1904 The Southerners, with a score by black composer Will Marion Cook, is the first time an entire black chorus is used in a show with a white cast. Lead Eddie Leonard appears in blackface in the musical about the antebellum South. The New York Times is more impressed that the white members of the cast 鈥渕ingled鈥� with the black performers and that only some audience members trembled in their seats during the curtain call, than with the production itself.
1921 鈥淚鈥檓 Just Wild About Harry鈥� is just one of the and songs in at the 63rd Street Music Hall in New York. Blake is at the piano for the 504 performances. In 2016, returns the musical to Broadway with his show .
1932 dies in Galway, Ireland, at age 80. She was an ardent supporter of the Irish Dramatic Movement and wrote several plays for , which she helped found. She co-authored The Pot of Broth and Cathleen ni Houlihan with . Her translation of 鈥檚 plays is titled The Kiltartan Moliere.
1946 A father tries to clear his son鈥檚 name in 鈥檚 The Winslow Boy. The show plays 476 performances at London鈥檚 Lyric Theatre.
1950 Following a national tour, 鈥檚 original staging of 鈥� returns to New York for a final limited engagement at City Center. stars as Blanche, opposite as Stanley.
1993 鈥檚 Later Life opens Off-Broadway at . directs the comedy about two middle-aged individuals who meet at a Boston cocktail party. , , , and star.
2000 鈥檚 Proof opens at . , , , and star in the play that extends then . It wins newcomer Auburn the year鈥檚 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
2001 Talent lives on: Five years after composer died, his obscure early 1990鈥檚 musical tick...tick...BOOM! gets a major Off-Broadway revival at the Jane Street Theatre. It is later recorded and embarks on a national tour.
2016 Hadestown, 鈥檚 folk opera about Orpheus鈥� mythical quest to overcome Hades and regain his one true love Eurydice, opens Off-Broadway at . directs the immersive production, which stars Nabiyah Be, , and . After additional runs in Canada and London, it in 2019.
Today鈥檚 Birthdays: (1882鈥�1959); (1883鈥�1939); (1919鈥�2011); (b. 1931); (b. 1933); Charles Kimbrough (b. 1936); (b. 1955).
Watch highlights from the 2016 musical :
