affecting wartime narratives never seem to be about the most recent war.

So even as AIDS ravaged the New York theater community as irreparably as it did any individual group in the 1980s, the central theater works from that time—

79

78

As far back as Aristotle, stage tragedy was defined as a character being undone by his

or her own greatness: the very qualities that make protagonists tower over the rest of humanity also bring them crashing down. This conceit stemmed

from the fact that the gods were even greater, of course. Even so, it seemed like those characters were

closer in stature to the punishing deities than to their fellow humans.But what if the protagonist wasn’t so high in the first place? What if you took a man and

made him downright low? Willy Loman, the title character of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, is a mass of

tragic flaws. He’s grandiose, petty, and vindictive, a philanderer, and a blowhard. He is also, miraculously, one of the grandest characters ever to trudge across a Broadway stage. All of King Lear’s troubles—and I do not find it a stretch to call Willy the Lear of our time—stem from his insistence on being not just appreciated but exclusively, all-consumingly loved. Willy Loman dismisses another character as being “liked . . . but not well liked”; as the audience soon realizes, several heartbreaking beats before Willy himself does, he is really talking about himself.

Miller’s original plan was to write Salesman as a one-man drama named The Inside of His Head, and that’s essentially where Elia Kazan—with considerable help from a

creative team that included set and lighting designer Jo Mielziner—set the play, in a dazzling kitchen-sink-meets-the-cosmos conception. That head is a wonderful place to be. It is at once mesmerizing and infuriating, and it has attracted the likes of Dustin Hoffman, George C. Scott, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. (And that’s not even mentioning the phenomenal performers who have tackled the roles of Willy’s long-suffering wife Linda and tormented son Biff.) It’s widely acknowledged that actors like to make sure they play Hamlet before they’re too old, and then stick around the stage long enough for Lear. Between that prince and that king, a sixty-three-year-old traveling salesman from Brooklyn is waiting for them.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Mildred Dunnock (Linda Loman), Arthur Kennedy (Biff), Cameron Mitchell (Happy), and Lee J. Cobb (Willy Loman) in the original production.

BELOW: Jo Mielziner’s groundbreaking set did away with solid boundaries, creating a skeletal space dwarfed by the apartment buildings looming in the background.

Death of a Salesman

By a rThu r m i l lE r

daTEs:February 10, 1949–November 18, 1950 at the Morosco Theater (742 performances)

synopsis:After thirty-four years on the road, Willy Loman is slowing down. He basks in the glow of his two sons, refusing to acknowledge how damaged they are; suffers multiple indignities at work; and lashes out at anyone who tries to help him. Only a $20,000 insurance policy offers hope for the rest of the family.

awards:6 Tony Awards; Pulitzer Prize

noTEd rEvivals and adapTaTions:Broadway revivals in 1975, 1984, 1999, and 2012; movie version in 1951; TV versions in 1966, 1985, and 2000

original sTars:Lee J. Cobb, Mildred Dunnock, Arthur Kennedy, Cameron Mitchell

160

161

It’s easy to forget now, but there was a time not that long ago when the prospect of adapting Disney movies for

Broadway was a novel one. The company kicked things off with a workmanlike Beauty and the Beast that was directed by a theme-park veteran and had kids fidgeting on the few occasions when it deviated from the film’s screenplay. Still, it made pots of money, and Disney had no real incentive to tamper with the formula. Then came The Lion King.

Handing director Julie Taymor the beloved property and, essentially, a blank check was a huge gamble for

the company, which also sunk tens of millions of dollars into refurbishing an old Ziegfeld palace called the New Amsterdam Theater for the show. Taymor had an avid following among the downtown theater scene, thanks to puppet-heavy pieces like the magic-realist “carnival mass” Juan Darién, but The Lion King was several degrees of magnitude bigger. Although the studio famously referred to the property as “Hamlet with fur,” not even Shakespeare got around to murdering a lead character in an onstage wildebeest stampede.

Her solution involved a beguiling mix of modern technology and centuries-old puppetry styles. (She was also one of five composers and lyricists entrusted with fleshing out Elton John and Tim Rice’s sparse but adequate film score.) Taymor flooded the stage, the aisles, and the balconies with stunning visuals, and even that stampede went off without a hitch.

One of Broadway’s unlikelier collaborations was a booming success: The Lion King has earned more than $5 billion, more than the first six Star Wars films combined, and in 2014 it surpassed The Phantom of the Opera to become the biggest-selling musical in history. Believe it or not, though, the dividends should be even greater in the decades to come. Any kid who gets his or her first exposure to theater through The Lion King should be hooked for life.

The Lion King

by e lton John , t i m r ice , roger a llers , anD i rene mecchi

Above: Director Julie Taymor also designed The Lion King’s costumes and, with Michael Curry, its puppets and masks. Richard Hudson was set designer. © Disney Theatrical Productions, Joan Marcus

oPPoSiTe PAge: The Lion King transferred to the Minskoff Theater nine years into its run. ValeStock, Shutterstock.com

NexT PAge:“The Circle of Life,” The Lion King’s opening number, composed by Elton John with lyrics by Tim Rice. © Disney Theatrical Productions, Joan Marcus

Dates:Opened October 15, 1997 at the New Amsterdam Theater; now at the Minskoff Theater (7,160 performances as of February 1, 2015)

synopsis:Lion cub Simba learns about responsibility and the circle of life with the help of a loving father, a wiseacre meerkat, and a flatulent warthog.

awarDs:6 Tony Awards

noteD revivals anD aDaptations:None

original stars:Jason Raize, Samuel E. Wright, John Vickery, Tsidii Le Loka, Max Casella, Tom Alan Robbins

228

229

Despite winning Inge a Pulitzer Prize and spawning a hit 1955 film, Picnic never quite sat right with its author. Director Joshua Logan had pushed a fair number of changes during the original production, notably by having Madge chase hunky Hal out of town. Inge went back to his original text and created something rare for Broadway: a do-over of something that didn’t need to be redone. Summer Brave opened on Broadway in 1975, two years after Inge’s death, and closed fourteen performances later.

