This Week in Broadway History: January 10 - 16

 This Week in Broadway History:

January 10 - 16

🎭OPENING NIGHTS🎭

• January 10, 1947: Finian's Rainbow, the Lane/Harburg classic opened at the 46th Street Theatre, going on to win 3 Tony Awards, including one for David Wayne, who played Og. The show ran for 726 performances.

• January 11, 1976: Sondheim's controversial Pacific Overtures began its 193 performance run at the Winter Garden Theatre. The Hal Prince-helmed Kabuki styled musical was nominated for 10 Tony Awards, winning two, for scenic and costume design.
• January 12, 2014: Celebrated composer/pop icon Carole King's life was brought to the stage in the popular musical, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Star Jessie Mueller brought home a Best Actress Tony Award for her efforts, and the show ran an impressive 2,416 performances at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.

• January 14, 1999: The 1999 Best Musical, Fosse, opened at the Broadhurst Theatre. This revue of the work of one of the greatest choreographers brought bowler hats, white gloves and smooth moves to Broadway. Before it closed, many of the great dancers of the Fosse Legacy joined the production, including Ben Vereen, Ann Reinking and Bebe Neuwirth.
• January 15, 2015: The Jason Robert Brown musical Honeymoon in Vegas opened at the Nederlander Theatre. Even with headliners Tony Danza and Rob McClure, the show only managed a 93 performance run.

• January 16, 1964: On this date, the iconic red dress descended the Harmonia Gardens staircase for the first official time, propelling Jerry Herman, Carol Channing and Hello, Dolly! into legendary status and Broadway history. The show remained at the St. James Theatre for a whopping 2,844 performances.

Debbie Allen     Sal Mineo

James Lapine     Andrea Martin

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAY🎂

January 10: Mean Girls' actor Renee Rapp, Pulitzer Prize winner James Lapine, actor Sal Mineo; January 11: Dear Evan Hansen's Kristolyn Lloyd, actor Max von Essen, composer Mary Rodgers; January 12: dancer Tiler Peck, Tony-winning Icon Andre De Shields, actor Oliver Platt; January 13: Broadway legend Gwen Verdon; actor Ruth Wilson, Cats dancer (and Fresh Prince actor) Janet Hubert, original cast A Chorus Line's Kay Cole; January 14: actor Julia Murney, director Trevor Nunn; January 15: actor, choreographer and director Jerry Mitchell, actor Andrea Martin; January 16: multi-hyphenate Lin-Manuel Miranda, actor, choreographer and director Debbie Allen, Broadway Legend Ethel Merman

🎂ON BROADWAY THIS WEEK IN 1984🎂

It was a great week to be a Broadway fan this week in 1984! There were several "hot tickets," including the mega musical Cats, the smash hit La Cage aux Folles (on the verge of its Best Musical Tony win), and the just-opened, and soon to be Best Play The Real Thing, starring Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Christine Baranski (all 3 would go on to win Tonys for this Stoppard play), Cynthia Nixon and Peter Gallagher. Dorothy Loudon was serving up sardines and big laughs at the riotous new farce Noises Off.

Other shows available at the TKTS booth would have included the new hit musical The Tap Dance Kid, the cult favorite Baby, Anthony Quinn in the revival of Zorba, and previous season holdovers Brighton Beach Memoirs, My One and Only and On Your Toes.

And if you were lucky enough to snag a ticket, you could have seen the very first preview of the new Kander and Ebb musical, The Rink, starring Broadway legends Chita Rivera and Liza Minnelli on January 12th.

#2473