1858 Our American Cousin, Tom Taylor's comedy about the difference in manners between the English and the Americans, debuts in New York, and proves an enduring hit, touring and being revived around the U.S. It goes down in history April 14, 1865 when President Abraham Lincoln, seeking to lift his spirits after the end of the Civil War just days before, takes in a performance at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.鈥攁nd is assassinated by actor John Wilkes Booth. Booth knew just when the laughs would be loud enough鈥攐n the line "You sockdologizing old mantrap!"鈥攖o distract from the sound of his entering the president's box.
1898 Birthday of actor and singer , who stars in Berlin musicals by her husband, composer , and flees with him to France and then the U.S. after the rise of Hitler. Her New York stage appearances include the long-running Off-Broadway revival of Weill's in 1955, and in the musical in 1966.
1950 Variety reports that the standout feature in , which is having a tryout in Philadelphia, is ' book. Usually a score is most anticipated, but "the score is likely to come into its rightful prominence when it has been reorchestrated to give greater emphasis to melody," says Variety. The Guys and Dolls book and score win over the critics when it opens on Broadway on November 24 of the same year.
1964 New Yorkers can either head downtown to the Sullivan Street Playhouse to see tonight's performance of The Fantasticks, or they can stay home and watch the broadcast on the NBC television network. The Off-Broadway production has the honor of being the only one ever to compete directly with a televised broadcast of itself.
1966 , , and star in 鈥攖hree one-act musicals about men, women, and temptation, based on stories by , , and 鈥攐pening on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre. Written by and , and directed by , it runs for 463 performances.
1990 opens on Broadway at the Booth Theatre. , , and star in the musical about Caribbean fairy tales and the collision of two cultures as a young, French Antillean woman (LaChanze) falls in love with an American aristocrat (Dixon). The show, which transferred from , marks the Broadway debut for future Tony Award-winning songwriters and . It runs 469 performances.
2001 The blockbuster musical opens on Broadway with a record advance sale. Built around 1970s disco hits by the rock band ABBA, it runs for almost 14 years.
2015 The world premiere of , , and 's Rothschild & Sons opens Off-Broadway at the York Theatre Company. The musical was originally presented on Broadway in 1970 as , but this new version condenses the story into one act, and includes several new songs. stars as patriarch Mayer Rothschild.
2018 The world premiere of , , and 's opens on Broadway at Studio 54. The play, based on and 's book of the same name, follows a determined young fact checker () whose editor () assigns him to check an essay by an unorthodox writer ().
More of Today's Birthdays: (1902鈥�1972). (1906鈥�1995). (1919鈥�1988). (1927鈥�1999). (b. 1935). Joe Morton (b. 1947). (1948鈥�2018). (1950鈥�2006).