While Inge was conspiring to keep his protagonists apart, the understudies were forging their own connection. Paul Newman lobbied hard for the role of Hal, but Logan didn’t think he was tall enough. So Ralph Meeker got the part, and Newman began his Picnic life as first the newspaper boy Bomber and then Madge’s level-headed boyfriend Alan before finally becoming Meeker’s understudy. Along the way, he met Janice Rule’s understudy for the role of Madge—Joanne Woodward. It was another five years before Newman and Woodward got together for good, but that time they stayed together for fifty years.

Dates:February 19, 1953–April 10, 1954 at the Music Box Theater (477 performances)

synopsis:A handsome stranger rocks a small Kansas town—and particularly a handful of its women—over Labor Day weekend.

awarDs:2 Tony Awards

noteD revivals anD aDaptations:Broadway revivals in 1994 and 2013; movie version in 1955; TV versions in 1986 and 2000

original stars:Ralph Meeker, Janice Rule, Kim Stanley, Peggy Conklin, Paul Newman

Picnic by w i ll iaM i nge

William Inge spent more than a quarter of a century thinking about Picnic—or, as it was called at various times, Summer Brave, Front Porch, The Man in Boots, and

Women in Summer. It is this last title that speaks most decisively to Inge’s empathic gifts: though Picnic may be remembered as the play that (eventually) vaulted Paul Newman into stardom, it is really about the women who exist in an uneasy orbit around Hal Carter, the handsome diving champion who floats in and out of their sleepy Kansas town. And with apologies to Edward Albee and to Inge’s early champion Tennessee Williams, Inge may have written better roles for women than any other male playwright.

Better, but not always happier. Every woman in Picnic is lonely. Tomboyish Millie Owens doesn’t have a date to the neighborhood picnic; her beautiful sister, Madge, tolerates her well-heeled boyfriend but desires Hal; their widowed mother, Flo, ran away with a man like Hal in her youth and lived to regret it. And then there’s Rosemary, their alcoholic spinster—she prefers the word “independent”—of a boarder.

aBOVe: From left, arthur O’Connell, eileen Heckart, Ralph Meeker, Betty Lou Holland, Janice Rule, peggy Conklin, paul Newman (in his Broadway debut), and Ruth McDevitt in Picnic, 1953.

OppOsite page: Meeker (Hal Carter) and Rule (Madge Owens).

266

267

affluent New York families and . . . what, exactly? He doesn’t steal anything or hurt anybody, at least not consciously. He just sort of floats and mingles and absorbs. It is this non-mercenary tendency that seems to rattle the characters as much as the scam itself.

The plot device is as old as the Greeks: low-born trickster finagles his way into the rarefied precincts of the wealthy, exposing their hypocrisies and weaknesses in the process. But Guare infused the idea with an aggressively modern litany of cultural references, from Donald Barthelme to Starlight Express. (Many shows in this book pay homage to other plays or musicals, but none as wickedly as Six Degrees does with Cats.) The play’s torn-from-the-society-page-headlines immediacy ended up generating its own headlines. Guare, who wrote the play

after reading about a real-life Paul type, became embroiled in a legal dispute when the actual scammer wanted a cut of the Six Degrees profits.

Six Degrees has earned a reputation as the theatrical corollary to The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe’s gimlet-eyed 1987 look at race and resentment in 1980s New York. Yet Guare takes a far more empathic, even loving approach. His characters want more out of life, and for all of their ethical and interpersonal blind spots, they deserve it. (Well, maybe not the victims’ hilariously loathsome children.) The only way they’ll be able to achieve this, it seems, is by connecting. SixDegrees.com and its successors have made it both much easier and much harder to do so, a paradox that Guare almost appears to have anticipated. The smartest play of its generation turned out to be the wisest one, too.

OppOsite page: stockard Channing and James McDaniel (a replacement for Courtney B. Vance) in the original production of Six Degrees of Separation.

RigHt: David Hampton presented himself as the son of sidney poitier in real life as part of a money-making con. Kimberly Butler, The LIFE Images Collection, Getty Images

Dates:November 8, 1990–January 5, 1992 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (485 performances)

synopsis:Sidney Poitier’s brilliant son winds up at the Upper East Side doorstep of Ouisa and Flan Kitteredge, promising mystery, cachet, and maybe even small parts in the movie version of Cats. His unmasking as a fraud leads Ouisa and her peers to question Paul’s—and, by extension, their—true identity.

awarDs:1 Tony Award

noteD revivals anD aDaptations:Movie version in 1993

original stars:Stockard Channing, Courtney B. Vance, John Cunningham

Six Degrees of Separation

by John guare

Back in 1997, when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was still a preteen, the social network SixDegrees.com promised to shrink the world. Its title was a riff on the notion

that only six mutual connections separate each human being from every other person on the planet. That notion had been circulating for decades, but it took John Guare’s exquisite snapshot of moneyed New York City to sear it into the popular consciousness. It was an idea that was both comforting and unsettling.

In Six Degrees of Separation, Paul, a well-spoken young black man—later iterations of racial condescension would classify him as “articulate”—ingratiates himself with various

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Whatever the case, the response was better when Lahr brought Godot to Broadway three months later with a new costar (E. G. Marshall), a new director, and a new tagline: “Wanted: 70,000 Playgoing Intellectuals.”

Book upon book has been written about virtually every aspect of Waiting for Godot, though not by Beckett, who memorably said, “Why people have to complicate a thing so simple I can’t make out.” But complicate it they do, with vigorous discussions about everything from theological underpinnings to Jungian archetypes to the pronunciation of the unseen title character (GOD-oh or Gu-DOH). What you won’t find is much on the various revolutionary stagings of the play—because there haven’t been many. Beckett kept productions on an extremely tight leash in

terms of casting and modifications to the text, and his estate has followed suit. (He banned all productions of his works in the Netherlands after the courts there permitted an all-female Godot.)

Nonetheless, “habit is a great deadener,” as Vladimir puts it near the end of the play, and directors keep finding their own ways into this gloriously austere work. One of the highlights of my theatergoing lifetime was a Classical Theater of Harlem production of Godot, in which Vladimir and Estragon found themselves on a New Orleans rooftop, surrounded on all sides by the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina. “GODOT” had been scribbled in desperately large letters on the roof, in case he might come by helicopter. Not one word of the text was modified. It didn’t need to be.

LeFt: Robin Williams (estragon) and steve Martin (Vladimir) starred in a 1988 revival at the Mitzi e. Newhouse theater at Lincoln Center, directed by Mike Nichols.

