A Broadway Musical - 1978 - Broadway Articles Page 2

Four of Broadway’s ten longest running musicals are currently on the boards: Chicago, The Lion King, Wicked, and The Book of Mormon. One, The Phantom of the Opera, closed in 2023 after attaining the title of longest running Broadway show of all time.  But what about Broadway’s longest running plays?

THE WIZ will return to Chicago as part of Broadway In Chicago’s touring season with a limited engagement at the James M. Nederlander Theatre. The national tour includes Dana Cimone, Alan Mingo Jr., Sheherazade, Kyla Jade, D. Jerome, Cal Mitchell, and Elijah Ahmad Lewis.

The Tony Award-winning Best Musical that took the world by storm is back and coming to Austin. Tickets for The Wiz will go on sale Friday, Jan. 30, for eight performances from May 12 to 17 at Bass Concert Hall.

This February, Broadway fans will be treated to many new things to stream, including a new episode of The Muppet Show with Sabrina Carpenter, an animated movie featuring Cole Escola, Ryan Murphy's Love Story, and Kiss of the Spider Woman with Jennifer Lopez.

The original cast of the 2024 off-Broadway hit musical comedy FIVE: The Musical Parody reunites for the first time in a one-night-only benefit concert at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, in support of ACLU Minnesota.

During and prior to the Golden Age of Broadway, songs regularly premiered on stage and then charted, spending time on the radio and becoming popular worldwide. In the 1960s, Broadway songs and popular music diverged, and work from musicals was no longer synonymous with chart hits. There have certainly been a good share of exceptions since that decade, as Broadway has evolved to mirror popular, current music genres. Several of the songs that have broken through to the Billboard charts can be heard on Broadway! 

If the longevity of a Broadway classic is judged by its ability to reflect both its historical significance and its present existence in popular culture, this new revival of THE WIZ is somehow caught somewhere between reverence and reinvention.

BroadwayWorld spoke with Marc Salzberg to discuss his philosophy in sound design for the theatre. He reflects evolving technology in the theatre, what it takes to sustain a long career in theatre sound, and more.

In a theatrical era where standing ovations are dispensed like party favors, THE BOOK OF MORMON at ASU Gammage on its opening night elicited a reaction that felt less like polite approval and more like an arena rock concert. Audiences weren’t just clapping, they were erupting, unable to contain their sheer delight.

In a world where AI increasingly tries to consume and simulate real human experiences, theatre sometimes feels like one of the last gasps of being in a room together. When we watch a show with others, respiration synchronizes, empathy increases, and information retention improves. It’s one of my favourite feelings.

The Long Beach Playhouse Studio Collaborative Series is a season of plays mounted by local theater companies, performing arts organizations and individuals.

La Cage aux Folles finally returns to its French roots at the Théâtre du Châtelet—and the homecoming is worth the wait. Olivier Py’s ambitious revival, led by a radiant Laurent Lafitte, blends glamour, wit, and quiet political force in a production that reclaims Jerry Herman’s musical as both spectacle and statement

Watching Broadway’s Sara Sheperd perform her holiday themed cabaret, Please Come Home for Christmas, is akin to sitting in front of a cozy fire with a mug of hot cocoa. Sheperd, and her piano playing father Scott, shared more than a dozen of her favorite holiday songs peppered with a few seasonally appropriate Broadway tunes. From her opening number “Let it Snow” to her final song “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” Sara Sheperd gifted the audience with a lovely evening of perfectly pitched and precisely phrased vocals. Her audience left the club feeling the spirit of the season and grateful that the humble Sheperd shared her talent again in St. Louis.

THE WIZ is back and coming to San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts for a limited engagement. The musical features a book by William F. Brown and a Tony Award-winning score by Charlie Smalls (and others).

Long-time President and CEO J.L. “Lynn” Singleton will leave that position and as of January 1, 2026, General Manager Alan J. Chille will take the helm as President and CEO of PPAC.

Tickets for the Milwaukee engagement of THE WIZ will go on sale November 14 at 10 a.m. ahead of the production’s one-week run at the Marcus Performing Arts Center from March 24–29, 2026.

The iconic rock musical Hair is back in a bold new Brazilian production directed by Charles Möeller and Claudio Botelho. Opening at São Paulo’s BTG Pactual Hall, the show celebrates the spirit of the 1960s counterculture — peace, love, and rebellion — through powerful anthems like Aquarius and Let the Sunshine In. With a cast of 30 led by Rodrigo Simas and Eduardo Borelli, this vibrant staging fuses rock, poetry, and raw emotion to explore freedom, identity, and protest in a turbulent era. Nearly six decades after its debut, Hair still pulses with youthful defiance and idealism, inviting audiences to sing, reflect, and feel the rhythm of a revolution that never truly ended.

During his prolific and storied career, Sondheim collaborated with many other artists, from book writers to directors, from actors to musicians. Seeing Sondheim’s regular collaborators, close friends, one-time associates, mentors, and rare connections make appearances in his collection was both moving and illuminating.

Everybody look around! The Wiz is back and coming to the North Charleston Performing Arts Center. This groundbreaking twist on The Wizard of Oz changed the face of Broadway, with its iconic score packed with soul, gospel, rock, and 70s funk.

Carol Burnett has funded a scholarship at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. The scholarship will support undergraduate students in the school’s Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program.

In its inaugural mini-tour, the musical cabaret show, Don't Ask, I'll Tell, is moving from Bloomington, IN and Chicago to the historic Laurie Beechman Theatre. Learn more and see how to purchase tickets.

While different tryout theaters have different relationships to the development of new shows, it’s worth looking at both which commercial rental theaters and which non-profit theaters have had the most Best Musical Tony Award winners come from their stages.

Earlier this year, it was announced that the Library of Congress had acquired the Stephen Sondheim collection. The legendary composer and lyricist passed away in 2021 at the age of 91 after a long and extraordinary career. His collection at the Library of Congress is in the midst of being catalogued, and this piece shares several highlights from the boxes of Sondheim’s lyric drafts, music manuscripts, rewrite notes, brainstorm pages, song list outlines, and more.

Tckets for the Portland, OR engagement of The Wiz will go on sale Monday, October 20 at 10 AM. Learn more about the Portland engagement and see how to purchase tickets here!

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that Penelope Milford, Academy Award and Drama Desk-nominated actress and Broadway alum, has passed away at the age of 77.