With the news that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child just became the third longest-running play in Broadway history, I was curious about other long-running shows. I mean we all know about The Phantom of the Opera and the current revival of Chicago, but what about others?
Broadway By the Numbers:
The Longest Runners
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The most surprising thing to me was the fact that over the years and thousands of productions there are only 127 shows that have played 1,000 performances or more!
NOTE: For the rest of these stats, I only considered the 100 longest-running shows as of August 31, 2025.
- The first Broadway show to reach 1,000 performances was a play from 1918 called Lightnin', which played a total of 1,291 shows.
- The bottom spot is currently a tie between the original production of Cabaret and & Juliet, both with 1,165 performances. (By the time you read this, & Juliet will be #99 and climbing, with Cabaret a solid #100.)
- Of the 100 productions: 5 are Musical Revivals, 21 are Plays, and 74 are Musicals.
- 42 won either the Best Play, Best Musical or Best Revival Tony Awards.
- 12 were not Tony Award eligible.
The 1910s - 1 Top 100
Longest Running: #86: Lightnin' 1,291 performances (play)
The 1920s - 1 Top 100
Longest Running: #34: Abie's Irish Rose 2,327 performances (play)
The 1930s - 3 Top 100
Longest Running: #20: Life With Father 3,224 performances (play)
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The 1940s - 7 Top 100
Longest Running: #36: Oklahoma! 2,212 performances (musical)
The 1950s - 6 Top 100
Longest Running: #23: My Fair Lady 2,717 performances (musical)
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The 1960s - 14 Top 100
Longest Running: #19: Fiddler on the Roof 3,242 performances (musical)
The 1970s - 18 Top 100
Longest Running: #7: A Chorus Line 6,137 performances (musical)
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The 1980s - 8 Top 100
Longest Running: #1: The Phantom of the Opera 13,981 performances (musical)
The 1990s - 11 Top 100
Longest Running: #6: Chicago 11,329 performances (musical revival)*
The 2000s - 15 Top 100
Longest Running: #3: Wicked 8,490 performances (musical)*
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The 2010s - 13 Top 100
Longest Running: #11: The Book of Mormon 5,343 performances (musical)*
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The 2020s - 3 Top 100
Longest Running: #65: Six 1,618 performances (musical)*
* - still running
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