OppOsite page: Bert Lahr (left, as estragon) and e. g. Marshall (Vladimir) in the original Broadway production, 1956. Herbert Berghof (founder of New York’s preeminent acting school the HB studio) directed.

Dates:April 19–June 9, 1956 at the John Golden Theater (60 performances)

synopsis:Vladimir and Estragon meet near a tree. They wait for Godot. And wait.

awarDs:None, unless you count topping the Royal National Theater’s list of the most significant English-language plays of the twentieth century

noteD revivals anD aDaptations:Broadway revivals in 1957, 2009, and 2013; TV versions in 1961, 1977, and 2001

original stars:Bert Lahr, E. G. Marshall, Alvin Epstein, Kurt Kasznar

Waiting for Godot

by saMue l becKett

It has become conventional wisdom among a certain, rather superior set that Florida’s reputation as a hotbed of experimental theater was forever put to rest on January 3, 1956.

That was the night when Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot made its US premiere at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, fresh from a controversial opening in London the year before. (“I haven’t really the foggiest idea what some of it means,” the London director, Peter Hall, had sheepishly told his cast during rehearsals.) The response was, shall we say, muted. Or rather, it grew increasingly muted as more than half of the opening-night audience left before intermission.

Perhaps the blame might be better laid at the feet of the Coconut Grove’s marketing department. If you were promised, as that first audience was, “the laugh sensation of two continents,” featuring the Cowardly Lion himself (Bert Lahr) and the guy who ogled Marilyn Monroe on that subway grate (Tom Ewell), wouldn’t you have a certain set of expectations? Ones that might not have correlated with the sight of two hobos wrestling—possibly for eternity—with the most existentially profound questions ever put on a stage?

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AcknowledgmentsWarm thanks to Ken Bloom, Gerald Bordman, Linda Buchwald, Garrett Eisler, Elizabeth Harre, John Kenrick, Robert Kimball, Ken Mandelbaum, Eric Rayman, Steven Suskin, Frank Vlastnik, and especially John Pike, whose knowledge and insight proved invaluable several steps along the way.

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Bus Stop, 46–47Bye Bye Birdie, 48–49, 117

cCabaret, 50–51Cagney, James, 165Caldwell, Erskine, 286–287Calin, Mickey, 303Callan, William, 174–175Cameron, Beatrice, 87Camino Real, 58Campbell, Mrs. Patrick, 246, 247Candide, 117Cantor, Eddie, 313Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines,

52–53The Caretaker, 54–55Cariou, Len, 167, 282Carney, Art, 204 , 205Carnovsky, Morris, 30, 31, 31Carousel, 44, 56–57Carroll, Leo J., 17, 17Carroll, Ronn, 244Cassidy, Jack, 259Castle, Irene, 300, 301Castle, Vernon, 300, 301Catlett, Mary Jo, 125Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 58–59Cats, 21, 60–61Cervantes, Miguel de, 176Cerveris, Michael, 283Chalfant, Kathleen, 19Champion, Gower, 49, 125, 125Chandler, Helen, 262Channing, Carol, 124, 124–125Channing, Stockard, 266Chapman, John, 115Charley’s Aunt, 62–63Charnin, Martin, 21Chase, Mary, 121Chenoweth, Kristin, 306, 307Chicago, 64–65The Children’s Hour, 66–67A Chorus Line, 21, 65, 68–69, 204Circle in the Square, 132The City, 53City of Angels, 70–71Clayton, Jan, 56, 57Clurman, Harold, 31, 278–279,

285, 299Clybourne Park, 72–73, 251Cobb, Lee J., 31, 78, 79Coconut Grove Playhouse, 296Cohan, George M., 146, 164–165Cohen, Patricia, 276The Cohens and Kellys, 10–11Coleman, Cy, 70Collier, Constance, 84 , 85Collins, Russell, 298Colvan, Zeke, 260Comden, Betty, 213, 222–223, 303Company, 68, 74–75Comstock, Anthony, 190–191Conklin, Peggy, 228Conlan, Frank, 310–311Cook, Barbara, 23, 195, 258, 258

Cook, Will Marion, 137Cookson, Peter, 122, 123Copland, Aaron, 153Corzatte, Clayton, 263Cottrelly, Mathilde, 10–11, 11Courtney, Alex, 32Cover, Franklin, 43Coward, Noël, 129, 240, 240–241Crabtree, Paul, 133Craig, Michael, 129Crawford, Cheryl, 239Crawford, Michael, 225, 225Crazy for You, 107, 107Cromer, David, 215Cronyn, Hume, 80, 81Crouse, Russel, 24–25, 43, 159, 273Crowley, Mart, 289The Crucible, 67, 76–77, 138Crudup, Billy, 26–27, 26Cukor, George, 43Curry, Tim, 15, 15

DDaly, Arnold, 191Danielle, Marlene, 60Dante, Nicholas, 69Darrow, Clarence, 138David, Hal, 245Davis, Lee, 24Day, Clarence, Jr., 159, 159A Day Well Spent, 290Death of a Salesman, 76, 78–79Dee, Ruby, 250–251Dekker, Albert, 174–175A Delicate Balance, 80–81de Loville, Aljan, 32Demas, Carole, 112, 112de Mille, Agnes, 39, 44, 44 , 56, 147,

210–211, 274Dench, Judi, 60Dennis, Nick, 278Denton, Crahan, 47The Designated Mourner, 110DeSylva, B. G., 53Devereaux, John Drew, 158Dewhurst, Colleen, 187DeWitt, Addison, 269The Diary of Anne Frank, 82–83Dickens, Charles, 157Dickinson, Crystal A., 72, 73, 73Diener, Joan, 176, 177Dietz, Howard, 35Digges, Dudley, 12, 13, 132, 133, 247Dillman, Bradford, 168, 169Dinner at Eight, 84–85Dixon, Lee, 211Doctorow, E. L., 249A Doll’s House, 86–87Donnelly, Dorothy, 281Don Quixote de la Mancha, 176Dorsey, Tommy, 106Doubt, 88–89Douglas, Melvyn, 147Douglas, Paul, 42, 42Dovey, Alice, 294Dowling, Eddie, 108, 109, 109, 284–285

Doyle, John, 283D’Oyly Carte, Richard, 127, 235D’Oyly Carte Opera Company,

62, 235Drabinsky, Garth, 248Drake, Alfred, 32, 33, 151, 151, 211Dressler, Marie, 85Duke, Patty, 184–185, 184–185Dunbar, Paul Laurence, 137Duncan, Sandy, 223Duncan, Todd, 238, 239Dunnock, Mildred, 58, 78, 79

eEast Lynne, 90–91Easton, Richard, 203Ebb, Fred, 65Ebsen, Buddy, 261Eddy, Nelson, 198–199Edelman, Gregg, 70, 70Edwards, Sherman, 256Edwards, Susan, 288Eldridge, Florence, 168–169, 169, 269Elice, Rick, 141Eliot, T. S., 60–61, 61Eliot, Valerie, 60–61Elliman, Yvonne, 143Elliott, Patricia, 166, 167Ellis, Scott, 258Emmett, Katherine, 66The Emperor Jones, 12Esmond, Jill, 241Evans, Monica, 204Evelyn, Judith, 16–17, 17Evita, 92–93Ewell, Tom, 296

FFace the Music, 28Falsettoland, 94Falsettos, 94–95Fancy Free, 213Faversham, William, 135Fences, 96–97Fenholt, Jeff, 142, 143Ferber, Edna, 84, 91, 260Ferrer, José, 147Feuer, Cy, 131Fiddler on the Roof, 98–99Fields, Dorothy, 23Fields, Herbert, 23Fields, Robert, 219Fields, W. C., 301Fierstein, Harvey, 288–289, 288–289Fillmore, Russell, 262Finian’s Rainbow, 45, 100–101Finn, William, 94–95Finneran, Katie, 203First Monday in October, 42Fisher, Jules, 231Fiske, Minnie Maddern, 87Fitch, Clyde, 53Fitzgerald, Barry, 146Flaherty, Stephen, 249Flahooley, 101The Flowering Peach, 59

Follies, 68, 102–103Fontanne, Lynn, 81, 247Foote, Horton, 47Ford, David, 257Forman, Milos, 15Fosse, Bob, 50, 51, 64–65, 131, 217,

231, 232Foster, Stephen, 293Foy, Peter, 223Frank, Otto, 83Frayn, Michael, 202Frazee, Harry, 200–201Freedley, Vinton, 24Friedman, Peter, 249, 249Frohman, Charles, 53, 63, 221The Front Page, 34, 104–105Fugard, Athol, 178–179Furth, George, 74

gGallagher, Helen, 201, 217Gardella, Tess, 261Garland, Judy, 32–33Garrick Theater, 191Gaslight, 16Gautier, Dick, 49, 49Gaxton, William, 25, 206–207, 207Gazzara, Ben, 58, 58Gelbart, Larry, 71Germon, G. C., 293Gershwin, George, 103, 106, 107, 124,

206–207, 238–239Gershwin, Ira, 153, 206, 238–239Gibson, William, 185Gielgud, John, 134Gilbert, W. S., 126, 127, 234–235Gilbert, Willie, 131Gilford, Jack, 50, 83, 201Gilliatt, Penelope, 128Gingold, Hermione, 166, 167Girardot, Etienne, 62, 62–63Girl Crazy, 106–107Gjørling, Agnes, 86The Glass Menagerie, 108–109Glee, 253Glengarry Glen Ross, 110–111Glines, John, 289Glover, Danny, 179The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, 183Godspell, 112, 307Goetz, Augustus, 123Goetz, Ruth, 123Goldenhersh, Heather, 89Goldman, James, 103Goldman, William, 42Gomez, Thomas, 174–175Goodman, Benny, 106Goodman, Henry, 243Goodrich, Frances, 83Goodspeed Opera House, 21, 177,

189, 295Graff, Randy, 70, 71, 155Grant, Cary, 105Grant, David Marshall, 19Gray, Gilda, 13Grease, 112–113

IndexPage numbers in italics indicate an item in a photograph or caption.

aAarons, Alex A., 106 Abbott, George, 63, 213, 216, 226Abie’s Irish Rose, 10–11Adams, Lee, 48, 125Adams, Maude, 220, 221The Adding Machine, 12–13Adler, Luther, 31, 31Adler, Stella, 30, 31, 31Ahrens, Lynn, 249Aiken, George, 293Albee, Edward, 81, 183, 304–305Aleichem, Sholem, 98Alexander, Jane, 42All About Eve, 269Allen, Viola, 135All My Sons, 76Amadeus, 14–15American Psycho, 154Andrews, George Lee, 225Andrews, Julie, 196, 197, 273Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on

National Themes, 18–19, 110Angel Street, 16–17Anna and the King of Siam, 148–149Annie, 20–21Annie Get Your Gun, 22–23, 44ANTA Washington Square

Theater, 177Anything Goes, 24–25The Apartment, 245Arcadia, 26–27

Aronson, Boris, 98, 166Artaud, Antonin, 219Arthur, Jean, 42, 221As Is, 19Astaire, Adele, 34–35, 34Astaire, Fred, 34, 34–35, 49, 107As Thousands Cheer, 28–29Astor, Mary, 310Atkinson, Brooks, 46, 159, 217,

285, 286Aunt Jemima, 261Avenue Q, 40, 41, 307Awake and Sing!, 30–31

bBabes in Arms, 32–33Bacharach, Burt, 245Baker, George Pierce, 226Baker, Josephine, 265The Baker’s Wife, 307Baldwin, Alec, 111, 173Baldwin, James, 250The Baltimore Waltz, 19Bancroft, Anne, 184–185, 184–185The Band Wagon, 34–35Bankhead, Tallulah, 269, 269Barnes, Clive, 173, 271Barnett, Alice, 126–127Barras, Charles M., 38–39Barrie, James M., 221Barry, Philip, 226–227Barrymore, Ethel, 52, 52–53Barrymore, John, 53, 85Barrymore, Lionel, 85Bart, Roger, 242

Barton, James, 132, 133, 287Bates, Alan, 54 , 55, 170Baxter, Keith, 174 , 271Bay, Howard, 177Beaton, Cecil, 197Beauty and the Beast, 21The Beauty Queen of Leenane, 36–37Beckett, Samuel, 54, 297Begley, Ed, 139, 139Behrman, S. N., 226Belasco Theater, 31Bel Geddes, Barbara, 58, 58Benchley, Robert, 11, 67, 121Bennett, Michael, 68, 69, 103, 245Benson, Jodi, 107Bentley, Eric, 77Bergman, Ingmar, 167Berkeley, Busby, 201Berlin, Irving, 23, 28–29, 44, 117, 124,

