My One and Only - 1983 - Broadway Articles Page 2

It’s… Hairspray! BroadwayWorld is taking a look back at what the cast of this beloved musical has been up to since the show first graced the Broadway stage!

Musically and dramatically, THE OUTSIDERS plays like a top-notch chamber version of WEST SIDE STORY: less-heated animosities between the gangs, no symphonic aspirations to the music, and no hormones - none of these Greaser dudes has a girl! But when the music, the jagged choreography, and the special effects get cranked up, the fanaticism of the pre-sold audience is irresistibly contagious.

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 Broadway production of Ragtime was a glorious accomplishment, a riveting testament to the original American musical and to all that America itself could be. The show ran for 834 performances at the Ford Center, closing in the final year of the 20th century. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, taking home four.

One of the most effective things the musical gains by moving from page to screen to stage is permission to reframe the story without betraying it. By leaning harder into the Curtis brothers as the emotional spine, the musical clarifies a distinction that’s always been present in the text but rarely foregrounded this explicitly: Darry, Soda, and Ponyboy are family by blood, bound by obligation and grief; while the Greasers are family by choice, bound by loyalty and survival.

After a series of sold-out Australian seasons, including a five-star run at the Sydney Opera House, Yentl, Kadimah Yiddish Theatre's new adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer's story, will make its international premiere at Marylebone Theatre.

Based on S. E. Hinton’s 1967 novel of the same name as well as Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film adaptation. The Outsiders is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the 1960s. The story follows Ponyboy Curtis, his best friend Johnny Cade, and their Greaser family of ‘outsiders’ as they battle with their affluent rivals, the Socs. Together, the Greasers fight for survival and a quest for purpose in a world that doesn't accept them.

54 BELOW will celebrate the happiest time of the year with an incredible lineup of performances by Tony winner Christine Ebersole with Billy Stritch, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” star Darius de Haas, and more.

In the past few theater seasons, Sehnaz Dirik has enhanced her reputation for playing strong women.

For all those operagoers tired of classics set in rodeos, Las Vegas or on a space station (Paris has a BOHEME of that ilk), Otto Schenk’s production for ARABELLA, with stage design by Gunther Schneider Siemssen, dating back to 1983, will be a relief. It features a return to “old Vienna,” including an Act II ballroom scene that’s as welcoming as a sacher torte.

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.

Taylor Swift’s new album The Life of a Showgirl dropped on October 3rd, and it includes plenty of references—some explicit and some ambiguous—to real showgirls throughout history. Many of these women have a Broadway past worth exploring that adds new context to Swift’s songs.

With rehearsals currently underway for Katherine Moar’s world premiere Ragdoll, Jermyn Street Theatre revealed the first two productions in its 2026 Season. Learn more here!

Technology plays an ever-present role in the life of every human on earth. As computer technology and social media have begun to heavily impact everyday life, this has gradually been reflected in modern musicals on Broadway.

Perhaps no one is more surprised Steve Hackett is doing a retrospective on THE LAMB 50 years after the fact than the guitarist himself. THE LAMB was ranked in the top ten of Rolling Stone magazine’s top 50 progressive rock albums of all time. The BBC called it a “conceptual masterpiece.” Hackett has another word for it: an anomaly.

Drag culture in La Cage aux Folles isn’t just the “bold face” of the gay community; it’s a celebration of visibility itself, a way of inviting even those on the periphery to understand more deeply what it means to live authentically, unbothered, and unashamed.

Colin Hay, who will perform an acoustic show Nov. 2 at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main Street in downtown Columbus), disagrees with the assessment, but the former Men at Work frontman is a man of misperceptions. For example:

The Washington Chorus and National Philharmonic will partner to present the program One Song: Exultávit! at The Music Center at Strathmore. Learn more here!

Madonna, the best-selling female artist of all time, has signed with Warner Records for her upcoming new dance album. This is a return home for the GRAMMY® Award winner since Warner Records served as Madonna’s label for the first 25 years of her career.

BroadwayWorld is here with your fall 2025 guide to all the shows lighting up New York’s stages. From world premieres to long-awaited revivals, this season’s Off-Broadway lineup delivers something for every kind of theater fan!

Porgy and Bess is a famous 'folk opera' created by George Gershwin, with a libretto by DuBose Heyward and lyrics by DuBose and Ira Gershwin. The work chronicles the life of a Black community on Catfish Row in Charleston and is known for its fusion of operatic elements with American folk music, jazz, and blues. The story focuses on the love between Porgy, a disabled beggar, and Bess, a woman seeking a better life.

Broadway currently boasts 41 theaters. This number has always been ever-changing—since even before the first time the word “Broadway” was used to describe professional theater in New York.

A longtime staple of New York and London stages, we are chronicling Elizabeth McGovern's theater roles ahead of the debut of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.

Sexy Rexy, the 1970’s teen heartthrob, was live in person and bringing the filled-to-capacity audience on a time travel experience back to those fabulous days!