Rarest/most valuable playbills- Page 2

[augustine73]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 9:12am

The only playbill i have is "flower drum song" signed by lea salonga.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 10:04am

I have two opening night (gold cover) Playbills from the late 1950s of flop Broadway shows my mom was in. I guess those would be pretty rare, although I don't know how valuable they would be. Each show only ran a couple of weeks, but one of them was made into a movie a few years later. Still, not very well-known, I would imagine. It's kind of interesting to see the gold covers though (full gold, not just a seal).

I have a few older Playbills, but doubt that they are rare because the shows were pretty popular:

Hair (when Diane Keaton took over as Sheila)
Bells Are Ringing (OBC)
My Fair Lady (OBC)
The Most Happy Fella (OBC)

Also a few from flop shows that I saw in the '80s:

Smile
Into the Light

[Demitri2]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 10:40am

I've been collecting Playbills from the sixties through the present which are bound in five different leather volumes you can purchase through Playbill. Personally though, my favorite theater memorabilia is collecting the souvenir books from shows that are sold at the theater. I find they're much more fun to collect. Just got my second souvenir book from "Funny Girl". The first had Sidney Chaplin as Arnstein. The one I just got has his replacement Johnny Desmond. I like the fact that this one has different pictures of Streisand in it. I'm still looking for "I Can Get it For You Wholesale" which is a difficult one to find.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 10:40am

oops! guess I hit SEND twice

Updated On: 10/3/05 at 10:40 AM

[NikiTom]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 10:50am

I have a ton of playbills and programs, but I think some of my rarest and most valuable are my Carrie playbill and my opening night Chess playbills signed by Judy Kuhn, Marcia Mitzman and Philip Casnoff. I also have a program from What The Night Is For in London signed by Gillian Anderson, a ton of Rocky Horror signed stuff...and countless others.

[nickatnight]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 6:07pm

I have an out-of-town "Arsenic And Old Lace" signed by Bela Lugosi (1949.)

But my favorite is "House Of Flowers" (actually its sheet music to the song "Two Ladies In The Shade of the Banana Tree" ) signed by Truman Capote, Harold Arlen, Pearl Bailey,
producer Saint-Subber and dancer Donald McKayle (who later directed 'Golden Boy' with Sammy Davis Jr.among other shows).

[lamentingenvelope]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 6:22pm

I don't really have many 'valuable' playbills... Cats with most of the original London cast is the only one that comes to mind... I have a Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan one... and a few from the American premieres of things (Doctor Dolittle, The Bird Sanctuary, RolePlay) because if there's something here that's a premiere I always try to go.

My favorite playbill is... surprise surprise... my Sweet Charity one signed by Denis.

Actually, I take that back. My favorite is the playbill for my first play, which premiere two weeks ago...

SOMEDAY it will be a rare/valuable playbill!

Posted: 10/3/05 at 6:24pm

I have all sorts of Playbills but my favorites are the ones that are in color.

I have everything from Annie to Wicked. They all make me happy and they are valuable as they are important to me.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 6:35pm

I have an opening night Wicked Playbill signed by both Chenoweth and Menzel. That's bound to be worth something, right? Or at least maybe down the road?

And a Les Miz closing night.

So, really, nothing that special.

[Labashier]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 7:41pm

I don't know what happened to it, but I used to have a program of a local production of Tartuffe with Jefferson Mays as the title character.

[Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 7:53pm

Cast signed 'Putnam' Playbill sent to me from Derrick Baskin.

2 Cast signed Pillowman Playbills sent to me from Jeff Goldblum.

Cast signed Glengarry Glenn Ross Playbill from Liev Schrieber.

Cast signed Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Playbill from Sara Gettelfinger.

Cast signed Avenue Q Playbill from Barret Foa.


Thats as far as cast signed Playbills that people have mailed to me.

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 8:27pm

I have the souvenir programs with the full cast autographs for RED HEAD (& the tour souvenir program), UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN (& the tour souvenir program) and the last cast of FUNNY GIRL

Milla

[wexy]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 8:35pm

I have 347 Playbills and programs etc from the things I've seen
The only thing that I have signed is from a Penn and Teller show when they hung out after the show and when my friend Anne Stockton did a one woman show "The Speed Queen" at the Culture Project on Bleeker.

At my series at the Roundabout, I've met many notable folks at the post play party where I've had the pleasure of having a drink and chatting with them and I didn't bother with the autographs.

[boxers7]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 11:25pm

Pippin (OBC, Signed by Ben Vereen)
Irene (OBC, Signed by Debbie Reynolds)
I have a few more that I have to dig out from the basement.