301, 301, 308–309, 313Bernstein, Leonard, 44, 213, 221, 222,

303, 303Bickwell, George, 38Biltmore Theater, 118Birtwistle, Harrison, 15The Black Crook, 38–39Blake, Eubie, 265, 265Blakemore, Michael, 71Blitzstein, Marc, 147Block, Stephanie J., 60Bock, Jerry, 258–259Bogardus, Stephen, 95, 95Bolger, Ray, 63, 63Bolt, Robert, 174–175Bolton, Guy, 24, 209, 294–295

Bond, Rudy, 278The Book of Mormon, 40–41Booth, Shirley, 147, 227Born Yesterday, 42–43Bosco, Philip, 123, 190Bostwick, Barry, 112, 112Boublil, Alain, 154Boucicault, Nina, 221The Boys in the Band, 289Braham, David, 192Brand, Phoebe, 30Brando, Marlon, 133, 278–279, 278Breaking a Butterfly, 87Brecht, Bertolt, 50Brickman, Marshall, 141Brigadoon, 44–45Brocolini, Signor, 126–127, 235Broderick, Helen, 29, 34, 35Broderick, Matthew, 179, 205, 242,

242–243Bromberg, J. Edward, 31The Brook, 127Brook, Peter, 219Brooks, Mel, 242Broun, Heywood, 11Brown, Charles, 96Brown, Joe E., 262Browning, Susan, 74Bryan, William Jennings, 138Bryant, Michael, 129Brynner, Yul, 148, 148–149Buckley, Betty, 60, 60, 61Burch, Patricia, 166Burrows, Abe, 114–115, 131Burton, Richard, 305

318

319

The Great White Hope, 97Green, Adolph, 213, 223, 303Grey, Joel, 50, 51Grizzard, George, 81, 81Groff, Jonathan, 276, 277Group Theatre collective, 30–31, 31,

77, 298–299Guare, John, 105, 266–267Guettel, Adam, 23Guittard, Laurence, 166, 167Gunton, Bob, 92, 93Gupton, Damon, 73, 73Gutierrez, Gerald, 123Guys and Dolls, 34, 114–115Gypsy, 23, 116–117

hH.M.S. Pinafore, 126–127Hackett, Albert, 83Hagen, Uta, 46, 81, 279, 304–305Haggin, Ben Ali, 313Haigh, Kenneth, 170, 171Hair, 112, 118–119The Hairy Ape, 12Hall, Ed, 144 , 145Hall, Peter, 129, 296Halliday, Richard, 273Hamilton, Patrick, 17Hammerstein, Arthur, 199Hammerstein, Oscar, II, 22, 44, 56–57,

83, 117, 148–149, 197, 210–211, 260, 260, 272–275

Hansberry, Lorraine, 72, 250–251Hara, Doug, 182–183Harburg, E. Y. “Yip,” 100–101Haring, Keith, 94Harlow, Jean, 85Harnick, Sheldon, 99, 259Harrigan, Edward “Ned,” 146, 192–193Harris, Charles K., 290Harris, Jed, 215Harris, Rosemary, 81Harrison, Rex, 197Hart, Lorenz, 11, 32–33, 33, 211,

216–217Hart, Moss, 28, 153, 197, 197, 310Hart, Tony, 146, 192–193Harvey, 120–121Haydon, Julie, 108, 109, 109, 285, 285Hayes, Helen, 121, 263, 263Hayward, Leland, 273Heatherton, Ray, 32, 33Hecht, Ben, 104–105Heflin, Van, 227The Heiress, 122–123Heller, George, 310–311Hellman, Lillian, 66, 67, 67, 83Hello, Dolly!, 124–125Hepburn, Katharine, 43, 226–227, 227Herbert, Victor, 198–199Herman, Jerry, 124, 290Heyward, DuBose, 238, 239Hibbert, Edward, 203Hill, Arthur, 305Hiller, Wendy, 122, 123Hirschfeld, Al, 197

His Girl Friday, 105Hitchcock, Alfred, 147Hodges, Eddie, 194Hoff, Christian, 140–141, 141Hoffman, Philip Seymour, 89Holliday, Judy, 42, 42, 43Holm, Hanya, 197Holm, Ian, 129, 129Holzman, Winnie, 307The Homecoming, 55, 128–129Horton, Edward Everett, 120Hoty, Dee, 70, 71The House of Mirth, 53House Un-American Activities

Committee, 31, 77, 298Howard, George, 293Howard, Ken, 256Howard, Sidney, 188, 188Howard, Willie, 107How to Succeed in Business Without

Really Trying, 130–131Hoyt, Charles H., 290Huber, Gusti, 83Hudson, Richard, 160Hughes, Howard, 227Hughes, Langston, 265Hugo, Victor, 154Hull, Henry, 286, 287Hunter, Kim, 67, 278Hynes, Garry, 37

iI, Don Quixote, 176Ibsen, Henrik, 87The Iceman Cometh, 132–133The Importance of Being Earnest,

134–135In Dahomey, 136–137Inge, William, 47, 228–229Inherit the Wind, 138–139In Trousers, 94I Remember Mama, 22Iron Man, 15Ivanek, Željko, 173Ives, Burl, 58, 59

JJack Shepard, 16James, Henry, 123James, Nikki M., 41Jennings, Ken, 283Jerndorff, Peter, 86Jersey Boys, 140–141Jesus Christ Superstar, 142–143Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, 144–145John, Elton, 161, 161, 245Johns, Glynis, 166, 167, 167Johnson, Christine, 57Johnson, Susan, 188–189Jones, Bill T., 277Jones, Carolyn, 128Jones, Cherry, 19, 88, 89, 123, 123Jones, Dean, 74 , 74Jones, Felicity, 182Jones, Hank, 70Jones, James Earl, 96, 96–97, 97, 179

Jones, Stephen, 53Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor

Dreamcoat, 143Joynt, Paul, 289Juno and the Paycock, 146–147

KKahn, Madeline, 43Kander, John, 65Kanin, Garson, 42–43, 83Kaplan, Jonathan,, 95Karloff, Boris, 221Karnilova, Maria, 99, 116Kaufman, George S., 34, 84–85, 100,

