Today in Theatre History: JULY 4
By Ernio Hernandez
and Robert Viagas
04 Jul 2009
1898 Birthday of actress Gertrude Lawrence (1898-1952), longtime acting partner of Noel Coward (Private Lives, Tonight at 8:30) and star of musicals by the Gershwin brothers (Oh, Kay!, Lady in the Dark), who would have her greatest success with her final show, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, in which she originated the role of Mrs. Anna.
1927 From Brighton Beach to Biloxi to Broadway, Bronx boy Neil Simon is born today. He will go on to become one of America's most prolific (and produced) playwrights with such plays as The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, Barefoot in the Park, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound, Lost in Yonkers, Laughter on the 23rd Floor and The Dinner Party. He will also be an accomplished book writer, via the musicals Little Me, Sweet Charity, They're Playing Our Song and The Goodbye Girl. 1965 The Long Wharf Theatre opens its doors today for the first time in New Haven, Connecticut. The premiere production is a new staging of Arthur Miller's witch trial tale, The Crucible. Written at the height of McCarthyism, Miller's play depicted a Massachusetts town that falls under siege to lies and betrayal when several teenage girls appear to have been bewitched. Miller's play drew subtle parallels between Salem and 1950s anti Communist hysteria. 1970 The first season of Summer Shakespeare in Monmouth, Maine starts today. Produced by "The Theatre at Monmouth," the festival includes productions of Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, and Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not For Burning. 1999 Celebrating its 40-year anniversary as a theatre group, the San Francisco Mime Troupe present Division Street, a musical about the urban housing crisis, starting today in parks across the San Fran area. The Troupe was founded in 1959 by R.G. Davis, and in 1987 won the Regional Theater Tony Award, for sustained excellence. 2001 TV star Tom Selleck makes his Broadway debut with the first preview of a revival of Herb Gardner's A Thousand Clowns. More of Today's Birthdays: Pat Rooney 1880. Irving Caesar 1895.
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