[BWIDB Charlie]

Posted: 10/4/05 at 2:44am

Ignoring any contemporary ones, I have the Original OKLAHOMA program... anyone know what (if anything) this is worth? It's a valued part of my library, I'm just wondering what (if any) monetary value it would hold today.

Charlie
[e-mail]

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 10/4/05 at 3:58am

Merrily. We. Roll. Along. OBC.

(I'm totally obsessed.)

[once a month]

Posted: 10/4/05 at 7:16am

my most collectable Playbills include:

Frankenstein (Carradine, closed upon opening)
Les Mis (final)
Cats (beating the record)
A Chorus Lines (5 collectables over the years)
Little Shop with Alice Ripley

and original casts...
Raisin in the Sun autographed
Avenue Q autographed
Kiss of the Spider WOman

[Joshua Rosenthal]

Posted: 4/20/21 at 2:57pm

I actually have this one! Bought it as part of a bundle of Playbills. So thankful for it. 

[goodlead]

Posted: 4/20/21 at 3:14pm

None of these are signed, but all of them are rare:

Pal Joey (OBC, and i mean original, with Gene Kelly)

The Philadelphia Story, with K. Hepburn

Lady in the Dark, with Gertrude Lawrence

Oklahoma@!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I (all OBC)

Death of a Salesman, Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (all OBC)

Many others from the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

No, I didn't see them myself.  The son of a Playbill collector gave them to me after his mother died.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/20/21 at 3:23pm

Very confused as to what prompted this to be bumped after 16 years, but since I'm here, I suppose one of my most valuable playbills is of Kelli O'Hara in the ensemble Jekyll & Hyde tour.

[Joshua Rosenthal]

Posted: 4/20/21 at 3:45pm

I was searching up rare playbills and this thread came up. Ik it’s old lol but it’s an interesting topic nonetheless
Some ones I have that are interesting to me:
OBC Wicked
Chicago (Original) Opening Night
Sweeney Todd (Original) Opening Night
The Producers Opening Night
Gettin’ the Band Back Together Opening night signed by many of the (such as Henner, and even ikr if the show’s producers)
Carrie OBC (previews)
Legally Blonde (previews)
Hamilton OBC
Phantom of the Opera OBC and Record Breaking performance
Hurtlocker Playbill
Ratatouille Playbill
La Cage Aux Folles Pre-Broadway, OBC, Alt cover from the 80s, and both revivals (I have two from 2010, OPENING NIGHT and a black and white ine)
Pippin OBC and with Michael Rupert
Etc.

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 10:45pm

I have an almost full OBC playbill from Beauty and the Beast (Tom Bosley had just departed the show) signed by Terrance Mann.

And I would think this one is a bit rare because of the shortness of the show's run AND the signatures on it. I have a Brooklyn playbill with signatures from the 3 leading ladies from the show: Eden Espinosa, Karen Olivo, and Ramona Keller

[Jarethan]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 1:27pm

I am one of those people who have 95%+ of the playbills that I have ever been given in a performance.  I have 1/2 dozen Playbill folders in which I store some of my favorite shows; biggest stars; biggest hits (not in other binders); worst shows evet; etc.  In the one that is my favorite are playbills for:

-- Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand, signed

-- Moon for the Misbegotten with Dewhurst and Robards

-- Follies from Boston

-- Follies from NYC

-- Chicago with Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera

-- Chicago with Liza Minelli and Chita Rivera

-- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie with Zoe Caldwell

-- The Producers with Lane and Broderick

-- Mame with Angela Lansbury

-- Dreamgirls with Jennifer Holliday

-- Lettice and Lovage with Maggie Smith

-- The Great White Hope with James Earl Jones

-- Gypsy in Boston with Angela Lansbury

-- Cyrano with Christopher Plummer

-- Nicholas Nickleby Initial run

-- Hello Dolly with Carol Channing

-- Hallelujah Baby with Leslie Uggams

-- Miss Saigon first preview

-- Shenandoah with John Cullum

-- Cabaret with OBC

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 5:59pm

I have the OBC of Promises, Promises. I’d say that’s my rarest/most valuable because of the age and good condition. I found it and some other great ones at a flea market.

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 6:33pm

Joshua Rosenthal said: "I was searching up rare playbills and this thread came up. Ik it’s old lol but it’s an interesting topic nonetheless
Hurtlocker Playbill
"

I made sure to be at my performance of Hedwig as soon as the doors opened because it was my NEED to get a Hurt Locker playbill before the theatre filled. To my delight, as it it was meant to be there was once right on my seat when I got to it. And then when I was leaving the performance, someone a bit further down the row from me left one on the floor so I picked it up and ended up with a spare.