115, 206–207, 310Kaye, Danny, 152–153Kaye, Stubby, 115, 115Kazan, Elia, 31, 58, 76–77, 78, 213, 268,

278–279, 298Keating, Charles, 173Keaton, Buster, 54Keeler, Ruby, 201Keller, Helen, 184Kelly, Gene, 216, 216, 285, 285Kelly, George, 263Kennedy, Arthur, 76, 77, 78, 79Kern, Jerome, 23, 124, 209, 260, 294Kerr, Walter, 75, 215, 303Kert, Larry, 74, 75, 303Kidd, Michael, 101Kiley, Richard, 176–177, 177Kimball, Robert, 239The King and I, 41, 148–149Kirk, Christina, 72, 73Kirk, Lisa, 151Kirkland, Jack, 286Kirkwood, James, Jr., 69Kiss Me, Kate, 150–151Kleban, Edward, 69Kline, Kevin, 234 , 235Knight, T. R., 203Kretzmer, Herbert, 154Kriza, John, 212Krupa, Gene, 106Kuhn, Judy, 155Kushner, Tony, 18–19

lLady in the Dark, 152–153Lahr, Bert, 54, 296, 296–297La MaMa Experimental Theater Club,

288–289Landon, Margaret, 148Lane, Burton, 101Lane, Nathan, 205, 242, 242–243Lang, Harold, 151, 212, 217Lansbury, Angela, 117, 282–283 , 283Lapine, James, 94–95Larson, Jonathan, 252–253Laurents, Arthur, 43, 117, 302Lawrence, Carole, 303Lawrence, Gertrude, 148–149, 148,

152–153, 152–153, 240, 241Lawrence, Jerome, 139Lee, Gypsy Rose, 117Lee, Robert E., 139Le Gallienne, Eva, 221

Lehár, Franz, 180–181Lenox, Adriane, 89Lenya, Lotte, 50Leon, Kenny, 97Lerner, Alan Jay, 44–45, 197, 225Leroux, Gaston, 224Les Misérables, 154–155Levin, Meyer, 83Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds, 29The Lieutenant of Inishmore, 37The Life and Adventures of Nicholas

Nickleby, 156–157Life With Father, 25, 158–159Liliom, 57Limón, José, 28Lincoln Center Theater, 145Lindo, Delroy, 144–145, 145, 179Lindsay, Howard, 24–25, 43, 158–159,

159, 273The Lion King, 21, 41, 160–163Little Johnny Jones, 164–165A Little Night Music, 166–167The Little Show, 35Lloyd, Harold, 120Lloyd Webber, Andrew, 60, 61, 93,

143, 143, 224, 225Loesser, Frank, 63, 114–115, 131,

188–189, 195Loewe, Frederick, 44–45, 197Logan, Ella, 100, 101Logan, Joshua, 23, 229, 274Long Day’s Journey Into Night,

168–169Long Wharf Theater, 305Look Back in Anger, 170–171Loot, 172–173Lopez, Robert, 40, 307Lori-Parks, Suzan, 183Losch, Tilly, 34–35, 35Loudon, Dorothy, 20, 21, 203, 203The Love Habit, 13Love! Valour! Compassion!, 27Ludwig, Ken, 107Lunt, Alfred, 81LuPone, Patti, 24 , 92, 93, 203, 283LuPone, Robert, 69Lyles, Aubrey, 264Lyndeck, Edmund, 257Lyons, Collette, 261

MMacArthur, Charles, 104, 105MacDermot, Galt, 118–119MacDonald, Jeannette, 198–199Mack & Mabel, 117Mackintosh, Cameron, 154, 224MacRae, Heather, 95Magee, Patrick, 218Maguire, Gregory, 307Maher, Joseph, 173Malden, Karl, 278Mamet, David, 54, 92, 110–111Mamma Mia!, 140Mamoulian, Rouben, 57, 210–211Manahan, Anna, 36–37, 37Mandel, Frank, 53

Mandelbaum, Ken, 189A Man for All Seasons, 174–175Man of La Mancha, 176–177Mansfield, Richard, 53Mantegna, Joe, 110, 111, 111Marat/Sade, 218–219Marbury, Elizabeth, 294March, Frederic, 168–169, 169,

268–269March of the Falsettos, 94Marowitz, Charles, 173Marre, Albert, 177Marshall, E. G., 296, 297Marshall, Rob, 51, 51Martin, Ernest, 131Martin, Mary, 22, 125, 221–222,

222–223, 272–273, 272–273, 274–275, 275

Marx, Jeff, 40–41“Master Harold” . . . and the boys,

178–179The Matchmaker, 125Matthau, Walter, 204 , 205May, Elaine, 305Mayer, Michael, 277Mazzie, Marin, 249McAdam, William, 172McAdoo, William, 191McAnuff, Des, 141McArdle, Andrea, 20, 21McClinton, Marion, 145McCullers, Carson, 83McDonagh, Martin, 36–37McDonald, Audra, 248, 249McEntire, Reba, 23, 23McKechnie, Donna, 69, 74McKellen, Ian, 15, 15McNally, Terrence, 27, 249McNeil, Claudia, 251McTeer, Janet, 87Mead, Shepherd, 131Meeker, Ralph, 228–229, 229Meisner, Sanford, 31, 31, 298Mendes, Sam, 51, 51Menzel, Idina, 306, 307Mercer, Marian, 245Merchant, Vivien, 129, 129Meredith, Burgess, 237Merman, Ethel, 22–23, 22, 25, 25,

106–107, 106, 116–117, 116, 125Merrick, David, 125, 171, 245, 301, 307Merrill, Bob, 125The Merry Widow, 180–181The Merry Widow Burlesque, 180–181Metamorphoses, 182–183Michele, Lea, 249, 277, 277Michener, James, 274Mickey, Jerry, 128Middleton, Ray, 22, 23Mielziner, Jo, 79, 79, 149Miller, Arthur, 67, 76–77, 76, 78, 138Miller, Court, 289Miller, Flournoy “F. E.,” 264 , 265Miller, Glenn, 106Miller, Henry, 135Miller, Marilyn, 29, 221, 221, 313

