1925 plays the titular role in Hamlet in the Fellowship Players production at the Prince of Wales Theatre. The Fellowship offers Sunday shows to give employed professionals the chance to perform Shakespeare.
1945 The day before his 67th birthday, is . In the musical, a group of black performers puts on a performance of H.M.S. Pinafore to raise money after their ship is marooned on a sandbar. and give and a boogie-woogie and jazz spin. It runs on Broadway for 36 performances.
1955 is The Reluctant Debutante at the Cambridge Theatre in London. 鈥檚 comedy about a spirited deb and her anxious parents, played by and , twirls for 752 performances.
1961 Members of the Dramatists Guild, hoping to ease the financial crisis in New York theatre, agree to take royalty cuts if other personnel also take cuts in compensation.
1966 and work with composer to make a musical out of 鈥� book () about life with his auntie. Starring , runs for 1,508 performances at the Winter Garden and Broadway Theatres.
1984 A revival of The Wiz opens at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre with Stephanie Mills, the only returning cast member from the 1975 premiere, reprising her role as Dorothy. The production shutters after just seven previews and 13 performances.
2003 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, presents the world premiere of The Sound of a Voice featuring the words of and the music of .
2013 A revival of 鈥檚 1989 play My Children! My Africa!, directed by , opens Off-Broadway at The Pershing Square Signature Center. Allison Gallerani, , and star in the drama about young South Africans testing their voices in a time of political unrest.
Today鈥檚 Birthdays: (1855鈥�1934); (1877鈥�1941); (1914鈥�1986); (b. 1940); Patti LaBelle (b. 1944); (b. 1953); (b. 1953); (b. 1960); (b. 1965); (b. 1977).
Flip through photos from the original Broadway production of Mame:
