I was curious to know what the longest running time of a broadway show ever. Not the time it has been on broadway but rather the duration of the show itself.
For musicals I did a quick google search and discovered that both Les Mis and Miss Saigon were 2 hrs and 50 mins with an intermission.
For plays Wolf Hall came to mind and each part was 2 hrs and 45 mins (i dont know whether or not that includes an intermission)
I was wondering if anyone knew what play and what musical actually has the longest duration.
I can't give you a definitive answer, but I can tell you for sure that nothing 3-hours-long comes close. Even just this season, Long Day's Journey was 3h 45m.
The longest show I've ever seen was The Iceman Cometh at BAM (5 hours long). It wasn't Broadway, but I would expect that other Broadway productions of Iceman Cometh had similar runtimes.
Another very long one was "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby," which was performed in 2 parts. The total runtime was 8.5 hours, each part being over 4 hours.
Many of O'Neill's plays are quite long. Strange Interlude and Mourning Becomes Electra both run between 4-5 hours, depending on the production. I've seen productions of Long Day's Journey Into Night that run as short as under 3 hours (the Jack Lemmon production on Broadway, and the David Suchet/Laurie Metcalf West End Revival) or over 4 hours (the 2003 Broadway revival). This season's revival was generally pretty much in the middle and was shortened mostly by the fact that it only utilized one intermission. I don't think it would be possible to do The Iceman Cometh in less than 4 hours and probably closer to 5.
If memory serves, Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy is quite long (pushing 4 hours).
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
If we're including Off-Broadway plays, some of Taylor Mac's have been 5 hours long or more.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Not broadway but Seven stream of the Rive Ota ran just over 8 hours
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
How long is each part of Angels in America? I know the whole thing tends to be about eight hours or so, but I'm not sure if one part is longer than the other.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
RaisedOnMusicals said: "Part 2 of Nicholas Nickleby ran 4 1/2 hours according to some research I just did. It had two 12 min intervals. "
Thank you for reminding me of that great theatrical event. I remember being cowed at the running time before I saw it, but it turned out to be completely enthralling and the time flew by.
Fantod said: "Millennium Approaches is 3 hours, Perestroika is 4"
Huh, I figured Perestroika was longer, but I hadn't realized how short Millennium Approaches is. Granted, the only time I've seen it live was Ivo van Hove's version, which cuts the play significantly- the whole thing was about five and a half hours.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
Peter2 said: "RaisedOnMusicals said: "Part 2 of Nicholas Nickleby ran 4 1/2 hours according to some research I just did. It had two 12 min intervals. "
Thank you for reminding me of that great theatrical event. I remember being cowed at the running time before I saw it, but it turned out to be completely enthralling and the time flew by.
I agree. I saw both parts in one day and when it ended, I wanted it to continue. The time flew by. I wanted to spend more time with this incredible ensemble of actors. It is still one of the top theatrical performances I have ever seen or ever will see.It was just that special.
South Fl Marc said: "Peter2 said: "RaisedOnMusicals said: "Part 2 of Nicholas Nickleby ran 4 1/2 hours according to some research I just did. It had two 12 min intervals. "
Thank you for reminding me of that great theatrical event. I remember being cowed at the running time before I saw it, but it turned out to be completely enthralling and the time flew by.
I agree. I saw both parts in one day and when it ended, I wanted it to continue. The time flew by. I wanted to spend more time with this incredible ensemble of actors. It is still one of the top theatrical performances I have ever seen or ever will see.It was just that special.""
The Ring Cycle uncut is over 15 hours long...but presented as four operas on four successive evenings. That's not really what is being discussed here. (And when we discuss opera, it should be acknowledged that a lot of the length of some opera evenings come from the long intermissions)
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body