Miller, Patina, 231–233Minnelli, Liza, 65The Miracle Worker, 184–185Mitchell, Brian Stokes, 248, 249Modjeska, Helena, 53, 87Mokae, Zakes, 178, 178–179Molnár, Ferenc, 57A Moon for the Misbegotten, 186–187Moore, Victor, 25, 206, 207Moreno, Rita, 205Morse, Robert, 130, 131Mosher, Gregory, 110Mostel, Zero, 99, 99, 242The Most Happy Fella, 188–189Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 14–15Mrs. Warren’s Profession, 190–191Mullen, Marie, 37, 37The Mulligan Guards’ Ball, 127,

192–193Muni, Paul, 139, 139The Murder in the Red Barn, 16Murphy, Rosemary, 81The Music Man, 194–195My Fair Lady, 45, 117, 196–197, 246My Lady Friends, 201

nNapier, John, 61Nathan, George Jean, 11Naughton, James, 70, 70Naughty Marietta, 198–199Neuwirth, Bebe, 64 , 65New Amsterdam Theater, 161, 180New Lyric Club, 190Newman, Paul, 228, 228–229New York Shakespeare Festival, 118Niblo’s Garden, 39Nicholas Brothers, 32, 33Nicholaw, Casey, 41Nichols, Anne, 10, 10–11Nichols, Mike, 21, 49, 305No, No, Nanette, 200–201Noises Off, 202–203Norris, Bruce, 73Norton, Elliot, 153Nunn, Trevor, 61, 155, 157

oO’Byrne, Brían F., 37, 88, 89O’Casey, Séan, 146–147O’Connell, Arthur, 228The Odd Couple, 204–205Odets, Clifford, 30–31, 59, 76, 298–299Of Thee I Sing, 34, 206–207Oh, Boy!, 208–209O’Hara, John, 216O’Horgan, Tom, 118, 143Oklahoma!, 22, 41, 44, 56, 150, 210–211The Old Maid, 67Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,

60Olivier, Laurence, 241, 255, 271O’Malley, Rory, 41Once in a Lifetime, 310O’Neill, Eugene, 12, 47, 132–133, 168,

187, 226

On the Town, 44, 212–213On the Waterfront, 58, 77On Trial, 12–13Oppenheimer, George, 33Orbach, Jerry, 64, 244 , 245Orton, Joe, 172–173Osato, Sono, 213, 213Osborne, John, 170–171, 171Ostrow, Stuart, 256Our Town, 214–215

pPaige, Elaine, 60Pal Joey, 216–217Papp, Joe, 69, 177, 235Parisse, Annie, 72, 73, 73Parker, Tom, 48–49Parker, Trey, 40Patinkin, Mandy, 92, 93, 93Paulus, Diane, 119, 232, 239Peaslee, Richard, 219Peck, Gregory, 236Pemberton, Brock, 120–121Penley, W. S., 62Perry, Antoinette “Tony,” 121Peter Pan, 222–223Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn’t

Grow Up, 220–221Peters, Bernadette, 23, 117The Phantom of the Opera, 224–225The Philadelphia Story, 226–227The Piano Lesson, 96Piazza, Ben, 305Picnic, 228–229Pinter, Harold, 54–55, 128–129Pippin, 230–233, 307The Pirates of Penzance, 127, 234–235The Playboy of the Western World,

236–237Pleasance, Donald, 54–55, 55The Plough and the Stars, 146Poitier, Sidney, 250–251, 267Polito, Philip, 257Poole, Ray, 257Porgy, 238Porgy and Bess, 13, 70, 238–239Porter, Cole, 23, 24–25, 103, 117, 150Presley, Elvis, 48–49Preston, Robert, 194–195, 195Price, Lonny, 179Price, Vincent, 16, 16–17Prince, Harold, 50, 69, 75, 93, 103, 112,

167, 225, 259, 282–283Princess Theater, 209, 294, 301Private Lives, 240–241The Producers, 242–243Promises, Promises, 68, 244–245Prosky, Robert, 110, 111, 111Public Theater, 69Purdy’s National Theater, 293Pushkin, Alexander, 14Pygmalion, 246–247

QQuintero, José, 132, 169, 187

rRagtime, 248–249A Raisin in the Sun, 72, 250–251Raitt, John, 56, 56–57Randall, Tony, 139, 139Rannells, Andrew, 40–41, 41Rathbone, Basil, 123Rattigan, Terence, 54, 171Redfield, William, 174Reed, Janet, 212Rees, Roger, 156, 157Reeves-Smith, H., 52Reichard, Daniel, 140–141, 141Reid, Carl Benton, 133Rent, 252–253Rhapsody in Black, 29Rice, Elmer, 12–13Rice, Tim, 93, 143, 143, 161, 161Rich, Frank, 203Richards, Donald, 101Richards, Lloyd, 144, 250Richardson, Ian, 218Richardson, Tony, 171Rigby, Cathy, 223Ritchard, Cyril, 223Rivera, Chita, 49, 64–65, 65Robards, Jason, 132, 187, 187Robards, Jason, Jr., 168–169, 169Robbins, Jerome, 83, 99, 117, 117, 149,

212, 213, 222, 302, 303Roberts, Joan, 211Robeson, Paul, 260–261, 261, 265Robinson, Larry, 158Rodgers, Richard, 22, 32–33, 33,

44, 56–57, 83, 148–149, 210–211, 216–217, 245, 272–275, 295

Roe, Raymond, 158Rogers, Ginger, 106–107Rogers, Paul, 129Romberg, Sigmund, 281Romeo and Juliet, 302Rose, George, 174Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are

Dead, 72, 254–255Ross, Anthony, 108, 109Ross, Katherine, 169Rothstein, Arnold, 11Royal Shakespeare Company,

156–157, 219Rubin-Vega, Daphne, 253Rule, Janice, 228–229Runyon, Damon, 114Russell, Rosalind, 105Ryskind, Morrie, 206

sSalieri, Antonio, 15–16Salmi, Albert, 46–47, 47Saroyan, William, 284 , 284–285Sater, Steven, 276–277Saturday Night Live, 148Scanlan, John, 61Schneider, Alan, 305Schönberg, Claude-Michel, 154Schwartz, Arthur, 35Schwartz, Stephen, 231, 307

320

about the authorEric Grode has written about theater and film for the New York Times since 2010. He previously served as the head theater critic for the New York Sun, and his articles and reviews have also appeared in the Village Voice, New York magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and more than a dozen other publications. He is the author of Hair: The Story of the Show That Defined a Generation, the authorized history of the Broadway musical. He teaches writing at Syracuse University in the Goldring Arts Journalism Program, where he sits on the advisory board.

