The Past is Never Far: A Look at THE CHILDREN & Other Tales of Old History and Current Consequences

Manhattan Theatre Club's American premiere of The Royal Court Theatre's production of The Children, the new play by Olivier Award winner Lucy Kirkwood (Chimerica), directed by James MacDonald (Top Girls at MTC), has its official Broadway opening tonight!

Centering on a remote cottage on the lonely British coast, a couple of retired nuclear engineers are living a very quiet life. Outside, the world is in utter chaos following a devastating series of events. When an old friend turns up at their door, they're shocked to discover the real reason for her visit.

The history of theatre is jam-packed with tales of old friends, family, acquaintances and strangers showing up to settle old scores. Whether musical, comedy, or drama, the stage has played home to numerous tales of old grievances, long-standing debts, unrequited love, murderous revenge, and even some supernatural encounters with the past.

While we wait to see what a mysterious knock at the door will bring audiences this time around, let's take a look back at Broadway's long history with history! Personal, professional, financial, or emotional, we've seen it all. Here are some other titles that have brought mysterious and sometimes disturbingly familiar visitors to unsuspecting hosts.

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A Doll's House Part 2

In the final scene of Ibsen's 1879 ground-breaking masterwork, Nora Helmer makes the shocking decision to leave her husband and children, and begin a life on her own. This climactic event - when Nora slams the door on everything in her life - instantly propelled world drama into the modern age. In A Doll's House, Part 2, many years have passed since Nora's exit. Now, there's a knock on that same door. Nora has returned. But why? And what will it mean for those she left behind?

Sweeney Todd

The tale tells the story of Benjamin Barker, a barber falsely accused and sent away for 15 years by an evil judge. When Barker, now calling himself Sweeney Todd, returns to London, he is determined to take revenge on the corrupt judge who has destroyed his family and now holds his teenage daughter Johanna hostage.

The Price

When the Great Depression cost his family their fortune, Victor Franz gave up his dream of an education to support his father. Three decades later, Victor has returned to his childhood home to sell the remainder of his parents' estate. His wife, his estranged brother, and the wily furniture dealer hired to appraise their possessions all arrive with their own agendas, forcing Victor to confront a question, long-stifled, about the value of his sacrifice.

Dead Accounts

In Dead Accounts, Jack's unexpected return throws his family into a frenzy, and his sister Lorna needs answers. Is he coming home or running away? Where is his wife everyone hates? And how did he get all that money? Theresa Rebeck's comedy tackles the timely issues of corporate greed, small town values, and whether or not your family will always welcome you back...with no questions asked.

A Christmas Carol

On Christmas Eve, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is complaining about having to give his clerk Bob Cratchit the next day's holiday off, maintaining that Christmas is merely "humbug," It is only later that night, when he is visited by a succession of spirits - the ghost of his deceased partner Jacob Marley, and the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet-to-Come, that Ebenezer considers the consequences of his past and present actions and reconsiders his outlook on life.

Blackbird

Ray is confronted with his past when Una arrives unannounced at his office. Guilt, rage and raw emotions run high as they recollect their relationship when she was twelve and he was forty. Without any moral judgments, the play never shies away from the brutal shattering truth of the abandoned and unconventional love. Ray, fifty-six, after years in prison and subsequent hardships, has a new identity and has made a new life for himself, thinking that he could no longer be found. Una, twenty-seven, has thought of nothing else. She is looking for answers not vengeance. Nevertheless, the consequences are shattering.

Follies

1971, New York. There's a party on the stage of the Weissman Theatre. Tomorrow the iconic building will be demolished. Thirty years after their final performance, the Follies girls gather to have a few drinks, sing a few songs and lie about themselves. With old friends, come old grievances, and as the evening unfolds two couples find their relationships hanging in the balance of current frustrations and the long pondered possibilities of unrequited love.