Scofield, Paul, 174–175Scott, George C., 79, 138, 139Scott, Lizabeth, 269Segal, Vivienne, 217Seldes, Marian, 81Selznick, David O., 851776, 256–257The Shadow of a Gunman, 146Shaffer, Anthony, 271Shaffer, Peter, 14Shamos, Jeremy, 72, 73, 73Shanley, John Patrick, 89, 89Sharaff, Irene, 149Sharpe, Albert, 101Shaw, George Bernard, 190, 191, 197,

246–247Shawn, Wallace, 110Sheik, Duncan, 276–277Shelley, Carole, 172, 204She Loves Me, 258–259Shepard, Sam, 289Sher, Bartlett, 145Shevelove, Burt, 201Short, Hassard, 35Show Boat, 260–261, 290The Show-Off, 262–263Shubert, J. J., 281Shubert, Lee, 199, 281Shubert Theater, 69Shuffle Along, 264–265Shutta, Ethel, 102–103Sidewalks of New York, 13Simon, Neil, 204, 245Simonson, Lee, 13Sissle, Noble, 265Six Degrees of Separation, 266–267The Skin of Our Teeth, 268–269Sleuth, 270–271Smiles of a Summer Night, 167Smith, Alexis, 103, 103Smith, Art, 30, 31Smith, Harry B., 301Smith, Oliver, 197, 213Smokey Joe’s Café, 140Sondheim, Stephen, 40, 56–57, 69, 74,

83, 103, 112, 117, 166–167, 239, 271, 282–283, 302

The Sound of Music, 25, 272–273South Pacific, 117, 274–275South Park, 40

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, 40

Spacey, Kevin, 132, 133Spencer, J. Robert, 140–141, 141Spewack, Bella, 151Spewack, Sam, 151Spinella, Stephen, 18Spring Awakening, 276–277Spring-Heeled Jack, 16Stanley, Kim, 46–47, 46–47, 59Steel, John, 312Stewart, David Ogden, 226–227Stewart, James, 121, 121Stewart, Michael, 48, 125Stickney, Dorothy, 158, 159Stilgoe, Richard, 225Stone, Emma, 51Stone, Matt, 40Stone, Peter, 256Stoppard, Tom, 26–27, 255, 255, 290Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 293Straight, Beatrice, 76, 77Strange Interlude, 13Strasberg, Susan, 82, 83, 83Stravinsky, Igor, 153A Streetcar Named Desire, 278–279Stritch, Elaine, 46, 47, 74–75, 75, 81, 81,

217, 305Stroman, Susan, 107, 242Strouse, Charles, 48, 125Struthers, Sally, 205The Student Prince in Heidelberg,

280–281Styne, Jule, 117, 222Sullivan, Arthur, 127, 234–235Summer Brave, 229Sunset Boulevard, 93Sweeney Todd, 282–283Swerling, Jo, 114The Swing Mikado, 70Synge, John Millington, 36, 236–237

tTalbot, Hugh, 126The Taming of the Shrew, 151Tamiris, Helen, 261Tandy, Jessica, 80, 81, 278–279, 279Taubman, Howard, 55Taylor, Elizabeth, 59, 305Taylor, Laurette, 46, 108, 109

Teagarden, Jack, 106The Terror of London, 16Theater Comique, 193These Three, 67They Knew What They Wanted, 188,

188Thin Man, 83This Is the Army, 29Thomas, Brandon, 62The Time of Your Life, 284–285Tobacco Road, 286–287Tobias, George, 310–311Todd, Mike, 210Topdog/Underdog, 183The Torch Bearers, 263Tracy, Spencer, 43Travers, Henry, 310–311Travolta, John, 113, 113Tree, Herbert Beerbohm, 246, 247A Trip to Chinatown, 290–291Truex, Ernest, 294 , 294Tunick, Jonathan, 75, 245Tynan, Kenneth, 171, 255

uUncle Tom’s Cabin, 292–293Urban, Joseph, 313

vVallée, Rudy, 131Vance, Courtney B., 96Varden, Evelyn, 215Verdon, Gwen, 64–65Vereen, Ben, 142, 143, 231, 231Vernon, Ida, 135Very Good Eddie, 294–295A View from the Bridge, 77

wWaiting for Godot, 296–297Waiting for Lefty, 31, 298–299Walker, Ada Overton, 136Walker, Chet, 232Walker, George, 136, 136–137Wanamaker, Zoë, 173Warwick, Dionne, 245Washington Square, 123Wasserman, Dale, 176Watch Your Step, 300–301Watkins, Maurine Dallas, 65

Webb, Clifton, 29Weber, Joe, 181Wedekind, Frank, 276–277Weill, Kurt, 50, 57, 153Weinstock, Jack, 131Weiss, Peter, 219Westley, Helen, 13West Side Story, 302–303Wharton, Edith, 53, 67Wheeler, Hugh, 167Where’s Charley?, 63Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 81,

304–305Wicked, 72, 306–307Wicked: The Life and Times of the

Wicked Witch of the West, 307Wilde, Oscar, 53, 135, 135Wilder, Billy, 245Wilder, Thornton, 125, 214–215,

268, 290Williams, Bert, 136–137, 136, 313Williams, Robert B., 10Williams, Robin, 221Williams, Tennessee, 58–59, 105,

108–109, 278Willson, Meredith, 194–195Wilson, August, 96–97, 97, 144Wilson, Lanford, 289Winchell, Walter, 67Winter Garden Theatre, 147The Wizard of Oz, 307Wodehouse, P. G., 24, 209Wolfe, Thomas, 226Wood, Ellen, 91Wood, Frank, 73Wood, John, 254Wycherly, Margaret, 12, 13, 13, 286

yYip Yip Yaphank, 308–309You Can’t Take It With You, 310–311Young, John Lloyd, 140–141, 141

zZiegfeld, Florenz, 137, 261, 313The Ziegfeld Follies, 13, 48Ziegfeld Follies, 137, 313Ziegfeld Follies of 1919, 312–313Zimmerman, Mary, 183Zippel, David, 71